First of all, thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

To be honest, I’m a bit sad to write this reviews. From what I saw in the first book this duology had so much potential especially concerning the world building. Sadly, book 2 was a total let down for me.

But let me start at the beginning. After the huge cliffhanger in The Darkening, I was really thrilled to see how the plot would continue. Imagine my disappointment when the cliffhanger was literally already solved in the first 30 pages. So you tell me, I’ve been waiting so long for book 2 after that huge cliffhanger, only to find out it was not even that big of a problem?

This is kind of where the problem starts. I really wanted to like this book, but the stakes in the plot were simply not high enough for me to care. Also, the story felt dragged and slow which made it hard for me to pick the book up again.

Also I did not like the world building, which surprised me a lot because I loved it in book. It was definitely better than the plot but it often felt very messy and left me wanting so much more. Which is not that good when it’s the final book.

What I did enjoy was the writing style and character development. Looking back at the beginning of the duology, I think Vesper and Dalca have grown so much together, and I really loved following their journey.

To sum up, The Lightstruck was a bit of a disappointment for me. While I enjoyed the characters and the writing style, I expected a lot mor from the plot and the world building, which made it really hard for me to care about the story at all. This is why I can only give The Lightstruck 2 Stars.

I have really mixed feelings for The Lightstruck. On one hand, I really enjoyed it and on the other I’m left feeling unsatisfied. I loved Cas, loved Delca, but I felt like we didn’t get enough from any of the interactions from any of the characters. All Vesper’s guards didn’t have any meaningful interactions with her, everything was just lacking slightly. Therefore I didn’t feel as much as I should whenever something happened, the most I felt was between two side characters rather than any of the main characters. So although I love the idea, I loved the magic system, I didn’t fall in love with this like I wanted to.

I must admit I that I couldn't really get into this. I enjoyed the darkening but with the lightsruck the world building felt a bit awkward. Rather than feeling immersed in the world, I kept feeling pulled out of it by either the actions of the characters feeling incongruent or the pace being a bit and then, and then and then.
I think that ikons are very clever and love the concept of the storms and rings.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book for review purposes.

I remember loving The Darkening, and loving the first book always makes me nervous about sequels but The Lightstruck was equally thrilling. I love Vesper’s character even more than I did previously, her struggles with her new found “hero” reputation and the risks it comes with felt so well thought out and developed, as did the ever changing elation ship with Dalca.

The plot was fast paced, so I didn’t notice the pages ticking by as I read, desperate to find out what would happen next. It was easy to pick up from having not read the last book since it came out, which is always a bonus. The writing itself was well-considered but I felt some of the secondary/side characters felt a little forgotten or blended together so I was having to flick back and forth sometimes. This isn’t a massive negative, it’s something that can happen with expanding casts of characters and I do have a bit of a bad memory with names!

Thank you Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

While I throughly enjoyed The Darkening, I likened it more to an enjoyable YA read that was easy to digest, with likeable characters, a good story arc, instead of some earth shattering story that changed my world. But still, I was excited to read The Lightstruck, the world was rich enough for me to want to dive back in to and Sunya Mara did not disappoint with the second half of her duology.

Taking place three years after the events of The Darkening, Vesper wakes up after being in a long coma to find a world that seems to be completely back to normal, a world which now sees her as a saint, as a Regia. As the story slowly starts to unfold we follow along with Vesper as she starts to unravel the truths and lies she has been told since her re-awakening.

Characters we know and love are brought back; Dalca, Cas and Iz, as well as a cast of new characters that add even more to the story, Hadria being the true stand out addition. Mara excels at creating characters with real motivations and darkness as well as a true lightness and familial feeling that bonds them all together.

It was pleasant to see more of the struggle between The Great Queen and The Great King and how their war has affected this small city and the people within it. The people who had been lightstruck were a nice change from the stormtouched of the previous instalment and the use of the Ikons to create a believable magic system is excellent.

The only place the story falls is with the handling of Dalca, it’s feels as though he served his purpose in the previous book and he just trails around helplessly after Vesper, it would have been nice to see him take more of an essential role in the plot but I enjoyed the story enough to forget about his misgivings.

The twists and betrayals were well done and even caught me of guard and the final battle was well thought out. The ending felt satisfying and complete, like there was still story to be told, but that was to be left with the characters now, as the readers have had their fill.

Overall, it was a great story, I even prefer this instalment over the first, and I can’t wait to see what Sunya Mara does next!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review

I found The Darkening a highly original YA fantasy, and really enjoyed it, so the sequel has been an anticipated read for me.

