Book two, and the book that made me start reading this series because of the wolves on the cover. Spoilers ahead!
Some time after Serafina and her friend Braeden defeated the man with the black cloak, yet another mysterious dark figure, this time carrying a special cane that can transform into a staff, appears at the Biltmore terrain. Animals also start to act weird, including Braeden's very dear Dobermann named Gidean. Serafina is determined to get to the bottom of the situation once again, and ends up discovering more about herself in the process.
Overall I think this one was better than the first in most regards. I liked it better, I liked the characters better and I just had a better time reading it. The first book isn't bad at all, mind you, but this one took things up a notch for me. Though I still don't think I enjoyed this book enough for a four-star rating. It's better than the first, but not by a long shot.
The characters I liked better here. Serafina and Braeden both get a bit of character development here, and I like how we get at least some reveals about their special abilities and backstories. It turns out that Breaden isn't just good with animals, he might actually possess healing powers he doesn't quite understand. Serafina already knew of her mother having the ability to shapeshift into a cougar, but this book she finds out more about herself, her people and heritage, and some hints about who her father is. Turns out, she's not just half-cougar, but her father probably was a black panther, with her feline form taking on that of a black cougar. The other characters I was mostly mixed on, with them still being rather basic.
However, I was interested by the character of Rowena. At first she appears to just be a snobbish rich girl trying to win over Braeden and separate him from Serafina. But after a while she seems to come around and even joins Serafina and Braeden in their mission to stop the new villain. I liked this development, but then in the climax it turns out that Rowena was actually working together with the main villain all along, being his daughter. Honestly not sure how to feel about this, but at the same time she was at least an interesting character with a lot to her.
Though I think I'd have personally preferred it if she became a new member of the main team. I like it when Serafina, who has been friendless for most of her life, makes new friends. It's usually super wholesome. Back when it happened with Breaden it was, and in this book she also befriends a maid named Essie. And even when Rowena was keeping up her façade and "befriending" Serafina it appeared nice. More people should treat Serafina well, she deserves it. Ah well, at least she has Braeden, Essie and Waysa now. And the Biltmores are treating her well again.
The villain of this book I was less thrilled about. He wasn't exactly memorable outside of his powers to control animals and shapeshift into an owl. His backstory didn't interest me and honestly I can't even remember his real name outside of the local natives calling him the Darkness. I guess it's neat that he has a daughter who was playing along with his plan all this time and tricking Serafina and Braeden, but I just didn't vibe with him as a main villain.
Another thing that has me at least a slight bit uncomfortable is that this book is set in 1899 in a real location in the USA, and this book does acknowledge the fact that slavery is a thing in this universe and that the Biltmore estate was at least partially built by slaves. Yet it's never really elaborated on further. Like, shouldn't at least one of our main characters in order to seem more likable be like "hey that's kinda fucked up"? I get that it's that era and that some people would probably find it "normal", such as the rich Biltmores, but others?
For example, Serafina always kind of grew up outside of society aside from her father and it's also heavily implied in this book that she's (at least partly) Native American. So to see them look back on pictures of Biltmore being built by black slaves and just gloss over the fact feels weird. I'd understand if someone like Rowena (while keeping up her act) or heck even Braeden would think like this due to their privileged upbringing, being upper-class white folks in this era. But the fact that the book addresses how the estate came about and even Serafina doesn't even bat an eye feels weird. The last book also briefly mentioned slavery in this era, but at least it was in a bad context (the main villain was a former slave owner). But here it's just glanced over as if it's just another fact of life when, ya know, it shouldn't be.
Oh and one tiny note that I don't hold against the book but is 99% just an issue with my Dutch translation: at one point they referred to one of the deer in this (USA-based) book as a roe deer and everyone with a lick of sense knows that those don't live in there but rather in Europe. It's also not the first time I've seen this happen in translated books that take place in the USA, so often the Dutch translations seem to insist that red deer (usually elk in the original version), fallow deer and roe deer live in North America. They do not and it's annoying that this is a recurring error I've seen across various translations of books. But, again, I don't hold it against the book because I don't think it was in the original version. Can't confirm because I don't have an English copy, though.
Overall this was a good book and I had a good time reading it, but it wasn't all that memorable for me personally. That's really my main issue with the Serafina books I've read so far. They're good on a basic level, but nothing about the characters, plots, etc. really stand out to me except for some mildly interesting concepts such as the shapeshifters in this universe.
Rating: 3.5/5
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