As you may have seen on Youtube, I did a follow up panel to a YA SFF 2022 panel and it was such a joy to be re-acquainted with these worlds. So today I’ll be sharing five mini reviews from this YA SFF 2023 Sequel panel. Keep reading this book review for my full thoughts.
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Mindbreaker by Kate Dylan
They saved her life. But at what cost?
Born into a religious cult on the fringe of society, Indra Dyer lives a simple, tech-free existence. But when an illicit trip to the city leaves her with a debilitating – and terminal – condition, Indra must make a choice: die faithful or betray her Order and accept the cure Glindell Technologies is offering.
Forced to sign over full ownership of her life, Indra is horrified to learn the true nature of Glindell’s plans. Instead of saving her body, they upload her mind to a first of its kind MindDrive, housed in a fully robotic shell.
On the outside, Indra still looks the same; on the inside, she’s not so sure. More than once, she finds herself in places she really shouldn’t be, with no memory of how she got there, and dangerous abilities she can’t explain. So when news breaks of an attack against Glindell’s biggest rival, Indra begins to suspect the worst.
With help from her one friend at the company, Tian — a research assistant with questionable morals and a smile that won’t quit — Indra must uncover the truth behind the procedure that saved her life, before Glindell can use it to change the face of technology, and what it means to be human, forever.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
One thing that immediately struck me about Indra was how different she is to Sil. It’s this intense clash of technology and anti-technology grounded in a religious fervor. I already loved the world from Mindwalker, but watching it in an entirely new life was incredibly special. Mindbreaker explores similar themes of bodily control and choices in this tech world through a different lens. A way which has us questioning our dreams and nights, the ownership of our body when we have no other choices, and the violations of our own mind.
It’s a world where we question the corporate ethics and zeal as well as the ethics and edicts of her religious background. Mindbreaker delivers a story that teaches us to question everything especially the technology in the air we breath. It asks us, amidst action and running, what it means to be human, to love, to have family. One of those truly special companion novels which feels so seamless from the first and yet so distinctive. Find Mindbreaker on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop.org, & Blackwells.
Clash of Fate and Fury by Rachel Menard
Seventeen-year-old Gen may have rescued her beloved father from prison, but she hasn’t saved him yet. If she fails her end of a bargain with the Olympian Empresses, they will send him right back to his cell. To keep the Empresses happy, Gen must bring them the legendary golden apples of Hesperides and the monstrous Cerberus. But both are rumored to be in the neighboring Elysium Empire, which has a long history of war with Olympia. Making matters worse, Gen’s former enemy and newly designated heir to the isle of Arcadia Castor invites herself on the journey, hoping a golden apple could end Arcadia’s reliance on Illumium for storm vials. And Castor’s twin brother, Gen’s StormMaker boyfriend Pollux, has been pulling away from Gen due to troubles stemming from her mind magic.
With Castor’s pirate-thief girlfriend and Pollux’s servant companion in tow, the unlikely team embarks on its voyage. But war is only an insult away in Elysium, and more than the Emperor has their eyes on Gen’s mission. The quest has caught the attention of one of Elysium’s Oracles, and trouble is sure to brew with Prophecy on the rise.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
Clash of Fate and Fury is perfect for readers still interested in Greek Mythology. Continuing the theme of impossible tasks, Gen is put through another set of hurdles. She’s immediately, and continually, asked what she will do for family, for ambition, and for freedom. Opening up the world, Clash of Fate and Fury is an action packed sequel which introduces war tension and politics from the beginning. Reading all three of their perspectives – Castor, Pollux, and Gen – immediately gives Clash of Fate and Fury an epic feeling.
My favorite theme from Clash of Fate and Fury has to be what we will do for power and, more importantly, with power. And this is a theme that is explored in every perspective whether it’s magical powers or love. There’s fabulous family dynamics which makes me thankful for my less complex family issues. This sequel is all about ambition and motivation. The lines we will cross for family and in spite of family. I also loved the ways Menard explores agency and mind magic – if you love this concept then you’ll have to check this sequel out! Find Clash of Fate and Fury on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop.org, & Blackwells.
The Crimson Fortress by Akshaya Raman
The search for the Ivory Key has brought royal siblings Vira, Ronak, Kaleb, and Riya closer than they have been in years as they try to restore magic and stability to Ashoka. But despite finally getting their hands on the long-lost key, uncovering its cipher has proved more complicated and dangerous than they ever expected.
Their missions force them to split up and disperse them across Ashoka and beyond. When a rash decision by the council strips Vira of her power, her journey to reclaim her throne takes on new meaning. Kaleb travels to the neighboring country of Lyria to uncover its emperor’s motives and meets a prince seeking answers of his own. Ronak’s efforts to escape his arranged marriage and exonerate his brother lead to a series of risky deals that only bring him closer to what he’s running from. And Riya’s newfound power has turned unpredictable, but her search for answers only raises more questions.