The pacing was fast throughout the book, at no point did I feel as if things lagged - there was constant action, plenty of plot threads to follow. The introduction of a lot of new characters was a little confusing at times, but being able to return to our core four from book one (Vesper, Dalca, Iz and Cas) was familiar and fun.

I was slightly disappointed by the very beginning, where Vesper lingered in an in-between space - I sort of wish we hadn't been there for such a brief time as it was really interesting and had potential for a really cool story arc. On the other hand, I'm glad we got to return to the City fairly quickly because we then hurtled towards the thrilling conclusion.

Could this story have been fleshed out into a trilogy? Probably, but then I feel as if we'd have missed out on the very fast pace of this second book.

All in all, still a very original and enjoyable story, with an epic ending I didn't see coming. I'd love to return to this world some day, maybe from the POV of another character - it has so much potential for more stories!

This is the last book of a duology I did enjoy the first book and I want to thank NetGalley for the early access to this book in exchange of a honest review. I enter this book with stranger feelings for Darca let’s be honest we all did. I didn’t get disappointed this was a GOOD ending in my opinion. Epic world building and one of the best magic systems. The character development in this one was massive compared with the book 1 what I honestly appreciate as a reader I grow feelings for some of the characters and I like to see the effect of their life choices in the whole book world. The battles just chef kiss of the book, and what I love most is the character journey in this massive adventure. I like the grey side of the characters what I mean is that yes they are important in our story but they aren’t perfect in the end, that make them a bit more human and was something I enjoy in this book. For me was the most beautiful way of end the story and I left the universe happy and with a smile. Brilliant storytelling and brilliant structure .

Spoilers for The Darkening (book 1)

I’ve always wondered how the heroes deal with the aftermath of becoming heroes. Vesper goes from being an unremarkable and unliked figure, to the saint-like saviour in this thrilling sequel.

This isn’t a particularly happy book. It deals with the reality of the aftermath of the storm, and the complexity of restructuring society in the face of another danger. And a choice between staying and fighting for your home, or leaving and creating a new one.

For Vesper, her self-doubt is really central in this book. She died a hero in the eyes of her people, and they created an image of her that doesn’t quite fit. I think this book really shows how stories can be misinterpreted and changed to suit a particular bias.

I really felt for Vesper, as she struggled to find a space for herself amongst the version that they’ve created of her. I just wanted to give her a hug; there’s an overwhelming sense of loneliness from her. I feel weirdly protective of this girl, and her journey throughout this book was my favourite part to read. Her story is all about acceptance of your own personal power, but it takes a while for her to realise this.

As always, I loved all the characters in this book, but Cas will always be my favourite. I have a soft spot for him, especially as he continued to grow after the events of the last book. His and Vesper’s friendship was beautiful to read!

Fair warning; this isn’t a romance heavy book. I liked that it concentrated more on Vesper’s growth. Dalca definitely undergoes a lot of growth from the end of the first book, and him and Vesper both allow themselves to heal in a healthy way, which I enjoyed.

This is a very atmospheric sequel, and I loved the parallels created between the events in book 1 and book 2. I urge you to pick up this duology, as it’s got exactly what you need in a ya fantasy book.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for this e-arc. This review given freely and is entirely my own.

I will be posting this on my Instagram in July.

A very good end to this duology! I was waiting for this book after how the first left me feeling!!! Did not disappoint me it was exciting and tense and such a good end!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for early access to this book in exchange for my honest review.

Perfect ending of a duology, an amazing addition to The Darkening, keeping the reader in a chokehold until the very last page! Brimming with new knowledge of the amazingly built fantasy world, adding more depth to the characters! The history and magic system in this world is so fascinating, seriously the use of ikons blows my mind!

If you loved the first book, you are gonna enjoy the ending of this one as well! The end felt sad but fitting for the crew, their relationship and all that went down!

A wonderful ending to this story. I loved the first one The Darkening, and The Lightstruck is a great conclusion to this story.
The world building is incredible and the magic system is so unique.
would love to read more from this author!

When I read The Darkening last year, one of the things that struck me the most was the world building and the magic system. I was a left a little confused by it at first, but then it became clearer to me. And when I finished reading The Lightstruck , I realised how incredible well done the worldbuilding was. The little hints that I had not managed to pick up on reading book 1, became much clearer to me and I understood the magic system much better.

