Publisher: Houghton Miffin Books
Pages: 385pgs
The Story
Sybella's duty as Death's assassin in 15th-century France forces her return home to the personal hell that she had finally escaped. Love and romance, history and magic, vengeance and salvation converge in this thrilling sequel to Grave Mercy.
Sybella arrives at the convent’s doorstep half mad with grief and despair. Those that serve Death are only too happy to offer her refuge—but at a price. The convent views Sybella, naturally skilled in the arts of both death and seduction, as one of their most dangerous weapons. But those assassin's skills are little comfort when the convent returns her to a life that nearly drove her mad. And while Sybella is a weapon of justice wrought by the god of Death himself, He must give her a reason to live. When she discovers an unexpected ally imprisoned in the dungeons, will a daughter of Death find something other than vengeance to live for?
Sybella arrives at the convent’s doorstep half mad with grief and despair. Those that serve Death are only too happy to offer her refuge—but at a price. The convent views Sybella, naturally skilled in the arts of both death and seduction, as one of their most dangerous weapons. But those assassin's skills are little comfort when the convent returns her to a life that nearly drove her mad. And while Sybella is a weapon of justice wrought by the god of Death himself, He must give her a reason to live. When she discovers an unexpected ally imprisoned in the dungeons, will a daughter of Death find something other than vengeance to live for?
The Review
I adore pretty much anything fantasy or historical-like, so I knew from the get-go that Robin LaFevers had something really special with her new series, especially after reading the author's book, Grave Mercy, which was such a brilliant, brilliant read. So while this sequel might not have necessarily be my all-time favourite book (really nothing I think can beat my profound love of the first book), but I have to say DARK TRIUMPH certainly knows how to push everything to the ultimate limits and when you combine great writing, a great plot and some pretty great - not to mention kick-ass - characters together and wrap them all into one, then you're definitely going to get an awesome read which this was all the way through til the end.
After finishing the book, straight up I thought DARK TRIUMPH was such a great book and such an enjoyable one as well. While I may not have connected as well nor as deeply with the characters in this particular sequel (at least not like I did in the first book of the series) but I still definitely loved reading about Sybella's new journey and figuring out for myself with how different she is compared to our first leading heroine in Grave Mercy, Ismae, which was a pleasant surprise indeed because I like seeing these differences in different main characters. I mean, Sybella is a lot different compared to Ismae's character and personality, and yet she also possesses this very strong essence and build much like Ismae did in the first installment of the series. Sybella, I found, is yet again another girl so capable of . . . well . . . pretty much anything and really what's not to love about that? I like it when these girls are not holding back but rather fighting back with everything they got no matter the hardships they soon come to face.
Overall, DARK TRIUMPH was another strong installment coming from the author and I'm looking forward to reading more from her in the future and from this series.
The Rating
4/5 stars
I really liked Grave Mercy but have yet to read Dark Triumph! I wasn't sure about the POV change, but glad to hear Sybella is a pretty cool character. I like that she's capable of anything! Will definitely have to give this a read, thanks for the fab review :).
ReplyDeleteYeah I was a little bit worried about this book because I LOVED the main characters from the first book and wanted more from them. But surprisingly Sybella was a pretty cool character which says something because I wasn't a huge fan of hers from the first book. Thanks Liz! :D
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