When their attempts at decoding the key release an ancient power, the siblings must align to face the past and save their future once and for all. In a quest that culminates in a deadly labyrinth, there’s only one way they will succeed: together.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
The family themes in The Crimson Fortress is hands down my favorite element. It’s a book that doesn’t take the ‘easy way’ out of what happens when someone you love, someone we trusted, betrays our trust. How do we ever get back that sense of camaraderie? How do we ever become a person who was never tricked? It can completely change the ways we feel, the ways we see ourselves. I loved witnessing the characters, and family, navigating the trust, motivations, and secrets.
It also explores the fragility of power and how quickly it can be lost. I know that typically sequels build upon the world and really delve into themes, but this is solidly the case in The Crimson Fortress. The world, our family, can have images of how our future should be for us, and roles we have to play. What happens if we aren’t the heroes of the story – if we don’t feel like it? It’s a great conclusion that builds upon the world and characters in an expansive way that Raman has created since The Ivory Key. Find The Crimson Fortress on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop.org, & Blackwells.
The Lighstruck by Sunya Mara
Vesper Vale sacrificed everything to save her city from the cursed storm. After becoming a vessel of The Great Queen, Vesper awakes from a slumber three years after her life altering choice.
What she finds isn’t a home freed from the terror of the storm, but one where its citizens are besieged by the even more sinister force of The Great King and his growing army of the lightstruck—once regular citizens who are now controlled by the ominous light encroaching on the city. And the people are all looking to Vesper, now revered as a goddess after her sacrifice, as their city’s only hope.
To save the rings from the Great King, Vesper must contend with the obligations of being a deity to her people and the growing chasm between her and Dalca, the prince she swore never to love. Haunted by the guilt of their past choices and faced with the pressures of a city near ruin, Vesper and Dalca find themselves torn between the growing factions within the city and the royal court.
But in order to save her city from the light, Vesper must face the power most outside of her control—the goddess within.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
From the beginning of The Lightstruck I was….struck. I had to! I love the ways Mara dunks us back into the world in a major and surprising way. Years after The Darkening, for Vesper the world she know is completely different. There’s been not only a power void, but also confronted with a world where our legends and stories, the past, takes on a life of its own. From this point onward, I couldn’t stop thinking about the relativity of stories, heroes and villains, and the power that builds when we sleep.
The truth left out of the story. Flattened until it is something people can simplify, not one of details, complexities, and difficult truths. In this new world, what will remain and who has everyone become? As one continues to read The Lightstruck, it explores how a lack of knowledge, ignorance, isn’t protection. So many times people will tell you that they didn’t tell you as a way of protecting you robbing you of the choice of yourself. The Lighstruck is haunting and one that you definitely have to check out even just for the intrigue alone. Find The Lightstruck on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop.org, & Blackwells.
This Cursed Light by Emily Thiede
Six months after saving their island from destruction and almost losing Dante, Alessa is ready to live happily ever after with her former bodyguard. But Dante can’t rest, haunted by a conviction that the gods aren’t finished with them yet. And without his powers, the next kiss from Alessa could kill him.
Desperate for answers, Dante enlists Alessa and their friends to find the exiled ghiotte in hopes of restoring his powers and combining forces with them to create the only army powerful enough to save them all. But Alessa is hiding a deadly consequence of their last fight–a growing darkness that’s consuming her mind–and their destination holds more dangers than anyone bargained for. In the mysterious city of the banished, Dante will uncover secrets, lies, and ghosts from his past that force him to ask himself: Which side is he on?
When the gods reveal their final test, Dante and Alessa will be the world’s last defense. But if they are the keys to saving the world, will their love be the price of victory?
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
This Cursed Light begins by asking us what we would truly sacrifice for love. Beginning knowing that nothing is ever as simple as ‘happily ever after’, This Cursed Light begins on a tense edge of the knife. Reeling from the emotional whirlwind and actions of This Vicious Grace, for Alessa and Dante their journey and turmoil is far from over. They’re still very much working through the trauma of the last book. I think what I enjoyed was how This Cursed Light works through their relationship.
Because of that, I enjoyed watching their relationship trip and fall, evolve, more that in This Vicious Grace. To realize how hard it is to need someone, to accept someone’s help. It’s also a sequel that has not pretended that the actions of the first was a band aid on the divisions and unequal powers. With a satisfying conclusion, this sequel made me believe more in Dante and Alessa not only together, but also individually. Find This Cursed Light on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop.org, & Blackwells.