Year of the Reaper

So far this year, there have been only two books I’ve read that I’ve finished an ARC of, and then immediately gone away to preorder. This is the second of those books. (The first, for anyone curious, was Courtney Gould’s The Dead and the Dark.)

Let me start with some context. I’ve spent the last couple of years steadily realising that YA is… no longer for me, shall we say? There’ve been countless books I’ve read that have bored me to death. I’ve skimmed hundreds of pages, I’ve vowed to give up many times. But sometimes? Sometimes all that becomes worth it.

That’s how Year of the Reaper felt. I opened the book up, and within a few pages, I was fully absorbed. It’s cliché—and also somewhat pointless on my part to say, when I read a lot of books like this, for varying reasons—but I read it in a single sitting because I simply couldn’t put it down. Everything from the worldbuilding, to the mystery, to the characters themselves kept me turning page after page. I didn’t want it to end (so. Maybe Cas and Lena can reinvent themselves as investigators? Just a thought, Ms. Lucier).

I think what makes this book great, to me, is the combination of all its factors: world, character, and mystery, the last of which starts quite slowly, so the former two are very important. All of it leapt off the page, coming to life very vividly. Perhaps the clearest of the characters was Cas, as the protagonist, but he was surrounded by a vibrant cast too. And some of the backstories of those secondary characters made me desperate to know more about them and this world.

The mystery is also very well done. It’s kind of drip-fed to you for the first half, in a way that leaves you intrigued and waiting to know more, and then it’s steadily (or. Not that steadily, hahahahaha) ratcheted up in the second half. As more and more things come to light, you think you know who is behind it all, but whatever assumptions you make are smashed with glee by the author. I thought I had it sussed, but then the twist came, and it was one of those ones that genuinely makes your heart start racing.

So if this book is not on your radar yet, all I can ask is that you put it there right away. I enjoy so few YA fantasies that, whenever I find one I do love, I have to shove it down everyone’s throats.

Also I would really just like a five years later epilogue. For reasons.

I really loved Year of the Reaper!
It's a great YA Fantasy read and I absolutely adored the characters, especially Cas and Ventillas they had the best sibling relationship!
Another one of my favourite things about Year of the Reaper was definitely the murder mystery elements.
All in all this book was amazing and I highly recommend it!
Thank you netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so much NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the arc of Year of the Reaper in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
I’ve literally just finished this book and can truthfully say that it absorbed me from start to end.

The book itself picks up after a place / epidemic has swept a devastating blow across the lands of Palmerin and surrounding realms, and the protagonist Cas is returning home after having been a prisoner of war in a neighbouring realm and survived the plague that had killed so many.

Cas’ return home is anything but uneventful, he and his co-protagonist Lena are thrown together in a slow burn mystery that threatens everything they and those around them hold dear, including peace, security and their mortal lives.

The world building is layered and vivid, gradually building up as you progress through the book, there is no shoving a lecture or clip notes down your throat.

The mystery itself is well managed, with a steady build up to the final crescendo, and the author is skilled at leading you down a path to one conclusion, and then blow that to smithereens. This is defines great escapist read that delivers on both fantasy and mystery, with enough of a hint of romance to deliver there too, and did I mention the ghosts!

A highly recommended read that I suggest you add to your TBR / preorder…I’m off to do that next!

Thanks to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing this eARC. This was an absolutely phenomenal read. I loved the sibling relationship between Ventillas and Cassia. And Lena. I really love her. This book belongs on my favourite books list. It's fantasy but with inspiration from medieval history (plague). The characters are lovable and relatable. And the murder mystery/assassination plot they try to solve. There were twists and turns which made the story even better. You definitely need to check this out.

Year of the Reaper is a story about Cas, who has survived three years in prison while everyone thought him death, who returns to his home where the royal court currently lives. When an assassin targets those close to the queen, Cas is swept up in trying to find them.

I absolutely loved this story, from the very first page until the end! The world building is super detailed, in a way that takes your breath away. Without any information dumps the world slowly comes to live when reading the pages in a brilliant way.

There are subtle supernatural elements and the mystery of who the assassin is, trying to figure that one out is really engaging. You want to find out as well, which made the story addicting and hard to put down. Towards the ending, there are some jaw-dropping plot twists! I absolutely loved the reveals and never even saw them coming!

The characters are so complex, but not in a way that they are hard to understand, relate to or follow. Cass especially, was such a strong and powerful character. His strength is something I truly admired while reading. Knowing what he went through and reading how he deals with everything truly speaks of the power and strength of his character. Those sorts of characters can’t be easy to write or think of, and then executing it perfectly like done in this book is a just as hard. I also just loved how Lena was like the opposite of Cass and how their characters balanced each other out. It made for a great dynamic between to two!

The relationships within this book are something else. The friendship between Cass and Lena is super sweet, but the teasing and bickering make the scenes with them just as fun to read. Also, I just love how they first met! The brotherly love between Cass and Ventillas is just as heartwarming to read as the family bond between Lena, Rayan and Jehan and the friendship between Ventillas and Rayan. All the relationships are unique in their own ways.

The war and the plague that are in this story remind me so much of the situation we’re in right now. We might not be fighting against other countries, but for almost two years we have been fighting against the Corona virus, doing everything to beat it, so the world can return to how it was before. Reading this book, with the current situation in the world, gave me so much hope. They had been fighting for 52 years, battling against a deadly plague and still, they could smile, fell in love, found their happiness despite all the sadness. It truly was powerful and hopeful to read, as I strongly believe and know we will be able to beat this to and find our own happiness.

Overall, it was an amazing story about friendship, family and the strength of humans. I would’ve loved to see much more of these characters and this world.