In book 2, everything seems more developed as we head to the thrilling conclusion of this duology. I loved the pacing of it; it seemed just right and exactly how it was supposed to me. And Vesper’s character development? Amazing. Her arc from book 1 to book 2 was such a delight to read about. Same goes for Dalca; I became a fan of his reading this book. And Vesper and Dalca together have my heart.

The Lighstruck neatly wraps up the story that began in book 1, tying up all loose ends and giving its characters many moments to shine. This is a well-rounded duology that leaves you content with the characters’ endings. It was a delight to read this series and I cannot wait to read more of Sunya Mara’s works.

What an amazing ending to this duology. Gorgeous worldbuilding and an amazing magic system. I felt the character development in this one was stronger than in the first, and I really grew to love the characters and see their influence on the world around them. The ending was perfect, just what was needed, and will likely stay with me a while too! There’s rebellion, there’s epic battles, there strong emotions and an amazing character journey. Our main character isn’t perfect, and that is brilliant to read about, and makes her more relatable I felt too. Ultimately a really satisfying duology and I’d highly recommend.

I received this ARC thanks to the Publisher and NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

The Lightstruck: sequel and conclusion to the Darkening duology, left me spellbound until the very last page.

Vesper Vale, the Stormender who sacrificed everything to save her city, faces now the menace of the light. One of the standout aspects of The Darkening was the magic system and The Lightstruck brings back the world of ikons and ill-fated Gods.

The character development was outstanding. The relationship between the Great King and the Great Queen takes center stage. Mara fleshes out their personalities, creating a sense of tension and intrigue and the interactions between Vesper and them are some of the most gripping moments in the story.

As the tension escalates, Vesper and Dalca, find themselves torn between the factions and the guilt of their past choices weighs heavily on the story. The ending stays true to the characters, the magic, and the world throughout the duology.

Now... I had some issues with pacing at the beginning, but the story quickly gains momentum. The action scenes, while occasionally confusing, are more than redeemed by all the thought-food-lines that Sunya Mara drops along the book.

I do recommend both books to anyone who likes character driven YA!

Much like the first installment the bulk of character development is around Vesper's internal emotional battles; she's a refreshingly imperfect and relatable. Romance? If you like 'will they won't they', then this is probably your bag! Overall a satisfying conclusion to a unique duology.

<i>I received this ARC thanks to the Publisher and NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.</i>

Ladies and Gentlemen -- the moment has come. I can officially say this is my first 6 stars read of the year! And it's no suprise, considering 'The Darkening' also made it to my top reads when it was first published <3.

Please keep in mind this is a SECOND book in The Darkening duology, so this review will contain spoilers regarding the first installment.

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<b>"Vesper... the Storm is gone, but you're still trapped."</b>
<i>The Darkening</i> left us with <b>very</b> heartbreaking ending, but in a good way -- I love when authors decide to twist their tale so hard it hurts the reader. With that I was dying to read the sequel ASAP to see how the story will go on, and althou it was quite different from book one, all my favourite aspects were still there. And the fact this book is all about HEALING instead of instant redemption and hero actions? Qué genial!

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<b>"Go out and seek a challenge worth being defeated by."</b>
The book without its hero ain't a story worth telling, so it's quite expectable for Vesper to... come back to us. And while <i>The Darkening</i> was all about simple noone becoming a hero, <i>The Lightstruck</i> tells a different tale -- a hero becoming simple noone. This ain't usual trope chosen for the overpowered YA heroines, so the fact that Vesper was doubting her rightfullness as a saviour, and was doing her best to both still take care of the people of the rings and somehow step down from her glory was really interesting journey to follow.

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<b>"Do you require all the world's love as proof of your worth? Must they all honor you before you can honor yourself?"</b>
People of the rings are both blessed by the light of the sky and horizon not covered by the Storm anymore, but terrified of the light burning into them from higher rings. Lost in thoughts, to either leave the city and seek new home, or fight the light usurping their surroundings, they find solace in awakening of their saviour, the Stormender. She becomes their puppet to both praise for ending the storm, but also hate for the lightstruck side-effect. They forget she's as human as they are from the start, all they see is the Queen's Vessel she's become. And poor Vesper instead of focusing to sort her own mess out, she wants to become everyone's saviour once again, even against her own will.

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<b>"Let them all be gods."</b>
The way this duology ends, was as fresh and surprising as first book felt. Like it's both nostalgic to all the good old ya fantasy-dystopias I know, but also new approach I've needed to be added to the ya-genre menu. Some endings leave me mad, some are unsatisfying, but <i>The Darkening</i> series as a whole is complete and beautifully woven story from start to finish. There's rise to glory, there's rebellion in good faith of saving humanity, epic battle, but also healing and overcoming trauma, which all leads to ending you're happy to leave your all favourite characters with. Solid 6 stars from me, thank you Sunya Mara for having my back once again, I wish you many more as amazing as these books to come! <3

I loved book 1 and this book 2 was one of my most anticipated releases. It turns out that I feel like book 1 should have been a standalone, and this book 2 could have been a bonus novella with half less pages than it has right now.

