Review by Kirkus Book Review
The love between two of Saverio's heroes is put to the ultimate test in Thiede's exhilarating follow-up to This Vicious Grace (2022). After defeating Crollo's most recent Divorando, Finestra Alessa and Dante, her bodyguard-turned-lover whom she resurrected, look forward to moving on with their lives. But their battle with the scarabei--and Dante's return to the living afterward--came with a price: Dante has become fully mortal, having lost his healing powers as a ghiotte, and Alessa has harnessed a harrowing ability to enter people's minds. With the couple's happily-ever-after remaining out of reach, Alessa's nightmares and Dante's troubling visions from Dea manifest when a friend, momentarily possessed, delivers an ominous message from the gods about another war to come. Dante; Alessa; Alessa's twin brother, Adrick; and the team of Fonti who protected Saverio from the Divorando embark on a journey to find the other ghiotte--hiding in exile after centuries of persecution--and enlist their help to stop an even greater attack from Crollo during the next eclipse. Readers will fall deeper in love with Dante and Alessa, whose individual explorations of identity and self-love amid impending chaos are heart-wrenchingly honest. But it's the portrayal of their growth as a pair--in a relationship that's filled with endless flirty banter, mutual understanding, and acceptance of each other's flaws--that is especially satisfying and wholesome. Characters vary in skin tone; there's natural representation of queerness and disability. A rewarding, passionate, and beautifully characterized duology closer. (Fantasy. 14-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
