ARC Review: Wild Savage Stars (Sweet Black Waves #2) by Kristina Pérez
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Series: Sweet Black Waves #2
Author: Kristina Pérez
Published August 27th 2019 by Imprint
Goodreads Synopsis
Inspired by the legend of Tristan and Iseult, Wild Savage Stars is the spellbinding sequel to Sweet Black Waves.
Branwen has a secret powerful enough to destroy two kingdoms.
Her ancient magic led to a terrible betrayal by both her best friend, the princess Essy, and her first love, Tristan. Now this same magic is changing Branwen. Adrift in a rival court, Branwen must hide the truth from the enemy king by protecting the lovers who broke her heart―and finds herself considering a darker path.
Not everyone wants the alliance with Branwen’s kingdom to succeed―peace is balanced on a knife’s edge, and her only chance may be to embrace the darkness within…
Goodreads
Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher. This in no way impacted on my view.
Following on from the dramatic climax of Sweet Black Waves, Branwen and co have now landed in Kernyv, and Eseult is preparing to marry King Marc. Because of Eseult and Tristan's betrayal on board the ship, Branwen has to work extra hard to ensure that no one discovers what happened, and protect the tentative peace between their two nations. Meeting the Kernyv royal family, from King Marc, to the Dowager Queen Verica, to Princes' Ruan and Andred, Branwen finds both friends and enemies. With her magic developing and changing the longer she is in the kingdom, she is really struggling to come to terms with her own heartbreak, and hatred. With all the strings that Branwen is trying to control, will she manage to do so without hurting herself, or worse, her kingdoms?
When I read Sweet Black Waves back in October, I enjoyed the book, but found myself hating some of the characters, and not loving it. Now, we have numerous new characters, and I, for the most part, loved this book. Okay, Eseult was still a spoilt brat, if not more so, and I don't think she'll ever redeem herself in my eyes. Everything that Branwen was doing was for her, and she threw in back in her face, again and again. All moony-eyed over Tristan, making it plainly obvious to all that the True Queen did not love the True King, but rather the prince she had manoeuvred into being her own Champion, and not particularly caring what the fall out would be. Tristan just went along with it all, and even though he had the decency to acknowledge how he had hurt Branwen, he continued to be with Eseult as much as he could, helping to cement Branwen's pain, and making it more dangerous for them all. Branwen has improved so much and continued to develop throughout this book that I can't even imagine how wonderful she will be at the end of the next book! He strengths and vulnerabilities were on show again and again, and I loved seeing her find her feet in Kernyv, and truly come into her own!
King Marc, considering he was the person in charge of the kingdom that had terrorised Iveriu for so long, was a lovely character, and I really felt for him throughout the entire book. He truly believed in the peace, and wanted to be a good husband to Eseult, who treated him like rubbish. He was sweet with Branwen, and their camaraderie was perfect. The new princes, Ruan and Andred, were lovely too. Ruan was a bit pompous when we first meet him, but he cared about his kingdom, and his and Branwen's chemistry was fantastic. Tristan had completely betrayed Branwen, and was never good enough for her but Ruan could just be the person Branwen deserves. His younger brother, Andred, was Marc's cupbearer, who had an interest in healing, and worked as Branwen's apprentice. He was sweet, and showed how much he loved his family and just wanted to do what was right whenever he could to help those he cared about. I'm definitely looking forward to the final book in the series, Bright Raven Skies, and am so glad I continued with the series.
Dates Read:
July 18-21, 2020
Rating
4 Stars
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