I love when you see a character’s natural progression into becoming a badass. Not a complete change to their personality, but true growth into their natural state of badassdom. That’s what we see happening with Eira in book 2. In the first book, she’s hardly a meek little mouse. Quiet, yes, but only because she’d been shunned since losing control of her magic and accidentally killing someone.
That’s the thing about Eira. The shit she has been through is real and it’s tragic and it’s heavy. Her isolation led to some very unhealthy coping mechanisms that she starts to untangle as she goes through even more in book two. Instead of seeing her withdraw even more after being tortured by Ferro psychologically, we actually see her open up. She starts to see her relationships as a strength rather than a weakness. She could have a really good conversation with Zelene from Heirs of War on that topic.
We see her grow more as this fantasy she had of Meru starts to fade against the reality of the politics and the ineffectiveness of the Court of Shadows. Instead of stamping her foot and arguing with them until she’s blue in the face, she says her peace and then takes matters into her own hands. Where there used to be a rashness to her actions, now we see calculations and thoughtful decisions. Even if they do still bite her in the ass.
I also enjoyed how the love story played out. Cullen didn’t force the issue but he did let her melt her own ice walls when it came to him. Relationships were definitely a theme in this book, but her relationship with Cullen didn’t overshadow her developing friendship with Noelle or how shedding her secrets strengthened her friendship with Alyss.
The stakes are even higher and so is the intensity in this book. Every interaction with Ferro had my heart dropping into my stomach, especially at the end. Cullen had my heart racing, Ferro had my heart dropping, and Eira had my heartbreaking. Definitely another wild ride from Elise Cova that you won’t want to put down.
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