Tuesday 26 November 2019

Chosen by Kiersten White

Nina is still struggling with her Slayer abilities as the stakes continue to rise.

Nina's planned Utopia isn't quite working out as she hoped, and her Slayer instincts are urging her towards violence all the time. Meanwhile Artemis, who fled the castle with her girlfriend, is hunting down the most dangerous foe either of them have ever faced, if she can remember which side she's on...

(So basically, don't read this one first. Start with Slayer.)

I'm torn on this one. (I know, it happens a lot with me.) Kiersten knows how to write action scenes. They're very good. And the character stuff is great, too. Just, as an Irish person, I wish someone had fact checked. In the last book, Nina's mother gave her pounds, in a country that hadn't used pounds as currency for almost a decade. In this one, a villain in England says he can't go near the coast, for villainous reasons. So his minion decides the best thing to do is take him to Dublin. A city built on the coast.

I'm a little confused about the timing, too. It reads like it's not very long after the last book, maybe only a couple of months. Characters who were very little children in the last book are still very little children. But Nina says it took her years to get over Leo. I will make two points in fairness; it's possible, though I think unlikely, that she's referring to something from their childhood that I've forgotten since reading the last book. The other point is that I'm reading an ARC and it's possible things will be made more clear or altered before publication. I'll do my best to check a physical copy and update this review.

It's not a bad book. As an adventure story, it's fine - although I thought Oz was far out of character, but to be fair again I haven't read any comics, so maybe this version of him is based on those rather than on the show. It's definitely worth reading.

(Do the Wyndham-Pryces really not know anything about what's been happening to Wesley in LA?)




Nina continues to learn how to use her slayer powers against enemies old and new in this second novel in the New York Times bestselling series from Kiersten White, set in the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Now that Nina has turned the Watcher’s Castle into a utopia for hurt and lonely demons, she’s still waiting for the utopia part to kick in. With her sister Artemis gone and only a few people remaining at the castle—including her still-distant mother—Nina has her hands full. Plus, though she gained back her Slayer powers from Leo, they’re not feeling quite right after being held by the seriously evil succubus Eve, a.k.a. fake Watcher’s Council member and Leo’s mom.

And while Nina is dealing with the darkness inside, there’s also a new threat on the outside, portended by an odd triangle symbol that seems to be popping up everywhere, in connection with Sean’s demon drug ring as well as someone a bit closer to home. Because one near-apocalypse just isn’t enough, right?

The darkness always finds you. And once again, it’s coming for the Slayer.

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