A worthy sequel, though unique in its own right. Whilst Queen of Coin and Whispers was focused on political schemes and assassinations, Daughter of Winter and Twilight finds itself in a far more mystical and adventurous realm. The party of questing royals were all fantastic new characters and the devious machinations of the gods, made them a compelling adversary. I feel like some of the traversal could have been cut down and perhaps the introduction could have gotten us to the true adventure sooner, but overall, the pacing was good enough to maintain my enjoyment throughout. I would very much like a third book in this world, with what has now been unleashed!

A solid sequel to the first book, following Xania & Lias adopted daughter Emri. Very different tone than the first book - I found that one to have more romance/character driven story whereas this one is more focused on the plot. I liked this and glad I finished the series but found myself a bit bored at points as I didn’t really see the point of the gods/magic being introduced in this book but not mentioned at all in the first book.

I went into this book completely blind, i just saw the book cover and thought it was pretty and decided to listen to the audiobook. Going in it completely blind, i didn’t realize that this was the second book in this series (thank god they can be read as standalones) I LOVE THAT THERE WERE SAPPHIC QUEENS, and i definitely need to read their story. The book started off a little slow but then really picked up. i loved the world building and the characters and just the overall plot of the story. K love that the world building is super easy to follow. I would recommend this book to fellow fantasy readers. I’m definitely going to read this first book in this series.

The first book in this duology (Series? Please, series.), Queen of Coin and Whispers, was my most anticipated book for the entire back end of 2019, and one of my favourite 2020 releases. At that time, it was a standalone and I adored it with every fibre of my being.

“Still, I wasn’t expecting to read this 464-page book in a single, engrossed sitting. I turned down food, people. I turned down food!”

DAUGHTER OF WINTER AND TWILIGHT picks up the narrative in the next generation, with Emri – Queen Xania and Queen Lia’s adopted daughter and heir.

For me, DAUGHTER OF WINTER AND TWILIGHT is a another five-star read, but a rather different book from it’s predecessor. It’s less political and court-centric, and ups the ‘fantasy’ side of the world-building with actual gods and the promise of magic. And the world itself is fabulous: in this instalment entirely female-led and queer normative. The story is still very character driven despite the quest/challenge angle, and the characters remain excellent: diverse, varied and complex. I love all the characters, even the ones I hate, because Corcoran writes them all so well and makes them all so intriguing.

A five-star book, through by personal preference I loved Queen of Coin and Whispers just a touch more (give me schemers every time). However, I do think I’d have been better served by rereading the first book before starting this one, and that might’ve shot it up even higher – a lot of the themes of this duology are tough choices and no-win scenarios. DAUGHTER OF WINTER AND TWILIGHT adds an element of consequences, and how they play out further down the line. My plan is to reread both books back-to-back in 2024.

As I said three and half years ago, “Run, don’t walk,” to pick up this series.

Narrated by Katy Sobey. It was a really easy listen. Sobey did a great job on the narration and has that light sort of voice that really suits YA fantasy. (Don't ask me what I mean by that, I'm not sure myself). I completely bought her first-person performance as Emri, as well as the sections in other POVs, timelines, and tenses. A tricky task! I thought the narration was a little on the slow side, but that was easily solved by increasing the playback speed, and I do tend to listen on the faster side.

3.75 stars. This is an ambitious, sweeping fantasy novel that is well-written and has sufficiently intriguing characters and world-building, though it would have benefited from being shorter.

The audiobook performances were excellent.

(Disclaimer: I didn't realize this was a sequel until I'd started it, so this is from someone who hasn't read the first book)

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley and Bolinda Audi for the audio book to review.

As I've already reviewed the ebook arc version, I'm going to add that after I review the audio book aspect. 

As someone who is disabled, I use audio books quite a lot alongside ebooks. Having the correct narrator can make or break a book via audio, no matter how good the print version might be. One such failing in my opinion is Samantha Shannon's The Priory of the Orange Tree. One of my favourite books, but I found the audio version dire. 

Thankfully I felt that Daughter of Winter and Twilight had a good narrator, and it helped push the story along well. 