Because it's slow. So very slow. We don't know much of what's happening with the Great King and the Lightstrucks and everything is super confusing: we're learning at the same pace as Vesper, who had 3 years to catch, but nobody tells her anything and they didn't seem like they tried to find out what really happens, outside of Dalca and Cas?? It takes more than 200 pages to get to finally having Vesper investigating / adventuring herself in hope to find out what's happening with the Lightstrucks.

I honestly could have DNF'ed it but I was still super intrigued and curious about what happened next and what would happen to our characters. I was extremely afraid at some point we'd get a "all that for nothing?" useless ending. But luckily it didn't happen, and I'm extremely satisfied with how things ended! And it's probably the best outcome the author could have given here. But we clearly could have come to that conclusion with a bonus novella instead of a 400+ pages novel...

Vesper irritated me a bit with how she belittled herself, but it was understandable (I also didn't liked how she repeated herself, but as I've read an ARC I assume and hope this will be corrected before the release). However I *loved* Cas even more on this book, he was the only one who could make me smile here and there with just being himself!

I'm so disappointed that I didn't like this one cause I really liked the first one! It was such a fascinating take on YA fantasy and it work so well! But this one fell kind of flat for me.

Pros:
- The magic is so cool!
- The characters

Cons:
- This was basically the exact same plot as book one
- The two main characters barely had a conversation with each other before the ending
- There are so many things about the magic that wasn't explained in the first book that I would have expected to be further developed in this book
- Wished the world the book starts in would have been important to the plot and used later on instead of being established in the first two-three chapters and then never really considered again

*desperately tries to think of pun*

Sunya Mara struck me away with The Lightstruck. (Does that work as a pun?)

Anyways, I'm screaming in to the storm from the first book. Sunya Mara did NOT hold back with this sequel/conclusion. She said alright, buckle in, we are going on a ride: you will be tense, you will be emotional, you will be surprised. This was a damn thrill. Unputdownable, read it basically in one sitting, only stopping for toilet or drink breaks. I was enthralled (this is actually a pun! It really is! You should get it once you've read the book! I hope!).

The best part of this book? Casvian. I love Casvian. Casvian needs a hug, and i will be happy to provide. He's just so grumpy and goofy and I love him and I demand (politely, of course) a spin off.

Vesper, as always, is an icon. I love the journey she went on this one, and how she was confronted with the idea of being a hero and what that really means. Does she have what it takes to be a hero? What does that even mean?

I can't say too much else about other things because it will absolutely spoil a lot of the cliffhangers from the first book, so I'll just have to come back and up date my review post-release date. But for now, let me tell you: I LOVE THIS BOOK AND IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE DARKENING, DO IT! AND THEN PRE-ORDER THIS!

The much anticipated sequel to the Darkening (for me anyway) I really enjoyed book one so was really excited to be approved for book two.

The Lightstruck is set a few years after the Darkening and we go straight into where Vespa went after that dramatic ending in the first book (yes it was hella dramatic). We have Vespa becoming accustomed to what happened and trying to catch up on what she has missed and there is a lot to catch up on - she defeated on tyrant but another has taken the Queens place and the “Lightstruck” are causing the world as Vespa knows it to fracture and not be what she thought it would be.

There are more enemies for her to face along with Dalca, and it’s more I felt a personal journey for everyone to defeat the villain and win back the world as they know it.

The writing style was good but I felt a little let down with this book, but that being said it was a great conclusion to this duology. Do I feel it could have been a stand-alone - with maybe book one being slightly longer - yes. I also wanted the relationship between Dalca and Vespa to be explored just slightly more but I also understand the reasoning why this wasn’t done.

Overall it’s a really good book, the magic system is honestly so well written and you didn’t feel lost in it. I did like the writing style as well and it does keep you hooked from start to finish as you want to know what is happening. The characters were a little bit of a let down for me, and I love characters to be the forefront of book so I can become engaged in the story.

Overall a really good YA duology that I would recommend to others to read if they like a magical system. A fierce heroine and some good at times banter between the characters.

Thank you to the publisher (Hodderscape) for the NetGalley eArc to red and review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.