Synopsis
A tale of honor, dragons, and a love that endures beyond death
Come for the journey through the underworld. Stay for the suspiciously familiar winged cat.
After their dubiously successful quest to slay the White Lady and recover the Fireborne Blade, Sir Maddileh and Saralene set about changing their world for the better. But the cursed and newly-promoted High Mage Saralene must visit the afterlife to ask a favor of the Bloodless Princes who run the underworld.
But Saralene and Sir Maddileh will soon discover that the old tales only hold so much truth in them, though perhaps there’s enough to make a start on their new journey.
To escape the underworld alive, Saralene will need a lot more than just her wits. And Maddileh will need more than just her Fireborne Blade.
Review
Huge thanks to TorDotCom, NetGalley, and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. Helen McAlpine once again knocks it out of the park. The quality of the voices done is incredible.
Taking place right after the first, Saralene has to deal with the curses of her predecessor in a trial that leads her to the underworld. As the blurb states this is a mix of Orpheus and A Natural History of Dragons, with a vivid and bustling depiction of life after death. For some reason, underworld scenes always bring to mind the number taking scene from Beetlejuice, and while this novella doesn’t depict the souls there as horrific/harmed beings, there still is that added layer where you know they’re dead in the back of your mind.
The biggest plot point that gets moved along here is the relationship budding between Saralene and her protector, Maddileh. As her champion, they shouldn’t be seen together in that light, but as they go through twists and turns in the underworld, literally fighting for survival, sometimes plans go belly up, and the only thing left to embrace is those you truly love.
The sequel also continued the trend of the first with epigraph-like chapters giving the world lore and background information for the story. While these worked a bit less for me this time around, as I felt like they take up just as much space as the actual story, I still found the novella to be enjoyable overall. I think the main thing that stood out to me is how straightforward everything is. With it being short, there’s little room for deliberation or thought, and everything happens in a sometimes too neat row, including the combat beats. However, if you found enjoyment in the first, you absolutely will enjoy the sequel.
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