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onceuponanisabel 's review for:
The Electric Heir
by Victoria Lee
I gave The Fever King a 3 star rating and a relatively critical review -- I didn't like it. It felt like so many of the other YA dystopias that I read in middle school, and while I didn't think it was a bad example of the genre, it's one that's been done so much that it's incredibly hard for me to enjoy.
The Electric Heir, on the other hand, was wonderful.
We pick up a few months after we left off and the drama begins almost immediately. I was worried it would take too much of the runtime for Dara to return to Carolinia, but I was happily mistaken. Noam and Dara work together to take down Lehrer from very different angles: Dara as an insurgent planning while on the run, and Noam from the inside as Lehrer's protege.
A lot of the first book followed the magic school plot archetype, which was a lot of why I found it less interesting. By the time we get to The Electric Heir, that's largely done. Dara's lost his powers, Noam has mastered his, all that's left to do is accomplish the quest.
What this book is about is abuse. In the time between the books, Noam has essentially taken Dara's place in terms of his relationship with Lehrer. At the beginning, Noam sees Lehrer as someone with whom he has common trauma (the presumed loss of Dara) and emotional support. Throughout the story, Noam has to work through the process of identifying that relationship as abusive, while simultaneously, we're getting Dara's POV as he begins to heal. We see Dara's pain as he watches someone he loves suffer at the hands of his abuser and work to get him out.
This plotline was much more impactful. The primary emotion I felt while reading The Electric Heir was horror, but that's intentional. Lee's handling of the subject as a survivor herself is delicate and deliberate.
I find it hard to write too much of a review for this book since it's the second book in a series, since I don't want to spoil the first. Suffice it to say, I would officially and emphatically recommend this duology (I'm assuming this is a duology -- the end of this book felt like an ending but I may be proven wrong).
If you plan on reading this book I highly recommend reading the full content warning list here. This book is a lot darker than The Fever King.
ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley
The Electric Heir, on the other hand, was wonderful.
We pick up a few months after we left off and the drama begins almost immediately. I was worried it would take too much of the runtime for Dara to return to Carolinia, but I was happily mistaken. Noam and Dara work together to take down Lehrer from very different angles: Dara as an insurgent planning while on the run, and Noam from the inside as Lehrer's protege.
A lot of the first book followed the magic school plot archetype, which was a lot of why I found it less interesting. By the time we get to The Electric Heir, that's largely done. Dara's lost his powers, Noam has mastered his, all that's left to do is accomplish the quest.
What this book is about is abuse. In the time between the books, Noam has essentially taken Dara's place in terms of his relationship with Lehrer. At the beginning, Noam sees Lehrer as someone with whom he has common trauma (the presumed loss of Dara) and emotional support. Throughout the story, Noam has to work through the process of identifying that relationship as abusive, while simultaneously, we're getting Dara's POV as he begins to heal. We see Dara's pain as he watches someone he loves suffer at the hands of his abuser and work to get him out.
This plotline was much more impactful. The primary emotion I felt while reading The Electric Heir was horror, but that's intentional. Lee's handling of the subject as a survivor herself is delicate and deliberate.
I find it hard to write too much of a review for this book since it's the second book in a series, since I don't want to spoil the first. Suffice it to say, I would officially and emphatically recommend this duology (I'm assuming this is a duology -- the end of this book felt like an ending but I may be proven wrong).
If you plan on reading this book I highly recommend reading the full content warning list here. This book is a lot darker than The Fever King.
ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley