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4 stars! This review will be spoiler-free for Avenged, but will contain spoilers from Ruined!
Synopsis:
Emelina Flores has rescued her sister, Olivia, from Lera's grasp. She has brought her people back to Ruina. And she is still in love with King Casimir. She only wants the killing to stop, she wants the kingdoms to come to peace. Em just wants to keep the Ruined safe.
Olivia has other plans. She wants any and every Leran to pay for what they did to her, no matter innocence or guilt. In fact, she wants every human to pay for the wrongs they did. Whether that was Olso standing back while they were slaughtered, Hunters for openly killing Ruined, or Lera for holding her prisoner. She will have all their heads.
Em and Liv have very different views of what is best for the Ruined, and when it comes down to it, will Em chose loyalty to her family or will she choose love?
Initial thoughts:
I may have given this book 4 stars, but my enjoyment throughout the entire story is def 5 stars! I think my heart lives for the torture that "star-crossed lovers" stories cause. The star crossed lovers being Cas and Em stuck in a huge entanglement of alliances, fake agreements, struggles for power, and revenge. Their romance was so freakin' cute, how they'll always find their way back to each other. I just SHIP IT SO MUCH.
In the beginning, there were so many new players added to the field I kept thinking to myself, "oh gods, how in the world are they going to get out of this one." I mean between Cas with the good half of Lera, Jovita with the bad half of Lera, August with Olso, and Em & Olivia with the Ruined, this book felt a whole lot like a strategic chess match, but instead of two players, there's five with each of their own armies! Avenged definitely focused more on the characters and their development rather than action and battles. There were plenty of battles to go around, but many of them were short lived with decently large body counts until the very end when the bloodshed really started to pick up.
There were barely any downers for me other than dealing with Olivia and Jovita's horrendous personalities and kinda getting mad at Cas for being an idiot for the first half of the book, but I understand that was all necessary for the story. The fact that Tintera was able to elicit those strong emotions towards all these characters says something about her writing.
Oh my... I'm at a loss of words. No second book slump whatsoever! This book was full of emotion and unbelievably fast-paced. I feel like everything happened in the blink of an eye. Avenged isn't really one for elaborate plot twists or big surprises, but it was still full of the good kind of craziness and split decisions. I loved every bit of it!! The ending of this book left me dying for the next. I can't wait!!
Plot: THANK TINTERA FOR NO SECOND BOOK SLUMP!
Fast, fast, fast! Everything happened so fast! Someone makes a move, the opponent retaliates, but only to half of the other opponent, then the side party tries to make an alliance and help, but that falls through because other connections are still in place. Battle, then plan, then battle again, then regroup and rebuild. More politics, more about governing, more about the people. NO rest for anyone. NO chance to catch your breath. This was one amazing sequel to transition to the third and final book. I think this series was perfect for three books and I can only imagine what’s to come next.
Everyone is so sneaky in this book. Having to go behind people’s back because they just aren’t able to be reasoned with *cough cough* Olivia, *cough cough* Jovita. I mean who do they think they are anyway with Jovita trying to steal the throne and Olivia not listening to one inkling of peace. Thank goodness Em had the patience to deal with her because I would not have been able to stand it. I know Em’s uselessness is going to play a role in the book to come because she’s going to need her immunity in the face of Olivia’s immense power. I’m slightly surprised though with how Cas chose to handle Jovita. Something’s gotta give between them because I don’t know how long Cas can continue to let her live and be forgiving for her actions.
I appreciate the side characters. That may sound weird, but like… Violet for example. She hates Em. Never shows love for the girl. Admits it openly. Has great reasons to hate Em. BUT is still able to follow her leader and make rational decisions regarding the queen of the Ruined. Gallo and his lover Mateo are so so cute too. I’m happy for the representation in this book no matter how minimal. And Aren and Iria! They’ve opened up a new discovery about Ruined magic and I hope that gets explored more in the third book. I have feelings it will.
When August showed up, I was extremely worried about a possibly messy love triangle, BUT PRAISE. There wasn’t one and I was so so so happy for this. He also manages to open up more of the world for us. We got introduced to Olso because of him and we got to meet more royals that we’ve only heard about in passing. August even spices things up for the story towards the end, but he pays for it severely. That ending was NO JOKE. I was so nervous the entire last third of the book because it was dangerous for everyone.
Despite the very gory and very murderous paths characters chose to take in this sequel, I didn’t think it was overtly dark. Just lots of insanity. LOTS. And I don’t even mean twists and turns or flips or hurricanes. It was just so crazy, you didn’t have time to make major predictions because by the time that happened, the book is already past that part. Despite that, nothing felt rushed either! The cliffhanger at the end gave me similar vibes to the ending of book one and now I just need the last book like yesterday.
Characters:
EMELINA gets a gold star for effort. She just tries and tries and tries to make everything work out for her people, for her sister, for herself least of all. And nothing ever seems to go her way. Eventually she’s going to have to make some hard decisions and I don’t know if she’ll be ready for it. I believe in her though. I have all the faith in her capabilities to be not only an amazing queen of the Ruined, but of anyone who follows her lead.
CASIMIR was a little squirt in the beginning. So pitiful honestly. Then, it started to make sense why. And then I forgave him for being so pitiful. I really really really liked Cas in book one. He was so kind and reasonable and that continues in book two. He’s also becoming a lot smarter. And more ruthless. Finally, Cas finds a backbone! His willingness to fight for Em too is so sweet. I SHIP THEM SO MUCH.
AREN grew the MOST out of all the characters in this book. We already knew Em and Cas had changes of hearts in the first book, but it was Aren’s turn in this one. It took some time, but eventually he was won over and we knew it was going to happen because he will follow Em’s lead to the end of the Earth. I especially love how he not only got over the main prejudice exploited in book one over the Lerans, but over humans in general. His friendship with Em is also very admirable. I like how it was never in question whether those two had feelings for each other.
IRIA may be a new favorite of mine. I feel like we still don’t really know her well enough. We don’t know her background, we don’t know her family, we don’t know her full personality. She’s still a pretty flat character for me, but her romance with Aren took such a forefront in Aren’s POVs you can’t ignore her.
OLIVIA is insane to put it mildly. She is a hot-headed storm. She is all power and all action, no questions asked. Which is not a good thing when it comes to negotiations. She really annoyed me the whole entire book, but I assume that is what Tintera wanted us to feel. Wanted us to side Em because she’s the good one, the one who should be queen. Well, mission accomplished. I cannot stand Olivia.
Overall:
My enjoyment level of this book definitely exceeded the first. This book exceeded my expectations. Avenged was just so so so so good, I don’t know how Amy Tintera is going to top it?! I just need by babies to be safe and together. I have so much that I want to happen in this last book, I hope all my wishes actually take place. Even if they come as no surprise. I’ll be happy.