I honestly had no idea how long it has been since I first reviewed the first Viridis book. I had mixed thoughts on it, so I wasn't highly anticipating picking up the second, but my friend Kristen convinced me to give the second book a chance! So here's my review, spoilers ahead!
After the death of the Jade, Aris is now sent to take down the Mad Queen, a task that is easier said than done. Not only that, but it also turns out that Jade may not be so dead after all.
This book is a very major step up from the first. Not enough to warrant two extra stars, but I absolutely consider this a good book, and it was also one I enjoyed. The first book I thought was decent but it had a few aspects holding it back, most notably the bad LGBT+ representation (the only openly LGBT+ character was a physical and sexual abuser).
Does this book fix this? Well, okay, A'doxia is still alive, so that's still kind of a problem, but at least she isn't our only LGBT+ rep anymore, since we now have two more LGBT+ characters who are on the side of good, with Jade being confirmed as either ace, aro or both and one of the victers being trans. This still doesn't undo the bad representation in book one and it'd have been nicer if we'd had good LGBT+ characters over there, but at least it's a major step up.
I also just thought the writing was overall better. I felt much more of a connection to the characters and world here as opposed to book one. My favorite characters had to be Kuroda and Dagmey, and I also quite liked Jade and Salene in this book! Aris I'm kind of ambivalent towards. I liked some of her moments, and some not. I also didn't really like reading Voshell's POV at all, which is a bit of a problem considering the first two parts of the book are written from her perspective.
The worldbuilding I still like and I definitely hope to read more of these worlds in future books (which I'll definitely try to check out!).
Another aspect I really appreciated was the handy guide at the start of the book, with a catalog of words, characters, etc. and quick descriptions of everything. And of course the summary of book one came in very handy with it having been quite a while since I last read book one.
Overall this is a major step up from the first book and I hope Hemphill continues to improve her craft! Just do not harm Kurod and Dagmey, please, they are to be protected.
Rating: 3/5
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