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lambsbooks 's review for:
This Cursed Light
by Emily Thiede
She clutched at him, his name on her lips a plea for salvation. He’d kneel at her altar and pray for their lives.
We start the book with Alessa on her way back from a celebratory trip and Dante having bought the bar where he used to fight – I guess they paid him for helping defeat those bug things?
Slayer of demons, she wore the spoils of victory on her skin.
Anyway, Alessa and her Fontes were away, and Dante was having dreams of blood and death.
No more demons. No more wars. It was time to begin the rest of her life.
Happily.
Ever.
After.
But no one believed him – and you know what? Alessa should have believed him.
Ciro and Diwata’s vessel was larger and more elegant than any of Saverio’s, but it was still a floating death trap. She eyed the smudged horizon warily. If the crew felt it was safe enough to depart, it must be. Then again, hundreds of ships had sunk throughout history after crews made similar decisions. Thanks to the Cittadella’s logs of maritime deaths and injuries, she knew of a dozen ways to lose a limb or perish at sea.
I wish the adventure part of this book was a little more detailed, or longer because I love when characters have to travel somewhere in books.
"What?” Kaleb clutched his chest in mock outrage. “You mean to tell me this gods-sanctioned marriage of convenience hasn’t evolved into a love match?"
I didn’t really care for Kaleb much in book 1, he was kinda just there, you know? But I enjoyed the fluff out of his character in this book. He was pretty much the definition of comedic relief and I highlighted a ton of quotes from him.
Dea and Crollo disagreed about whether humanity deserved to exist, so they made a bet, and we’ve all been pawns in every round since. But all games end eventually, and now things have changed.
I want to emphasize that I did like this book, it was funny (a saving grace honestly, the funny parts were great) and had some nice plot twists, but the negatives started to overpower the positives in the end for me.
Dante leaned, a mere sway toward her, then caught himself, dragging a hand through his hair with a low “Fuck.”
The banter between Alessa and Dante was still really great, I love how they respond to each other, but I do wish there was more of them in this story. If they had been separated for the book, that would have been understandable, but they were all still together and yet, not?
He never knew how to soothe her when she dreamed about his own death. It had happened a few times in the months after, and she’d been wracked with guilt each time, as though he might have forgotten that he’d died if she didn’t remind him.
Alessa was clearly having issues in the beginning and middle of the book, but instead of trying to understand them and manage them, she just hid everything or brushed it off as nothing. That isn’t a theme in books I like, so that was an issue for me. I get not telling her friends, she hasn’t had friends in a long time and she didn’t want to frighten them off, but not even admitting to herself or Dante? No.
He’d been too damn busy feeling bad for himself and mad at the world, and mad at her—there it was, yes, mad at her—to see it until that moment. Not mad because she’d taken the life he’d willingly offered, but because she’d given it back with a piece missing.
This leads me to my next issue – Dante. I realllly liked him in book 1. This book? Not so much. He was wallowing, whining, rude to the Fontes and Alessa, constantly thinking about how much this sucked, and just generally feeling sorry for himself. I know that his powers were integral to him, but it was kinda annoying. And when he stopped this internal (and external) behaviour, it was so abrupt that it was rushed and not well done.
I’d spend a hundred years in chains for one day with you.
The ending was also very short, I would have liked more of everything. Overall, I still did enjoy this book, but it wasn’t as much as I enjoyed book 1.
"I’m so sorry.” Alessa reached up to touch Dante’s cheek. “You have to let me be the hero this time.”
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and the author for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
“You just need to find the right person.”
“Ha!” Saida chucked a pillow at her. “Easy for you to say. You found your true love at eighteen.”
Alessa’s cough sent a puff of powdered sugar into the air. “And he died.”
“Yeah, but he’s fine now,” Kamaria said. “All’s well that ends well.”
“I can barely touch him!”
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Hmm
I have thoughts.
And the lemons on the cover make sense now 😂