SO GOOD. It’s so good.

This was one of my most highly anticipated reads of the year, and it DID NOT disappoint. I’m just grateful that Ms. Ifueko blessed us with this book so soon after the first one. And in a PANGEA.

Sequels are difficult, but Redemptor kept all of the grit, the soul, and the emotion that made Raybearer shine. Tarisai, in the wake of claiming her status as Empress and becoming the last Redemptor, is struggling to live up to these names.

She’s plagued by spirits who echo what she believes about herself: that she’s not good enough, that she’s unlovable, that she’s alone. If you’ve struggled with mental illness, this is an all too haunting depiction. So we watch Tar grapple with these intrusive thoughts that she feels burdened with and unfortunately, believes she deserves.

Not only is she adjusting to a world that does not (seemingly) want her, but all of the imposter syndrome that usually follows.

Despite being a little over 300 pages, this book feels like it is packed full in a way that some 400+ page books do not. We’re constantly immersed in action and storytelling, and yet I rarely felt like it was rushed. Even knowing how much ground there was to cover (after all, the book was meant to cover two years of Tar’s life, including her journey through the Underworld).

This book also delved further into Dayo’s identity as ace, and showing that he still has many intimate and fulfilling relationships. I loved seeing that representation further explored. And speaking of—we also got Min Ja and Da Seo, and what a blessing. I love them

Definitely a quick read, though not necessarily because it was engrossing. The chapters were short and the writing fairly simple, so it was easy to burn through. There were definitely compelling parts of it, but overall I feel like this book over promised and under delivered.

To say it’s heavily entangled with Greek mythology is an overstatement, for example. There are mentions of it, and it does color the narrative in some ways. But I promise, it doesn’t have some complex Mythos to unravel. I think the author attempts to frame the murders as Eleusinian rituals, but kinda falls flat. Ultimately the secret society has VERY little to do with the plot. And any weak attempts to connect the mythology and mystery to the murders is really only based in one thing: that the professor teaches Greek tragedy. That’s it.

With the way the book was described, I expected more secret society shenanigans.

What we got was the story of a haunted woman (which isn’t a bad thing, but not what was promised). She is ultimately a dog with a bone, and no real evidence. Nor does she really collect any significant evidence after she decides to run her own investigation. For almost the entire book, she operates with the same information she’s always had.

The best part of the book was the “runaround.” It was, at times, quite suspenseful. The author managed to cast doubt on several other characters in a way that only the reader could understand, making us fear for the protagonist and her naivety.

And STILL, I was not suspecting the twist. We had multiple red herrings cast suspicion on some other mysterious person, only to be completely blindsided. Well, I was, at least, because there was no real reason to suspect the real culprit until and absolutely BONKERS reveal. And this person went from normal to BATSHIT wild, with everything we and Mariana believed to be true was actually false.

I kind of hated it.

Because narratively speaking, the audience doesn’t really get that catharsis of looking back and seeing what should have been obvious. Because it WASNT. There are only a few flimsy moments that you can look back on and say, “Oh, I guess that makes sense.” But it asks the reader to suspend their disbelief. I’m other words, dude pulled a freaking M. Night Shamalan. Maybe he should make this his next film…

One thing I was grateful for is that I read this (quite literally) on the heels of reading Ariadne. So i got to have some fun aha moments at mentions of Naxos and Demophon and other random things. (Even tho I didn’t care much for that book either

This made me so happy! The art is beautiful, there’s amazing plus size representation, and the story does a great job at touching on the idea of otherness.

There are some really phenomenal panels that I’m still thinking about. And the characters are great.

Edited to add: Selena, in the end, said/did things that seemed out of character for her, and it was a little rough to see her characterized that way :/

I think the end was a bit too quick and the story kinda fell apart; it could have benefited from a bit more explanation. But overall it was a really great read. And the end of chapter interviews were a funny little addition.

Can’t wait to read the next couple trades!

This was cute! I think in some instances there could have been more explanation. For example, we learn that wolf magic is powerful and misunderstood, and we see the characters attempting to learn more. Their attempts are sort of unsuccessful, and then a bunch of time passes in which they are meant to be studying and preparing. After that time passes it’s a little unclear what they try to do, and why.

The characters are sweet, as are the relationships. We love to see supportive friends, even when they have different beliefs and backgrounds.

Overall, I thought the story was fun and fairly light. I just wished it had been more fleshed out in certain areas.

I also thought the art was fun. There was one panel that made me giggle because the perspective was skewed, and rather than appearing to run away, a character looked like she was squished on the floor.

Subconsciously, I chose this book because I am…..a Reylo stan. And it’s undeniable that the cover screams Reylo (and to my surprise, I found out after choosing it as my BOTM that this WAS originally a reylo fic and the cover artist makes a lot of reylo art).

So yes, I was very excited to have an actual physical book on my shelf with them on it.

It did not disappoint.

I feel like there’s not much more I can say. Amazing characters, a really freaking cute story, and a goofy grin on my face the whole time I read it. Also, the slice was spicy