Katy Sobey made it an easy listen. She has done quite a lot of audio books, and her experience shows. You could distinguish the differences between characters, she brought the right amount of tone depending on the passage. Or line even. So as audio books go, this is fantastic. It felt like no time at all passed before we reached the end. 

To aid this review, below is what I wrote about the book previously.

This is a follow on from the book Queen of coin and Whispers. Like that book, it is set firmly in the Fantasy YA bracket, and I feel it does that category justice. Furthermore, as someone very much out of that group on age, I was still able to settle in and enjoy this.

Xania and Lia do feature, but this book is much more about their adopted daughter Emri, who navigates the visit of an estranged cousin, Melisande as well as other trials and tribulations.

Like Queen of Coin and Whispers, this is a book that not everyone will enjoy. It doesn't have the highest stakes, or necessarily the highest fantasy settings.

This book is very character driven, and I love the intricacies that it brings. Particularly watching how it unfolds as characters begin to face past trauma and mistakes. As well as how present actions impact now.

We also once again get that queer representation, that is beautifully brought in as just part of who they are. That certainly doesn't mean it is too casual. I felt the book overall was brought together by beautiful prose, with achingly beautiful atmosphere and characters.

As I say, I recognise this style of book isn't necessarily for everyone, but I felt this was a worthy successor to Queen of Coin and Whispers and I'm happy to recommend and give 5/5 stars.

As a librarian on the island of Ireland, I’m always proud to champion The O’Brien Press, our leading publisher of books for young people. Fantastic, then, that Helen Corcoran, a Dublin writer at the spearpoint of standardising marginalised sexualities in Irish YA Fantasy, returns to the indomitable O’Brien Press to publish her second novel, which is also the second in the Queen of Coin and Whispers series.
It was such a pleasure to return to Helen Corcoran’s world, which has the same exquisite flavour as Jim Henson’s ‘Labyrinth’. Lia and Xania return, and I relished seeing their relationship matured, as well as the different ways in which they each inhabit motherhood. But Emri steals the show: Corcoran takes her time at the beginning of the novel in setting up Emri’s circumstances –the intimacies of her personal relationships. But this pays off once Emri and her clan set off to contest Lady Winter’s trials. Emri’s voice emerges as a strong independent narrator. And Katy Sobey performs Emri perfectly for the audiobook release – just as I would have heard her in my head. Helen Corcoran creates such a confident protagonist that Emri is easy to relate to, empathise with, believe, fear for. And one of the principal strengths of ‘Daughter of Winter and Twilight’ is that, through Emri, Corcoran gives ‘different’ voices the loudspeaker; sexuality isn’t ever discussed or addressed, each character’s nature just IS in this world.
Similarly, the deities’ personas are unique, believable, compelling; each voiced with nuance and delicacy by Sobey (I’ll be looking out for more of her audiobook recordings from now on). What both Queen of Coin and Whispers novels boast is a fine-balanced dialogue between the mythic and the modern; Corcoran attunes the drama to accommodate both haughty immortals and irreverent teenagers (as does, in turn, Sobey in her vocal performance).
The characters in ‘Daughter of Winter and Twilight’ are put through the fire as they forge a way through the trials set them by Lady Winter, and I grew only fonder and fonder of each: Emri, Melisande, Gabriela, and Theo (and, to a lesser extent, Lia and Xania’s characters are also changed by Emri coming to understand more of their history and their motivations). So conversant is Helen Corcoran with their vulnerabilities, that her characters are disarmingly realistic and sympathetic. They surface with a kind of prepossessing humanity that I defy any reader to remain unmoved by the novel’s final episodes.
This follow-up novel really takes flight, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a third instalment, now that we know the world, its topography, the court, the religion, and the characters, so much better. On a side note, the acknowledgements offer a delightful glimpse into the author’s process and emotions.
Finally, I could write paragraphs upon paragraphs on how I am filled with joy by the manner in which Corcoran endorses and contributes to the kind of homonormativity and queer-centredness that is coming to epitomise YA Fantasy in the American and British publishing industry, and I fervently hope that the same is prospering and will thrive in Ireland too. Instead, I'll submit my five-star review.
My thanks to Bolinda Audio, for to for the opportunity to review the audiobook.