The Laughing Listener
September 2018
Format: Paperback
#KissOfSeptember buddy read!

Overall Rating: 5 Stars

Remember that time I was completely broken by a book and my brain exploded reading the ending?!? OH WAIT. That just happened. It took me a few days to collect myself because the ending of this book was INSANITY, but I’m here now and I’M READY. Let’s do this thing.



First of all, the world building of this series is so crazy awesome. Everything seems so well thought out and I’m living for it. I love how vast it is and how each kingdom has its own culture and language. It was already impressive in The Kiss of Deception, but it’s even better this time around and I was so fascinated with Venda. Discovering this new world through Lia’s eyes was amazing and it felt like we were falling in love with it together. I’m also shocked by how political this series has gotten and I’m even more shocked by how much I like it. Normally political intrigue isn’t my thing and I lose interest pretty fast, but Pearson has done such an excellent job building the suspense and making it interesting.

Also, the characters are so rich! Each one is layered with their own histories and desires that push them forward. I still think Kaden is terrible and I’m so over him, but I like that I know more about his character and can understand him better now. Even the Komizar was interesting to read about and he’s the absolute WORST. But so wonderfully vile and evil! Definitely a new favorite villain. Lia is still my girl though and she kicked major ass in this book, it was AWESOME. All of the character arcs are out of this world—not just on this book alone, but over the entire series as a whole. Everyone has come so far from where they started and I can’t wait to see where it leads next.

And that ending. THAT ENDING. Oh my god. So much happens you guys. SO. MUCH. The entire plot takes a dive in the span of two pages. I’ve never gone from okay to complete emotionally ruin so freaking fast in my life. I had to read it three times to make sure I understood what happened, but damn. It was so good.

FINAL WORD

This book was even BETTER than the first. If you liked The Kiss of Deception at all, do yourself a favor and keep reading. I also recommend having the third book handy because the ending of this one is diabolically EVIL and I love it. Two thumbs way up.

#1 ↦ [b:The Kiss of Deception|16429619|The Kiss of Deception (The Remnant Chronicles, #1)|Mary E. Pearson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1389804901s/16429619.jpg|22617247] ↦ ✦✦✦✦✦
#2 ↦ The Heart of Betrayal ↦ ✦✦✦✦✦
#3 ↦ [b:The Beauty of Darkness|25944798|The Beauty of Darkness (The Remnant Chronicles, #3)|Mary E. Pearson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1445626686s/25944798.jpg|45680041] ↦ ✦✦✦✦✧