The Damned

I fell back into this world easily. I had thought I would need to reread The Beautiful before picking this up but thankfully I didn’t.

I flew through this. As in I read it within 24 hours. Faster than I expected. But I just couldn’t put it down. On one hand I didn’t want it to end. But I also needed to know what happened. Yet again I’m left wanting more. But more on that later.

I went into this nervous. I thought I knew where this would go. I was mostly wrong. In fact I was not expecting the Celine reveals. Although it’s a popular trope I liked it in this case. Maybe because I didn’t see it coming. I don’t think I had a reason to think this was coming. But it worked I think. It added another layer to Celine and the story itself. Where the book can go anywhere now.

Arjun and Pippa are a couple I would happily get behind. Their interactions made me smile. Even when Arjun teases Celine about Pippa. I just want more from them.

Obviously Celine and Bastien still own my heart. Their chemistry. I just find myself smiling some many times when they interact. The type of relationship they have. I just love it. I need them to be happy.

Yet again I am left heartbroken. But needing more. The story is left so open. I have many questions. There’s multiple stories waiting to be told. Odette? Michael? Pippa mission? Celine and Bastien? The Brotherhood? I need answers for all of these characters and their stories.

An epic conclusuon to an atmospheric & seductive tale! Impossible to put down with characyers you'll love (& loathe) for a long time to come. Renee Ahdieh is a must-read author!

Where the first book in this series didn't quite live up to expectations of sexy vampires, this sequel definitely walks the Anne Rice path with style. It's a bit of a slow burn and you're given a lot of information early on, but over all this was an immersive and beautiful read.

Romantic and divine, Renée Ahdieh plunges readers back into New Orleans, promising more passion, mystery, and vampires. 

"Who am I? He wonders. Dark amusement winds through him. He is nothing. No one. Nobody."

The Damned starts where The Beautiful ends, with Bastien taking center stage. Bastien's character is enriched with development, show casing his angst, passion and family orientation. His emotional range expands as he struggles to come to terms with his new life. I found the opening scenes really intriguing, and was so excited to see more of the vampire world. Ahdieh places a strong focus on the Court of Lions, with chapters from the points of view of Odette, Arjun and Jae. It was really nice to see more of the vampire content which was promised in The Beautiful, and The Damned proves that it's here to announce the return of the vampire in YA Fantasy. 

"My City. My Family. My Love. Who am I? From the fires of his futy, a name emerges. Bastien. My name is Sebastien Saint Germain."

The Damned takes on a different tone, slowing transitioning out of urban fantasy, setting up the rest of the series which will no doubt provide us with more twists, turns and betrayal's. This is definitely Bastien's story, however we still see Celine. While embers of her self remain; her passion for both fashion and fighting, her determination and independence, she is the shell of her former self. After her ordeal in the first installment, she is struggling to understand why she remembers a boys screams, and cannot attend mass. Looking for some sense of stability, she is courted by Michael, who, unknowing to her, knows all the secrets she tries to uncover. 

"Everyone knows that is what a vampire craves most . . . to be loved above all." 

If vampires aren't for you, don't worry. With ease. Ahdieh weaves in werewolves, widening the scope of the supernatural creatures in New Orleans. The Brotherhood maintains a tender treaty with the vampires, and learning about the politics of it all was a treat. 

One aspect I adore about this series is the strong feminist stance it takes. Pippa and Celine traveled to New Orleans to secure a marriage, and thus, a safe life. The conversations surrounding this subject open the aspect of marriage and its subsequent barriers and doorways for women in 1872. 

While this book was enjoyable and mysterious, it lacked the tension of the mystery in the first installment. The Beautiful had a plot driven by mystery, asking readers to determine the Crescent City killer's identity, while The Damned had a more varied plot. We learned about Jae's life, Bastien's family, Michael's compassion, how vampires came to New Orleans, and the Wyld across the vale. There was a lot going on, and while the The Beautiful was full of vivid descriptions, I would've loved to have known more about the creatures in the Summer Court, more descriptions of the world they hunted through to find the Sunan. The last third of the book felt rushed, there was a constant switching between POVs and story lines and I would have quite happily have had an extra 50 or 100 pages. 

Overall, this was an enjoyable read by a beloved author. Given all the vampire content, I enjoyed it much more than the first. This is a story about Bastien, which was brooding and intriguing, but I would have loved a little more clarity and development at the end.

I need the third book! NOW!

I was a bit worried that I would be a bit confused at the start of this one because it has been a while since I read the first one but I just fell right back into it and was desperately waiting for the moment when Celine and Bastien were reunited! This did mean that, although I loved the different perspectives, I was just hoping to turn the page and be with one of them. It left me with so many unanswered questions so I know the next instalment is going to be jam packed with drama! I cannot wait for the third book and am so excited to see what stunning cover they come up with next!

Thank you for the review copy!

Yet again another amazing book by the author, she amazed me, had me on the edge of my seat and muttering "oh god oh god" repeatedly at my kindle, this was utterly shocking the hole way through and I loved it, I don't think I laughed this much at a book in a wile and it was perfectly balenced with action and romance.
I can't wait for the next installment

This might just be the first time I've enjoyed a sequel more than the original.
There are things that aren't great. There are still lots of patently evil characters lurking half-full the page plotting mysterious, but also patently evil schemes that are mostly revenge driven. At times the writing style, which takes a brave stab at the lush, overwrought language of Anne Rice, slips into clumsy ("She slept the sleep of dreams.") And, perhaps my biggest sigh, the love triangle. I'm not a fan of the tropes at the best of times, and this was one of the worst of times. The issue isn't the characters, as it so often is, so much as how endlessly predictable it was. Céline and Michael have less than no chemistry and all of their interactions are borderline awkward. By contrast, Céline and Bastian spend an awful lot of time talking about true love lasting beyond eternity. There's none of the usual drama or mystery of a love triangle, and I often just ended up feeling bad that Michael was being strung along.
But, and it is a big but. I had a lot of fun. Ahdeih seems more confident here, and more comfortable with the language and style. The first third of the book is an utterly divine little rendering of the tragedy of a new vampire, full of baroque excess and quick dialogue.
The characters too seem to have used the time and experience to grow. They all feel more solid and more sympathetic. Céline especially really steps into the role of a heroine with serious panache. I liked her in the first book, and I loved her in this one.
I want to avoid dropping spoilers, so I'll be a bit vague with regards to the plot. It's not the plot I could have guessed. It's not even the plot I would have chosen. But it's a brave choice and we'll handled, so I applaud Ahdeih for that.

4.5 stars

Damn but that was good (see what I did there). THE DAMNED utilised all that world-building from book one and just pressed launch. This read was full to the brim of vampiric content and I came to love these characters so much more in this installment. It was an exciting read from cover to cover with a reasonably fast-pace, peppered with lulls to catch your breath.

Sometimes when a book is really good, I highlight and highlight text but with THE DAMNED, I forgot about highlighting, I was that absorbed. The characters I’d come to like from THE BEAUTIFUL became characters I loved and of course, Bastien and Celine were central to this. With that ending to THE BEAUTIFUL, you just know that the world was a confusing place for both these characters at the start of this book.

The story was complex and cleverly woven, but some of the confusion I felt in book one was not a factor in this book. That previous world building paved the way for the characters and different beings to play out with ease. There were so many unexpected factors and plot twists that kept me on the edge of my seat. I enjoyed particularly the Wyld and the Vale components to the story.

This book /series has delicious side characters and Odette continued to float my boat and I enjoyed getting to know Jae, Ahrun and even Nicodemus better. Pippa had some low level involvement but I see more from her to come.

The chemistry between Bastien and Celine was like a vampire sizzling in the hot sun (snort). These two had a journey and I had no idea where it was going to end up. I will say that Bastien was the kind of hero I could get on board with.

“Do you wish you could make this decision for me?”
“I do. More than I care to admit.”
“Then why have you given me the choice, against this inclination?
“Because I should not make your story about me.”

THE DAMNED blew book one out of the water for me. It gave me all the vampire I wanted and needed and a story to grip consistently. I want more from this series and the end indicates that’s the case.

Thank you to Hodder Books for the early review copy.

