Author: Andrea Cremer
Published: July 26th 2011
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Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository
This thrilling sequel to the much-talked-about Nightshade begins just where it ended.Calla Tor wakes up in the lair of the Searchers, her sworn enemy, and she's certain her days are numbered.
But then the Searchers make her an offer,one that gives her the chance to destroy her former masters and save the pack and the man she left behind. Is Ren worth the price of her freedom? And will Shay stand by her side no matter what? Now in control of her own destiny, Calla must decide which battles are worth fighting and how many trials true love can endure and still survive.
I had a
blast reading Nightshade and since I’m
not a fan of wolves then it was a total surprise for me. I found Calla to be a
strong heroine and both wolf packs – the Nightshades as well as the Banes –
were full of awesome characters. The world was intriguing and a lot happened in
the first installment. Unfortunately, the sequel somewhat suffered from the
second book syndrome. Let’s get into detail, shall we?
“Staring at the wreckage of the life we could have had, I knew it wasn't about love or Shay or the Searchers now. It was about sacrifice and redemption, loss that could have new meaning.”
The story. Sooo.. after what happened at the end of Nightshade we know Calla has to fight
even more and in a new environment she has to cope with trust issues and
dividing her heart between what she has and what she could have had. Even more
secrets are revealed and absolutely
nothing is as it seems. What Calla thought was right turns out to be a lie
and it’s up to her to save the ones she loves.
My thoughts. Oh-kay.. So.. My favorite character was
missing 95% of the book so I had to find new characters to enjoy. Well, hello Ethan, Connor, Adne and,
surprisingly, Sabine! Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d enjoy her
character. I quite honestly disliked her throughout the entire first book, but now
I see where she’s coming from and her relationship with Calla improved a ton. She
became one of my favorites in Wolfsbane.
Shay – the most boring “hot” love interest ever *yawns* I also wish Calla
could have coped with her “feelings” a little better. She made her bed, now she
has to lay in it. At times I wondered how come she’s an alpha if she didn’t
think about her pack at all when all that jazz went down at the end of Nightshade. Hmh.. Giiiiirl, you better get you act together, is all I'm saying!
90% of the
time it was all talk and only two action scenes. I mean, it’s book two and one
should have more action going on. I understand that we basically saw the world
from a completely different point of view considering where Calla found herself
when Wolfsbane started, but still.. It
should have been more action-packed, not a filler book to lead us to the final battle. The love triangle.. adjksfjafoaijisjaoisjia.
Seriously.. I was just so mad at Shay and I just don’t like the dude at all so
I found myself two new pairings to root for and one of them was Adne and
Connor. I think they are my OTP of this series and I don’t think it’s a spoiler
since you have to be blind if you don’t “see” the way Connor looks at Adne. They’re
perfect, le sigh.
At the end
of the day I liked this book, but I found Nightshade
stronger. The dialogue is good and the characters, mostly, are pretty well
written, however, I think this one could have been more action-packed. I had
one I-didn’t-see-that-coming moment with Ren and his storyline, but other than
that I didn’t find the rest of the revelations that surprising. I just expected
more from this story.
PS. By now, I've read the final book and my review will be up soon.
PS. By now, I've read the final book and my review will be up soon.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
I know, right?!? He was what made this series so interesting since his complex character and feelings were what intrigued me in the first place. I totally agree that the action was there for the smallest amount of time and most of it was talk talk and more talk. Luckily, I found Ethan, Connor and Adne interesting--otherwise I would have died of boredom. Ha, it'll be up soon, but most likely we have a lot in common with Bloodrose:)
ReplyDeleteI wanted to read this series when it was like on book 2 or something, but I decided that I would wait for the final book to come out. Then, all these reviews started coming out about how the wrong love interest was chosen and how the other one died and I decided that I wouldn't be reading it. Plus, from other reviewers description I knew I was rooting for the guy who died. So yeah.
ReplyDeleteAt least there were a couple of characters who were interesting though.
Great review, Siiri! :)
I read and enjoyed Nightshade Siiri, but for some reason I never finished out the trilogy! I'll have to go back and do that, especially now that I've read and loved the two prequel books. I think they were much better than Nightshade, but I'm not sure exactly why. I think I just liked the historical aspect and the time period:) It's a shame this second installment isn't quite as strong, as happens so many times with sequels, but I'm excited to see what you thought of book three!
ReplyDeleteOh My Goodness I felt the same way about Shay! Seriously, you spoke wonders with the 'yawn'. I can't wait to see your review for book 3. I enjoyed it, but was so pissed too! Great review Siiri :)
ReplyDeleteJanina @ Synchronized Reading
I haven't kept up with this one because the last I read I liked but didn't love. Thanks for the review thoug
ReplyDeleteI loved Nightshade, but could totally see what was coming with Ren/Calla/Shay. I didn't even bother to keep up. I just didn't feel Shay at all.
ReplyDeleteGreat review! I'm looking forward to seeing what you have to say about the last book.
Your fave character!! One of the better characters, though if you've read the final book... :(
ReplyDeleteLol, Siiri, I love that entire first paragraph. Such sass to Calla, which I totally agree with. Her actions didn't always indicate her alpha status. And ugh--well, you and I have already discussed this love triangle.
And yeah, when I read this book, I loved all the world-building details but I also agree: there needed to be more character development and action... It was filler.
YES to Adne & Connor. They are so cute and fiesty together. They were one of the reasons why I considered picking up SNAKEROOT (will you?).
Yep, I'll definitely give Snakeroot a try. That cover!!!! Plus, I read in an interview with Andrea that it'll basically be about Adne, Connor, Sabine and Ethan--my four favorite characters in addition to Ren who.. you know. So yes, I'll definitely try this one. I hope it works better for me than Nightshade. I have the first book of the prequel series as well, I hope to give it a try soon as well:) I've heard it's way better and the characters are more tolerable.
DeleteI read the first book and could NOT take the love triangle. Like you, my favorite character was Ren, so I just couldn't go on fearing that he was going to be the loser. This is actually one of the few books that I've looked up the end, although I didn't read it, and I'm not sad about my decision. I agree, Shay did NOTHING for me. I'm really interested to see what you think about the last one too. Will be checking out your review, for sure.
ReplyDeleteWonderful review, Siiri. This series was an utter disappointment for me in the end. I really enjoyed Nightshade, and I had middling feelings about this one. Ren was my favorite character and somehow I think the author made a huge mistake in the writing because somehow instead of getting her readers to like the hero she picked, she had us all rooting for Ren! I HATED the way things ended and not just because of the love angle. I was seriously like: WTF?!! I doubt I'll read another book by her. But never say never...
ReplyDelete