Ever since I first read The Sight many years ago, I've been meaning to get to the sequel. But just never ended up doing so, probably because I could never find a physical copy. But now that I got the ebook I am finally getting to it. Spoilers ahead.
After the events of the first book, Larka's brother Fell has now doomed himself to a life of solitude as a Kerl (lone wolf). He soon ends up getting visions, however, in which he shares a destiny with a supposed changeling child, a crossdressing girl of fifteen years old named Alina. He seeks her out and the duo bonds, and go on a quest to find her heritage and figure out how their destinies tie together. During this, Fell keeps being plagued by visions of darkness and even a possible return of Morgra from beyond the grave.
This book I partially liked, but part of it also frustrated me. So its kind of hard for me to rate it. But I'll try.
First, the things I liked. I liked Fell and seeing how he deals with his inner darkness after the events of The Sight. While I hoped he'd have returned to his family after the events, it makes sense from his POV that he'd want to be a lone wolf because he somewhat sees himself as a danger to other after the events of the first book. I also liked his inner conflict around where he belongs and what role he plays in the visions surrounding Alina he's getting. He legit fears that he'll be the one to kill her at several points due to the inner darkness he's struggling with.
I also liked the latter half of the book. The half that really focuses on our titular protagonist. That part honestly felt much more like a follow-up to the first book than the other half.
What do I mean by that? Well, that'll be my first major criticism: the book often focuses more on Alina than Fell. You know, the supposed main character and namesake of the title. Like, don't get me wrong, I don't mind them having Alina play a major part in the book. She is the one who is bonded to Fell through destiny and the Sight after all. But for a lot of the book, especially the first half, she just steals the show and gets more POV-chapters than Fell does. Which is frustrating because that's not what you expect when you think about a sequel to The Sight, a book that focuses 80% on wolves with some minor human elements.
Alina herself is also just...not that interesting to me. At first I did root for her finding her roots and learning more about herself, but she became pretty boring to me about two thirds into the book. Of course she's descended from a noble bloodline, of course she's not a changeling, of course she's somehow related to the human child of the first book. It just kind of lost me there. I did root for her, but honestly just was begging consistently for the book to center around Fell again, because especially in the first half he feels more like an afterthought.
When the book finally does return to being more about Fell in the second half, it also feels a bit rushed. Throughout the book, a conflict is build up of an enemy wolf pack trying to kill Fell's birthpack, but when that conflict is finally addressed when Fell briefly visits his family, it's forgotten about within a few chapters and honestly it didn't end up adding much if anything to the overall plot other than to kill of Huttser and Palla (semi-indirectly) and have Fell once more question his inner demons. Which he already did before, so they might as well have found another conflict to have him do this because the enemy pack added little to nothing. And after that brief detour the plot goes back to Fell returning to Alina in her time of need, anyways, so it might as well have not happened.
Also: the bond between Fell and Alina. It could've worked. But not in the way it was handled here. My problem with it is that their bond honestly feels forced. Why do they seek each other out (or rather, does Fell seek her out)? Because of destiny. Fell sees through a vision of the Sight that he's meant to be bonded to and aid this girl, so he seeks her out and barely leaves her side after that.
Is it just me, or would it have been much stronger if their bond had been one that genuinely developed overtime, not caused by destiny and visions? Just two individuals from very different walks of life that end up helping one another, growing close and slowly learning to trust one another, eventually being like family. That just sounds so much more promising than this forced bond. They don't even meet naturally, Fell actively sought out the girl and they met because of this. Yes, they did end up bonding by helping one another, but it all rings hollow when the reader knows that it's this destiny that is forcing them together, not any natural bonding that happened by pure chance.
Also: Morgra is back as a spirit vision (and at one point as a physical ghost). Which I'm honestly kind of neutral on, but then in the end she gets a last-minute redemption that felt really rushed. They try to make it seem like she was playing on both sides (good and evil) while being good all along and trying to play other main villain, Alina's step-father. This just honestly felt weak. Morgra's spirit gives this supposedly sentimental speech about forgiveness and love in the climax, but honestly she doesn't earn her redemption to me. She was rotten to the core throughout all of The Sight and even build up to be so throughout this book, so one good action and a sappy speech doesn't change anything. The way it was written also made it feel like a last minute addition by the author and it wasn't necessary at all.
Finally, the romantic relationships. I didn't care one bit for them. Alina and Catalin have as much chemistry as wet toilet paper and Fell is heavily implied to have found a love interest in Tarlar, but again, I just don't buy it. None of these couples have any chemistry and I honestly feel like they're just together because the plot demands they have a love interest, not because they genuinely feel like they love one another.
So those are the parts that frustrated me. Both their bond being forced, thus not feeling all that genuine; and Alina's chapters honestly overtaking the main plot and Fell's limelight quite a bit; Morgra's totally-out-of-nowhere turn to the side of good and the very weak romances.
I don't think this is a bad book by any means, and if you are interested after reading the first, you can definitely check it out. But just don't be overly excited expecting Fell to be in the spotlight for a lot of it. He is a very strong element in this book, but this really is Alina's story as 70% of the main plot revolves around her and her journey.
Rating:
3/5
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