I absolutely love this book. When I finished The Beautiful, I couldn’t way for the continuation of the story. It was a long wait for me, but I loved it!

The evolution of Celine is great, and it was interesting to learn a few things about the background of everything, which did not happen in the first book. I can’t wait for the next book to learn more about Pippa.

The world buildings is so complex and fascinating, the author does a fantastic job building it for the readers. I can’t wait for the next one to see what is in store for the characters.

Arc generously provided via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

I'll try not to include any spoilers about The Beautiful in case anyone hasn't read it yet (but please read The Beautiful, its an incredible vampire fantasy). I am so glad we're learning more about the vampires in this story. In The Beautiful, from what I can remember it's heavily implied that some of the characters are vampires but the v word is out in full force in The Damned! We learn more about their backstories and some of the points of view (POV) are from some of these characters which I really liked.

A lot of The Damned is from Bastien's perspective, along with the Court of Lions which I enjoyed. It was interesting to see Bastien's transformation from human to vampire and the challenges he faced during this.
I also really liked Émilie's POV, hearing her side of the story and how she came to be the was she is was interesting. I liked seeing the family dynamics between the Saint Germain and how the family works, and also between the Grimaldi family .I'm intrigued to see how this will play out in the next book, especially after the events that occurred towards the end of the book.

The romance is out in full force in this book, I really love Bastien and Celine, I truly believe they're soul mates but I also couldn't help but ship her with a certain detective.. Saying that, there was a chapter at the end of The Damned that has me shipping him with someone else so I'm back on the Bastien and Celine ship haha. I also love the friendships Celine has with Pippa and Odette, Ahdieh can really write about female friendships and the power they can have. The women Ahdieh write about are strong, fearless, loving, dedicated, brilliant role models people reading YA should have.

The Damned is bringing out the supernatural creatures out in full force and I'm here for it! Like I mentioned earlier, things are implied but they weren't fully explored in The Beautiful and I'm so glad they were. There's a whole host of supernatural creatures involved and the supernatural background of these creatures and how they came to live in New Orleans or the Crescent City is explained. There's no info dumping though which is always appreciated.

I love Ahdieh's world building, it's so rich, yet still believable, and thankfully not overwhelming. The details are just enough to make you believe a world like the one she's created could exist if you just squint hard enough. I'm also gonna need to visit New Orleans asap!

I'll be honest though, this book TOOK A TURN.. I really didn't expect some of the fantasy elements to be explored in the way they were. I loved the Crescent City Ahdieh created in The Beautiful and carried on exploring in The Damned but I did not anticipate this, I loved it though so it was a welcome surprise. So bonus points for catching me unawares, we love a good twist!

The last few chapters.. I cannot, I really was not expecting that, I won't spoil it but strap yourselves in for a ride! This book has consistently surprised me (in a good way of course) and I really cannot wait for the third installment. This is definitely my favourite Renée Ahdieh series! If you're into fantasy, romance, historical fiction, paranormal creatures you'll love this series!

The Damned is the highly anticipated follow-up to The Beautiful, a dark and beautiful tale set in 19th century New Orleans. It continues where the previous book left off, sliding us back into Celine Rosseau’s world. A world where she has forgotten her near death experience and the plea she made to Nicodemus Saint Germain. Unfortunately Sebastien cannot forget what happened. And he has a long life ahead of him to remember. Needless to say he is not happy about the changes wrought upon him and strives to become a better version of himself.

“What you are has no bearing on what you become, Sebastien. Man or demon, that is entirely up to you”
The Damned, Renee Ahdieh

In my opinion, Sebastien’s character development throughout this book is immense. The readers get to hear a lot more of the story from his perspective, as well as the perspectives of a few other key characters. I was pleased to see gender, sexuality and identity issues broached in sensitive (time-period relevant) language and woven seamlessly into this twist on traditional werewolves-vs-vampires stories.

The Damned felt more adventurous than The Beautiful, there is some stunning world building that leads us out of New Orleans to somewhere entirely different and significantly more dangerous. We also get extra depth as the main Sebastien’s and Celine’s backstories are filled out alongside some great foreshadowing of things to come.

