scijessreads

Picking up pretty much where The Hurricane Wars left off, A Monsoon Rising finds Alaric and Talasyn still fighting their growing attraction to each other, still figuring out how to fight for what they believe in, and still keeping all sorts of secrets from each other as they promise to work together.

We spend most of this book with our duo of light and shadow training to be able to hold off the mass destruction of the moonless dark while at the same time navigating their own roles in the kingdoms they ostensibly lead. And they keep getting reminded by their advisors to not get too close to one another…

Yeah, their tension and chemistry is 🔥, and is only increasing from their moments in the first book. It ends up falling perfectly into the “wait, do I actually LIKE the person I married for political convenience?” trope. The duo also very much have to deal with the notion that maybe those they fight for don’t believe in their ability to make good choices. Or any choices. And they also come up against the inherent struggles of thinking that YOUR side is the right side. When in war sometimes “right” might not actually be so for everyone.

And that’s what I love about this book (and this series). It shows the political maneuvering and the puppet masters and the pawns. It also shows that if our two main characters can one day be honest with themselves and each other, they might actually be able to change the world.

Oh, FYI: there is a cliffhanger. A big one.

I was so very fortunate to get to read this as an ARC from Netgalley and Harper Voyager.