*Spoiler free, but spoilers for Ignite The Stars*
Ia Cōcha never thought she’d be working for the Olympus Commonwealth. But that was before she found out her trusted brother Einn was trying to tear apart the universe. Now, Ia, the Blood Wolf of the Skies, has agreed to help the Royal Star Force on one condition: when she finds him, she gets to kill Einn herself. Brinn Tarver has just come to terms with her Tawny identity when the public lashes out against her people, crushing her family. At her breaking point, she starts to question everything she believes in—including Ia. After the death of his mentor, Knives Adams is doing his best to live up to a role he didn’t ask for as Aphelion’s new headmaster. Still, with each new step deeper into war, he feels torn between his duties and the pull of Ia’s radical—sometimes criminal—ideas. As they fight to keep darkness from eclipsing the skies, their unpredictable choices launch this breathtaking sequel to explosive new heights
Wow. I’ve been looking forward to this book since I finished Ignite The Stars. I loved Ignite The Stars a whole lot and I was really looking forward to seeing what path the sequel would take. It seemed like it could go in any direction. Maura has talked a lot about how it’s a lot darker than the first, and she definitely wasn’t lying. It’s very different from the first book, but no less fantastic.
Ignite was setting up the major, high stakes plot. Eclipse carries that plot out. So, they are going to be completely different books. I think I like Ignite more, but that doesn’t make Eclipse any less fantastic. It does a good job at what it does. It leans into it’s darkness, it’s high stakes, and the characters and worldbuilding set up in the first book.
Alright, I’m just going to talk about the ending first because I don’t think I can talk about anything before I do that. I don’t know how I feel! AH, I don’t know where to lean. I don’t know if I don’t like it or if I did and it fits with the story! In general, I’m not a fan of the type of plotline that it ended on. I think it is very, very hard to get right. But, I think it was written extremely well. It left me aching and I think that was the point. I think this ending hit the nail on the head and I’m wrestling with the heartbreak over it. The ending got under my skin. It tugged at my heart. I’m going to call it a win. It ended Brinn’s, Ia’s, and Knives’s stories so well. My heart might have shattered into pieces, but I have to give it up to Maura for her brilliance.
I really, really like where this book took this world. It’s not like it was expanded, because it was already pretty vast, but it’s more like it was explored different nooks and crannies. I liked the new little pieces I got to see. I liked the little noodle shack, and I loved the glimpse of the planet at the end of the book. It just explored so many interesting places and I really, really enjoyed it.
The plot wasn’t what I was expecting, but I thought it was really well executed. It definitely goes a lot darker. I loved exploring that darkness. Both in the world and in the characters. There’s a lot more space fighting and lot more technology. The technology was something I found fascinating. I loved how that played into everything, and I loved how it was created.
The character’s emotional development was so, so good. It tied into the world, the plot, and themselves so well. It’s about pain and healing and learning. It flows so naturally and so well. And it’s for so many different characters! Pretty much every single one of them goes through and emotional upheaval and they’re all done so well. There’s a lot of pain and there’s a lot of suffering, and it’s about muddling through that. It’s about picking yourself up and doing what you need to do. Or what you think you need to do. It’s about choosing.
I did have a hard time picturing some things. Especially when characters were flying in their ships or in the middle of battle. There was so much going on and so many names and phrases I had to latch on to, that I kind of lost the thread of what exactly was supposed to be happening. I managed to figure it out, but usually by the end of the scene haha. There also wasn’t enough chocofluff for my liking.
Ah, this book was a bittersweet end to a fantastic series. It’s a fantastic book, with fantastic writing, characters, emotional development, and world. With a good pile of pain thrown in there.
Eclipse The Skies comes out September 3, 2019! You can add it on Goodreads and pre-order a copy in the meantime!
Thank you for reading!
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