“Leave the decision to her. It is what a good man would do.
Do not make her story about you.”
The Damned, Renee Ahdieh

I don’t want to say any more for fear of spoiling it for you all. In my opinion, The Damned expands on the brilliant writing in The Beautiful and has left me highly anticipating the next book.

Quite often vampire fiction falls to a very repetitive story following a forbidden romance between a human and a vampire and rarely does this type of plot provide readers with mindblowing plot twists and intrigue. That is not a negative thing because I for one, lived off of those types of stories in my teens however the trope has been written to absolute death. Enter Rennée Ahdieh with her vampire story, The Beautiful, which seems to repel genre tropes.

Set in the 1870's New Orleans, the atmospheric and gothic tale follows Celine who was forced to escape her life in Paris. She becomes entangled with a dangerous group called the Court of Lions upon her arrival to the city, while a serial killer is terrorising the city. This is a very unexpected tale and you are led astray many times, believing that it is heading a very stereotypical direction yet all your theories are drowned in a well because Renée Ahdieh doesn't understand the word 'cliché'.

The main issue that readers had with The Beautiful is that there were not enough vampires present but to me, that was a conscious decision from the author. At its core, the book is a mystery and you're seeing the world through the eyes of a girl that has a whole new city to explore. The reader is not let in on any extra information from the protagonist other than the creepy and eerie thoughts from the killer scattered through the book. Just like Celine, we don't know about their existence as much as perhaps in books that are very world-building heavy to the point that it's unrealistic for the characters to be explaining it all.

Book two, The Damned, does however appear to address this and due to the multiple points of view, we hear from those who live as vampires and therefore are an authority on describing their history. The folklore is so profoundly weaved through the book that I revelled in hearing about the myths and magical system.

Warning: The rest of this article contains spoilers for The Beautiful.

I can't be the only one that rolled my eyes at the memory wipe cliffhanger in the Beautiful. This plot device never surprises me as realistically the protagonist will run around for 200 pages claiming they have 'a feeling' something isn't right. By turning the focus of the book to Bastien while Celine gets on with her life in the background, that predictability is taken away. It was very apparent that despite this book having multiple points of view, the purpose of the story is to explore Bastien's life as an immortal.

It's a slow burn book which I personally enjoyed as its nice to spend time with characters in such an atmospheric setting and see them simply live as opposed to always passing tragedy and problems. In many ways, the start of this book is setting the scene and allowing us to see this world through the eyes of a vampire as opposed to a human, as we saw in book one.

The plot overall, however, is very scattered which made the novel a little inconsistent. Too much is taken on in a single book as while the expansion of the world is exciting, I wish it kept one constant plot. The first book set the scene for a Werewolf vs Vampire Kingdom war and the multiple unrelated threads that begin really distract the reading experience as we are constantly buried in more secrets and revelations.

The supporting cast is the highlight of The Damned as I felt a much stronger connection to them all. Jae particularly having his own arc strengthened the novel as learning about his history expanded this world further and paved the way for deep character development. Bastien and Celine themselves had a whirlwind journey, spending time apart gave us the chance to see their personal growth and how they are adapting to both of their new lives without sacrificing the angsty tension between them that we love. Renee Ahdieh is a master at the subtle one-liners that set you on fire with the simplest of exchanges.

While I was a little confounded through the middle of the book due to the sheer amount of new information being thrown to us, the ending was perfection. It was an emotional and intense shot of adrenaline. Your tear ducks may break. Be warned.

While it is not confirmed whether there are more upcoming books in this series, there is a lot of scope to expand this world even further and I look forward to hopefully seeing what the future holds for our characters.

As much as I enjoyed The Beautiful, I felt as though The Damned was even better. I can’t believe how good this is! This was incredibly fast paced - I got so wrapped up and lost in this story. I want more!

The characters were more fleshed out in this one; I feel as though I know them all much better after reading the sequel. I love the many strong female characters in this story.

The plot was filled with twists and turns and I loved every minute of it. We also had multiple POV’s in this book which I thought was great.

I really hope there will be another instalment because ...that ending!

I’m really intrigued to read more from this author considering how much I have loved this story.

