Unbound: The Blacksea Odyssey, Book 2

I read a lot of great books this year, but this book may have been the one that got me the most emotionally invested. Vodvarka's biggest strength is in her characters. When they hurt, you hurt and when they are happy, you are happy. I started out enjoying it as much as the first book and thinking "This is a pretty solid sequel to a book I enjoyed." Then a thing happened (if you've read it you know what I'm taking about) and from then on, this book blew the first one out of the water (pun intended). I'm trying to avoid any specifics about the plot because I don't want to spoil any part of the emotional journey you will go on with this book. The story, the characters, the action-nothing is skimped on. An amazing work from a truly talented writer. I listened to the audiobook version and I have nothing but good things to say about the narrator. Great performance, distinct characters, high quality.

This is hands-down, one of the best books I’ve ever read in this genre, and I didn’t think it could get much better than the first book. I can’t even find the words to describe how wonderfully perfect this book is, but most of the other reviews say it better than I can, so believe them. It has everything: characters that are so well-developed that you can see and feel everything about them, an intense plot that often had me tearing up from happiness and sadness as well as my guts clenching at the intensity of the story., and a world that is built with such detail that it just comes alive. And even better yet, the author actually writes a synopsis between books so you don’t have to go back and reread, even though she publishes quickly, and I wish more series authors would do this. She’s become one of my absolute favorite sapphic fantasy authors very quickly, and I can’t wait for the last installment, as well as what ever else she writes. I HIGHLY recommend this series if you like this genre.

Nyssa and the rest of the ladies are back for a continuation of this sword and sorcery adventure, but this time swapping out the “loyalty to country/guild vs loyalty to people” conflicts for “us vs the world” conflicts. It’s refreshing not to continue on a path that was well-covered in the first book, even if the new conflicts don’t have quite as much nuance. There’s much MUCH more of the electric (get it?) tension between Nyssa and Quinn during this slow burn, which is 90% why I was so eager to pick up this book. I love going along with them and exploring their new magic together and seeing them navigate growing closer to each other. It gets 4 stars and not 5 for reasons detailed below. Vague spoilers ahead: There were a few things that made reading drag a little, but it was always worth pushing through for love of the characters. First, overuse of some tropes/story beats/ behavior patterns. They do the “you can’t go, it’s too dangerous” dance quite a few times. Likewise, the “I’m afraid of hurting people” button is pushed a few too many times. Despite that, Nyssa threatens to kill people A LOT. And on the other side, these ladies suffer an inordinate number of injuries and need to be tended to frequently. Second, for about half the book, things progress at a steady pace, even as we cover a long stretch of time in-world. They have a plan, they’re going to perform a sort of heist, their friends are doing their own things to help them, and things are going smoothly…

I genuinely loved it to me Had a good story. I definitely would reread it again.

The characters in this book are compelling and real. Women and men who want to do right and protect, but come upon conflicting desires. I will not spoil it, but read this.