Bring on the year of the lady knights! The Second Death of Locke has taken me by storm. I am fully obsessed, talk to me again when book two is out. Keep reading this book review of The Second Death of Locke for my full thoughts.
Summary
Grey Flynn has dedicated her life to her mage, Kier.
She will be his blade on the battlefield, his healer and protector. The deep well of raw power inside her is Kier’s to use. Grey would do anything for Kier – be anything for him – if he would only ask.
When a quest to protect the child of an enemy kingdom pulls them into the dangerous heart of their nation’s war, Grey and Kier will need to decide what they are willing to sacrifice to protect their secret.
For Grey is no ordinary magical well, but heir to the lost island of Locke – the root of all power. If she dies, all magic dies with her.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
I adored The Second Death of Locke and I’m not sure I’m fully recovered yet. The Second Death of Locke was everything I wanted. It was full of so many swoons, I almost swooned myself. The beginning is full of so much tension you’d have to cut it with a sword not even a butter knife. If you love exquisite and tender work, The Second Death of Locke is for you. It has such incredible pacing which only increases until we’re riding a wave of an avalanche. But it begins at the heart of the book with Grey and Kier. With these two characters who have become pieces of each other. It’s a relationship that transcends words and labels. That’s just the way a mage and well operate as it relies on trust above all else.
I think of him, always, and nothing could enrage me more.
When someone could hold our ruin or our power in their hands, that relationship becomes something more. And The Second Death of Locke begins there. It quickly develops into a story about choices and sacrifice. With a beautiful heart of found family, The Second Death of Locke unfolds into a story about care in a world that puts the individuals second to their power and potential. It’s a world where we are constantly asked what people would do for power, the ways they would break families, alliances, and children to their will.
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Why must you always sacrifice yourself and call that love.
Against such a yawning gaping maw of ambition, where does one person stand against the flood? How do we face the immense loss of our lives to rise for another day? And who do we meet the storm with when our day of reckoning comes? The Second Death of Locke also examines the relationship between love and sacrifice. How we would never want the ones we love to sacrifice, but how it becomes un-tetherable. That when we love someone so much it becomes like breathing. When we are almost possessed by a love like that, we need to realize that love without choices isn’t love at all. It’s a messy interconnected web of sacrifice and love, duty and betrayal, protection and secrets.
Find The Second Death of Locke on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon(US)(UK), Bookshop. org, Blackwells, & Libro. fm.