The Damned by Renée Ahdieh is the sequel to The Beautiful, and I have to say what a sequel it was. It personally lived up to its expectations and more.

It picks up from when The Beautiful ended, with Bastien becoming a creature of the night and the serious implications that creates, the issue of a broken treaty with the brotherhood. This book leads you on an adventure of self-discovery and growth. I really loved the character development, and the transformations some characters go through. Celines desire to fill in her blank memory is an immediate thing, she realises there are important things she has forgotten, due to the nightmares and flashes of memories she keeps getting.

This is a story of love, loss and betrayals. You also get more of a backstory, which I really enjoyed.

I felt this book was in another league and preferred it to The Beautiful. I am in awe of Renée, all of her books are wonderful, I feel she never disappoints to deliver.

This book gets 4.5 stars from me.

The Damned: My thoughts

Disclaimer: I received an e-arc from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Since receiving an arc of The Beautiful at YALC last year, I knew that as soon as I saw The Damned on NetGalley, I had to get on that. The Damned continues almost on from the events of The Beautiful. During this book, we see Sebastien coming to terms with being a vampire. Furthermore, with Celine having forgotten him, it does become a little bit difficult to read from her perspective.

Whereas The Beautiful is largely told from the perspective of Celine, we get to experience The Damned from multiple perspectives. I found that with The Beautiful initially introducing these characters, I feel like it didn’t take us long to get used to their narratives. It also allowed for different points of view to come across better.
Celine

Celine continues to be one of the protagonists in this book, however less so than when we journeyed with her in The Beautiful. I feel like we almost see a different Celine in this book. Losing her memories has meant that Celine has lost the part of her that made her independent and sure of herself. It’s almost heartbreaking when she asks people about the past, but they are reluctant to tell her. This adds to the depth of Celine as a person, and as someone the reader can relate to.

Bastien

I’d say The Damned is told mostly from the perspective of Bastien, and how he has to adapt to life as a vampire. Bastien almost becomes cruel in this book, and I feel like losing his humanity hardens him almost. Sebastien is no longer the warm hearted soft boy, and really does play into the role of the “Bad Boy”.

Pippa

I don’t really touch on her much in my review of The Beautiful, but I’m glad we see the development of Pippa. In The Beautiful, Pippa is very much has a right or wrong belief system. As the reader, we see Pippa as someone who wants to get married and have some stability, which in the 19th Century, was perfectly acceptable. Pippa is warm-hearted and I believe keeps Celine grounded. I cannot wait to find out mrore about Pippa in the third book!

Plot

Whereas The Beautiful has a mostly urban fantasy vibe, I feel like The Damned goes hell for leather into embracing more fantasy elements. I did like how we got to spend more time in the heads of the characters and learning about their pasts. I feel like The Beautiful was mostly focussed on the murder mystery aspect, and The Damned is more character focussed. This was initially jarring as I read one book after the other, but for the plot development it makes sense.
Conclusion

To conclude, I really enjoyed reading this book, and felt as a follow-on. The Damned built on the characters that we were introduced to in The Beautiful, yet builds on their pasts and what makes them who they are. Although the plot seems to be heading in a different direction, I am really intrigued by where Renée is taking us.

I gave The Beautiful a full five stars but The Damed I’ve given a half a star less, it was good but just not quite as good as The Beautiful. One type of book that I will always be complete and utter trash for is vampire books. I’m sorry but I love them, come at me all you like but I actually like Twilight, okay. moving on.

Going into this I thought that this was going to be a duology but BOY I’M SO HAPPY IT’S NOT, I need more of this world in my life and I’m just dying for the third instalment already. I couldn’t wait to dive straight back into this world and follow on after the horrific events that happened at the end of The Beautiful and now again I have to wait for the next instalment.. *cries*

The Damed follows on from The Beautiful with Celine recovering from an injury from a night in which she just can’t remember, she spends a lot of this book on the edge of remembering but just can’t quite unlock them and she’s trying to hard. Sébastien has been turned, after the horrific events in which Celine saves Bastien by pleading with his uncle to turn him in exchange for her to lose her memories of Bastien and that world but it always calls her back.

