Rayne has passed through
her trial by fire of the first book. She has been Unmade, her family has
been destroyed and her first forays back into the world have not gone to plan
Now she prepares, she rallies her allies, her friends,
she claims what is hers, she demands loyalty and lays down the foundations for
the coming war. Namen Young has
destroyed her family, the lives of so many and is threatening to destroy
everything – and Rayne is raising what she can to stop him.
This book is relatively slow paced – and certainly a lot
slower than the last one. Its story is more an interval than a closed character
arc without on particularly storyline or a real conclusion at the end so much
as it is another chapter in Rayne’s ongoing saga. It absolutely cannot be read
stand alone – as without the former book and the book which will come next it
is completely lost without context or purpose
And all of this is a good thing. The first book was so
incredibly fast, jumping from plot line to plot line to event to event so
quickly that a slower paced book to consolidate was needed. As part of the
series this book is excellent, it gives us time to catch our breath, remind
ourselves of what is at stake and who the major players are in Rayne’s world
and her battle against Namen. We’re reminded of the nature of the war and what
all the powers are (since this world is so wide and varied with a lot of
complex forces in play).
We ran through the world last book, introducing
everything at a break neck pace but without really having the time to get to
know anyone or look too far beneath except to know there was a lot beneath to
know. Now we get to slow down and really look at things like the werewolf past,
the nature of the witches, the relationships between the characters, the society
of the vampires and look at the various motivations that drive everyone
It also really laid down how this fight was going to
happen – not just as an epic battle of claws and swords and woo-woo powers
(though that would certainly have a place) but also through proxies and by
influence and generally by controlling mortal forces and supernatural allies.
Ultimately, part of this conflict began – and certainly the reason it slaughtered
Rayne’s family – out of fear that humanity were going to rise up and use their
numbers and new technology to destroy the supernaturals. This not only affects
Rayne through her business (and her father’s arms business targeting supernaturals)
but also lays the foundation for what they want and looks at the balance
between humanity as victims or a threat. Again, there’s a lot interesting
topics and conflicts that are now being developed to make for a much richer story
I really like the relationship between Rayne and Selene,
especially as it’s affected by Zara. It’s not perfect, things have not gone
smoothly between Rayne and Selene. Selene has lied about her brother who is now
working for Namen and is the big bad nasty – which is obviously a major thing
to lie about and would put a strain on any relationship. At the same time Rayne’s
reaction to the news was… intemperate and she has now formed a link with Zara
that has become deeper and more intimate than either of them intended or
wanted. Definitely not smooth
But I love how they react to this. We don’t have a big
dramatic “you lied to me and now I will never ever trust you again, ever!” moment
for horrendous amounts of big ugly angst but nor do we have them brushing over
it as if these problems were nothing. They’re not nothing. They are major
events and problems that definitely hurt them and have damaged their
relationship – but both Selene and Rayne love each other enough and value their
relationship enough to work through this while, at the same time, valuing
themselves enough to not just ignore the issue.
This kind of mature outlook is one of the better aspects
of this series. Jaxom is obviously furious with the events of the last book
which did not go well for the pack – but isn’t going to scapegoat Rayne for it
and they recognise they have a mutual goal together. Some members of the pack
are (understandably) not thrilled but despite being in contention with Rayne a
grudging respect builds between them.
This happens several times in the book. We have a
collection of people who do have issues with each other. They have fought, they
have hurt each other, they have reasons (both rational and otherwise) to hold
grudges, they have strongly different opinions and ideas. Sometimes they’ve very
suspicious of the other and their motives. And they work it out, or put it
aside, or recognise that this difference doesn’t mean they can’t work together
or recognise that just because they have an issue in contention doesn’t mean
they don’t respect or value each other. Someone disagreeing with or being
against Rayne, for example, isn’t automatically presented as a terribad person
who should be shunned and punished for being so incredibly awful; they can
disagree with Rayne for valid reasons and still be good people worthy of
respect and alliance. That is sadly very rare and really good to see here.
This mature take on relationships means that Rayne can be
surrounded by a number of powerful people – and a number of powerful women – without
the typical Exceptional Woman tropes and these women also have their own goals
and needs beyond Rayne. Selene loves Rayne, but she also loves her brother, has
an involved history with him and a history as a witch and a high priestess.
Zara is bonded to Rayne, cares for her – but also has a complete history as a powerful
vampire and with a lost lover imprisoned by the immortals who is her definite
priority. Tamara, Jun, Rebecca –all these women have their own lives, goals and
priorities as well as Rayne’s respect
And, of course, most of these characters are POC – Rayne is
Black, Selene Latina, Zara is Black, her lover, Sage is Asian, Jun is Middle
Eastern – these are just a few of the majority POC cast – we have a very large
number of POC through the cast and, again, each with their own stories and
agendas and priorities and lives.
Of course Rayne, Selene, Zara and Sage are all lesbians with
powerful, passionate love lives and a dedicated will to live them as they
choose despite at times facing opposition. They don’t live in a magical
homophobia-less world but nor do they live in a world where homophobia or
lesbian-orientated storylines dominate. They’re lesbians, it isn’t the only
thing that defines them but nor is it a tiny part of them. It’s part of their
experience and stories but not the only part.
There are some issues I have with the story – I think
there’s still an effort to sanitise what Rayne’s father did and make excuses
for him. I also think Rayne’s attempts to gain control over the city are
hamhanded and likely to backfire – and in a world where humans may grow to fear
the supernatural, her using murder and threats to take over mortal authorities
is going to feed into that. It felt clumsy like she resorted to plan c without
considering plan A or B.
But other than that this is an excellent book and is taking
the series in a very interesting direction with lots of epic, a hugely diverse
cast and all of these characters with powerful stories and motivations of their
own. Things are looking up!
