Death becomes her
Synopsis
Suri survived the fallout of Queen Lera’s ceremony, but now finds herself deep in unfamiliar territory—the City of the Damned. The City’s deadly ruler, Kol, believes she’s the key to breaking the curse upon the desert wasteland. Suri just wants to save her brother and forge her own destiny away from the growing temptations of Kol’s court.
As dangerous threats loom, Suri discovers her unique blood bond might not simply save her own skin: it could be the only way to stop Queen Lera. Spellbinding balls, glamours, blood witches, and prophecies await… but only if Suri steps deeper into Kol’s dark history.
In the tantalising second book in the Amefyre series, passions will rise as Kol and Suri balance on a knife-edge between desire and disaster.
Review
In A Pocket of Lies, released earlier this year, R A Sandpiper brought us a fantasy debut with everything going right for it: a fast-paced, twist-filled world of intriguing magic and devious politics featuring one of the main characters of the year in the gale force hurricane known as Suri; a perpetually furious thief out for revenge against those wronged her who tornadoed her way round the various kingdoms of Pereginus in a mixture of cunning, haplessness, fury and self hatred, occasionally stopping to plant some extremely slow burn seeds into an immediately compelling romance interest in the form of a demonic antihero who everyone says is very evil but may just have been the victim of some unfair propaganda.
But with the sequel A Promise of Blood, one thing is clear: everything – including all the hints at complex backstory and a deeper magic system, not to mention the tantalisingly dripfeed hate-burn romance at the centre of it all, was merely build up to this confident, immensely addictive and searingly well written sequel, where everything comes together to make one of the fantasy rides of the year.
Before I get to the characterisation – and oh, what characterisation – it needs to be said how deeply and gloriously fun this book is. It begins straight after the previous one ends, with Suri and her hate-beau Kol in the City of the Damned – which turns out to be not so damned in one way but very much damned in another (please read the book and then tell me how clever that sentence was, yours, my ego). From then on, we get a whip speed series of set pieces taking us to places old and new as Kol and Suri attempt to stop the evil fae queen from her very nasty plans involving the god of death (don’t even expect me to explain the wonderful yet complex plot; not only do I not wish to spoil it for Book 1 novices but I also don’t have twenty years).
We get to see the Fae court, an enormously entertaining land of perpetual orgies, whose devious but lovable King steals every scene he’s in. We return to some old villains. And we get an ambitious plan that mixes politics with magic with soul-selling and that’s never less than great fun, albeit fun drenched in a satisfyingly brutal land where everyone, even the heroes, have blood on their hands. And it’s funny – the last book was witty but Sandpiper is even more confident here; the whip smart banter sings and some lines are laugh-out-loud.
Along with the fast plot comes a whole load of worldbuilding focused on the magic system – life and death powers – and the strange gods of life and death that power it, as well as how Kol and Suri figure in the mythology and new prophecy for the land. It works partly because it’s fascinating and is doled out carefully amongst the witty banter and quick scene shifts but also because it’s cleverly tied to the characterisation – how do you maintain enough balance so you don’t give into death? Might be an issue when you’re around so much death as Suri. How you control yourself enough to give life? Quite hard when you hate yourself. The role of Amefyre, the gem that gives the series its name, also gets very interesting. It seems to act in the reverse to the magic jade of Fonda Lee’s Green Bone saga – the more you put on, the less powers you have, which, in the case of terrifyingly potent wielder of death Kol, is normally a good thing.
But the heart of this book is its characterisation, and here is where this sequel shines. Suri is (a little) calmer than the Richter-scale breaking earthquake she was in the last one, and has begun to reckon with how she, not others, is responsible for her decisions and, most interestingly, the crippling sense of self-hatred that colours her every decision.
Her partner in this journey of discovery is the same one, Kol, who she is slowly dialling up the spice level with, and his understanding of her shame and self-hatred even as they’re trying not to tear the clothes off each other is endlessly interesting. It’s all in the nuances; early on in the book he shows her how much he gets her by slowing down to allow her injured self to catch up, yet not turning and stopping to show pity for her. This is clever writing. And it’s not just the central pairing who get to shine – arguably the best scene of the book is a game of truth or dare without the dare where Suri and her nemesis Scilla begin to understand the origins of their hatred a little more. It’s such a sharp, nuanced scene; my breath was held throughout.
Of course, those who came for the romance will be wondering if the slow-burn ever puts its foot to the pedal here, and that would be telling, but let’s just say that some patience may be rewarded, and that some cold showers, or at least the threat of them, may need to be on standby. But any hint of heat is not just to reward the reader; Sandpiper uses her spice explosions (as in one memorable scene of frankly superhuman control) to show just how much Suri’s demonic maybe-man understands her – more nuances in a deeply rewarding story where even the passion has a point.
Overall, this sequel confirms that the Amefyre series is turning into something really special: fast twists and faster wit, dark magic and darker politics, addictively nuanced characters and a refreshingly real romance. This series is your new obsession
A Promise of Blood is out October 6th. You can also buy a signed copy direct from the author here
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