There’s also new threats on the horizon for both Celine and Bastien. Someone watching Celine from the shadows, gathering information on her and the werewolves are after Bastien for two different reasons. No matter how much Bastien tells Celine to stay away, fate always draws them back together.

I love love L O V E D that there was more vampire content within this one, wherein the last one I don’t think it was actually mentioned just hinted to begin with and I just knew that The Damed was going to be filled to the brim with it. There were so many twists and turns throughout the story that I was just gripped from the start, it was just glorious. It was so beautifully well written and I’m just obsessed with it. The Beautiful has to be one of my favourite series now, no doubt, it was one of my favourite reads of last year and now this is more than likely going to be one of my favourites for 2020, it contains many of my favourite things, historical and vampires being the main two and obviously Sébastien 😍

I loved this, I am not unbiased because I think everything Renee writes is amazing, I love her work so much. I was not disappointed at all by this sequel to The Beautiful, it was absolutely amazing, I loved the fact it took a different direction than I was expecting. I felt Celine and Bastien’s characters developed so much more in this than the first book too. There was so much more action in this book, so much more drama, it’s just wonderful. If you loved the first book you will love this even more. Fantastic


Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

*4.75 Stars*

INCOHERENT RAMBLING INCOMING

Okay. I hate reviewing sequels. I never want to say too much because I'm scared of spoiling.
This was so f***ing great. I thought I knew what to expect from this book.
Hahahahaha
What a fool I was. This went in a completely different direction than I thought it would and I loved every second of it.
So much drama, so much action, so much everything. I was glued to the page from beginning to end and all I can say about it is how much more I still want. More of all these amazing characters, more of the drama, just so many more books. I want all of it and I want it nooooooooooooooooow.

We pick up where The Beautiful ended and what an ending it was! We get to see several points of view in the first half of this book which I loved because I really love these vampires, especially Odette! Her friendship with Celine was everything!

This book takes the world we are introduced to and expands it so we see so much more of the world hidden from humans. We get to go to the world of the fae and we learn more about the history of the vampires and werewolves and I loved it so much. It made me see things that happened in The Beautiful in a new light. I love the incredible world building and how it was incorporated into the story so it didn’t feel like it was just info dumping. We are introduced to new characters and we get to see more of some of the characters in the first book. One of my favourite side characters is Arjun and I just hope we get to see more of him in the next book!

"For far too long, Celine had looked to others for answers. It was time for her to look within herself."

Celine starts this book so unsure of herself because she has lost her memories and doesn’t know what has happened to her and she hates how everyone thinks they what’s best for her so she goes looking for answers and ends up learning so much about herself and her history. I loved seeing how she didn’t let anyone dictate her life and took charge of it herself.

"It is was easy for a man to be kind and generous in times of plenty. The real measure of a man was what he did and said in times of difficulty."

While The Beautiful was Celine’s story, this book is Bastian’s. He has such wonderful character development in this book. Through Bastian we also get lots of discussions of toxic masculinity and what truly makes a man great. I loved seeing how he has to unlearn all the things that have been drilled into him by his uncle and he has to consciously choose to be better. It was so wonderful to read and see his development and the choices he makes, especially when it comes to Celine. Everyone insists on knowing better for her but he trusts her to make her own decisions and supports her in those decisions. I just loved it so much!

Renee’s writing is so beautiful and the vivid descriptions were so wonderful and I could really see the world that Renee has created. I loved the vampires who were dark and seductive and you’re just instantly drawn to them and it was also interesting to see how they were different yet similar to the werewolves especially considering their shared history and why they don’t like each other.

"If a mediocre young man could crow to the world about his mediocrity, then why should a superior young woman not do the same?"

I love how diverse the characters are and how Renee has so many cultures seamlessly incorporated into her world and it’s one of the things I love about her books especially that I can see myself in her worlds. There are discussions of how being a person of colour affects how you are treated and it was so wonderful to see this in a book but also people like Arjun, make the best out of their situation.

I absolutely adore this series and I cannot wait to read the next book! I am so happy that we get another book because I am not ready to leave this world and I’m excited to see where the story will go next and who it will follow.