ARC Review: Chasm (The Glacian Trilogy #2) by Stacey McEwan

Dawsyn’s fight to save the people of the Ledge is far from over in this thrilling and highly anticipated sequel to the bestselling, Ledge
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Dawsyn’s miraculous escape from the Ledge was just the beginning. In the queens’ dungeon, Dawsyn awaits her execution while reliving the death of her lover, Ryon. There is no chance of mercy.

But hope finds her in the form of rescue by her village friends. Now on the run and struggling to tame her newly-gained and greatly unstable powers, Dawsyn's journey continues. Facing betrayal anew, she must learn patience and trust as she builds strength on all fronts, while she and her comrades recover and ready themselves for what's to come.

As they ascend the perilous mountain slopes to the Glacian kingdom once again in a desperate attempt to save those remaining on the Ledge, Dawsyn must battle wills as well as weapons, before discovering an entirely new evil awaiting her…

Title: Chasm (The Glacian Trilogy #2)

Author: Stacey McEwan

Publisher: Angry Robot
Expected Publication Date: 9/12/23

Review:

Thank you to NetGalley and Angry Robot for providing me with an egalley of this book to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

In this follow up to Ledge (The Glacian Trilogy #1), we continue to follow Dawsyn's story. It picks up right where the first book left off which is great considering the doozy of an ending McEwan gave us!. This second book is not one you can read if you don't have the information from the first book, including the world building which is a heavy part of the plot. Having been deceived by Ryon, she is trapped in the dungeons of the Queens. But she is strong, if not strong willed, and has more people on her side than she knows and finds herself escaped and on the run. But she's determined to save the people of the ledge. Along with some old friends, and some new ones, we follow her story.

This book starts with a bang. It was tense and truly kept my interest. I really wanted to see where Dawsyn's story was going and how she would manage. She receives help in so many unexpected places. I enjoyed how this book was not only plot driven, but also character driven. There's immense growth to Dawsyn. And we get to know Salem, Baltisse, Exra, and a few others even better. Each character lending something unique to the story.

As with the first book, this one has an interesting writing style. As an American, it took some getting used to the different spellings of words. There was a point I even went to look the words up to see if these were typos. The third person limited point of view allows us to see trough the eyes of more than one character. Lots of inner monologue to drive the book through the character's eyes. We get a new point of view in this book, as well.

There is a roller coaster of emotions in this book. I had many moments where the tension was almost overwhelming. The romance gave a good slow burn in this book, as well. And then there are the areas of comic relief which are greatly needed considering the emotional ride you are expected to endure. And there were definitely some moments where I shed tears.

I will say I was expecting a bit more of the book to include the villains, but we don't really see them all that much after the first third of the book. It suffered a bit from "second book in a trilogy" or "middle book" syndrome. Lots of wandering for the characters, circling back to things over and over again, and an inability to truly move forward for a good portion of the book. And there's a bit of a slow down in the middle plus some areas where the plot seems to stagnate and I had to push through, thus my 4 star rating. 

Overall, this was a great follow up to the first book. And the ending, while not a cliffhanger, leaves me wanting more of the story. I need to know what happens to the people of the ledge and to Dawsyn and her band of misfits.

Stacey McEwan lives in Queensland, Australia with her husband and two children. She is a teacher by day, writer by night.