Ninth House meets The Hazel Wood in this riveting sequel to the New York Times bestselling dark academia fantasy Curious Tides, following Emory, Baz, Romie, and Kai on their desperate quests through space and time!Opening locked doors has a price—even for those who hold a key. After going through the door that called to them both in dreams, Emory and Romie find themselves in the the same verdant world written of in Song of the Drowned Gods, albeit a twisted, rotting version of it. A sinister force has awoken with their arrival, intent on destruction as it spills across realms, and now Emory and Romie must stop it before it reaches their own shores. Meanwhile, Baz and Kai are desperate to follow their friends through the door to other worlds, but a mishap pulls them back in time instead—where they come face to face with Cornus Clover himself, famed author of Song of the Drowned Gods. Stuck together in the past, they must navigate a very different Aldryn as they unravel the school’s darkest secrets. Across time and worlds, Emory, Romie, Baz, and Kai find their fates eerily interwoven with the heroes from Clover’s book. But when stories can’t be trusted, friendships are put to the test, and deadly enemies are not always as they seem, they must decide who gets to be a hero—and who is desperate enough to see themselves become a villain.
Title: Stranger Skies (Drowned Gods #2)
Author: Pascale Lacelle
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Children's PUblishing
Expected Publication Date: November 5, 2024
Review:
Thank you to Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing, Margaret K. McElderry Books, Edelweiss, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this title to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
If you have not read the first book in this series, Curious Tides, stop here. There will more than likely be spoilers for that book below. And you'll need to read that first book to understand what happens in this one.
Curious Tides was my favorite book of 2023. I will admit, when it was sent to me I was unsure I'd really want to read it. The length was intimidating but I also judged the book by its cover and it just didn't look inviting to me. Boy was I WRONG! Not only do I now love that cover, but I am in love with all the characters and the world Lacelle has built. It's a very unique magical system and the world building was amazing.
I was super excited to jump into this one seeing as the first one pretty much ended on a cliff hanger. I needed to know what happened to all the characters! This installment of The Drowned Gods series is full of action and adventure. It delves deeper into the magical system and gives a ton of history and background world.
This book is told from four points of view. Yep, two new POVs are added and I'm sure you can imagine that changed the story up quite a bit. Having Romie's POV really expanded how the story progressed. And we got a dip into Kai's POV at the end of the first book so I knew he was going to be included! Plus we still hear from Baz and Emory. It's great to watch the story unfold from all these characters who are complex, real, and very reliable. Do their emotions get involved? They sure do. But it brings just the right amount of drama and intrigue to pull the reader along. I loved seeing the two characters we got to know so well in book one through the eyes of their best friends. We're also introduced to a slew of new characters. One of which is the author of the story which started all the characters down the road of this story.
The romance takes a bit of a turn in this book. We did see it somewhat towards the end of book 1 but it ramps up much more in this book. And those you thought were pining for each other turns out to be a bit different than what we first thought. It's a very slow burn so if you're expecting it to pop out and be real early on, you're in for a surprise. Expect a build until things combust.
This book introduces time travel. Lacelle does a good job with is, as well. I'm always worried that time travel books will have too many complicated things happening and make it hard to understand but that is not the case here. I will say I was surprised at what was reveled by the characters who did travel. I was worried how it would alter the other timeline. The alternating time lines were easy to understand and keep up with. We don't really see the intersection of the timelines until the end, so I'll be interested to see how it plays out in the third book of the series.
Often times the second book of a trilogy suffers from middle books syndrome where the book becomes just filler to get you to the third book that wraps the story up. This is not that book. This book absolutely lends so much to the story. Especially because it explores more worlds than what we saw in the first book. It expands the universe so well. It gives more depth to the characters, plot, and world.
I loved the mystery and intrigue in this book. I will admit it was a long one. I am very intimidated by long books. I did have to take a few breaks. And I did find myself jumping back at times to make sure I understood what was happening as it did get complicated at times. And I love that Lacelle continued using the dark academia introduced int book one in this book. She doesn't take you away from that part of the book which really is so important to the overall story.
While I wanted to love this book as much as the first, I did feel the pacing was not quite as on point with this installment as the first. I struggled at times to understand some of what was happening. There was so much new stuff introduced, such a large expansion of the universe, I sometimes had a hard time keeping it all straight. This brought my rating down. But overall, this is a great continuation of interesting and unique lore with complex characters and time lines that keep you turning the page. Once again we're left with a cliff hanger which leave me wondering just how the author is going to solve the pickle these characters have gotten themselves into! Excited for the next book already!
Pascale Lacelle is a French-Canadian writer from Ottawa, Ontario. A longtime devourer of books, she started writing her own at the age of 13 and quickly became enthralled by the magic of words. After earning her bachelor’s degree in French Literature, she realized the English language is where her literary heart lies (but please don’t tell any of her French professors that). When not lost in stories, she’s most likely daydreaming about food and travel, playing with her dog Roscoe, or trying to curate the perfect playlist for every mood.
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