The Lightstruck

Thank you NetGalley for a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

The Lightstruck is a beautifully crafted ending to an incredibly entertaining duology. If you enjoyed the first one, this ending will not disappoint.

As with the first one, my absolute favourite thing about this book is the world! The magic system and the world building is just so lush. I could genuinely read a book just about ikons and their history and very, very much enjoy it. It feels like such a unique magic system than the ones I am used to reading about and I absolutely love the way it is developed and explored in this book.

Another standout in this book was the development of the Great King and Great Queen, their relationship and how they each affect the city. I loved seeing each of their personalities fleshed out and how Vesper contends with the new threat of the king in particular! Some of the interactions between them were my favourite parts of the book for sure!

As much as I hated to say goodbye to this world, I loved the ending. It felt true to the characters, to the magic and the world. Everything that had happened up to this point had made sense and the way it was rounded off was exactly what I wanted it to be.

A thoroughly enjoyable read!

<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

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!

After loving The Darkening, I was over the moon to see that The Lightstruck was just as captivating and heart stopping and so action packed. This duology is so underhyped - it's criminal!!

This was incredible, her writing is incredible and the promotion of her books really is amazing. I definitely will be recommending.

What an amazing second part to a fantastic duology! I enjoyed every second of this book. It did not disappoint at all. Once again fantastic world-building and character development!

It was such a joy to read more about the characters and to meet new ones too! There was great character development and the characters were really fleshed out nicely. The story pacing was medium to fast, with something new happening every few pages to keep you engaged. I did wonder whether this series would end up as a trilogy however everything was wrapped up nicely at the end with a satisfying conclusion to a beautifully written book.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.