Author: Kristina Perez
Publisher: Imprint
Genre: YA Fantasy
My Rating: 5/5 stars
Release Date:
Synopsis: 8/27/2019
** This book is a sequel and therefore the synopsis (and review below) will contain some spoilers for earlier books in the series **
“Branwen has a secret powerful enough to destroy two kingdoms.
Her ancient magic led to a terrible betrayal by both her best friend, the princess Essy, and her first love, Tristan. Now this same magic is changing Branwen. Adrift in a rival court, Branwen must hide the truth from the enemy king by protecting the lovers who broke her heart―and finds herself considering a darker path.
Not everyone wants the alliance with Branwen’s kingdom to succeed―peace is balanced on a knife’s edge, and her only chance may be to embrace the darkness within… ”
I FEEL LIKE A GIANT BALL OF EMOTIONS AND I JUST WANT TO CRY IN A CORNER. I adored Kristina Perez’s debut Sweet Black Waves, so obviously, when I got this ARC in the mail I pretty much dropped every responsibility off a cliff so I could read it. And oh my gosh. This book was amazing and somehow even managed to be better than the first one. The magic, world building, writing, characters, and plot were unreal. I don’t know how I’m expected to wait a year for the final book?? How can I be patience when a story is this good??
The character development in this book was beautiful. Watching Branwen’s dark descent into more villain like waters was captivating and written brilliantly. It was addicting to watch her slowly becoming more powerful and cunning. I was getting to the point where I was thinking “okay, so this thing you’re about to do it totally wrong BUT you should do it anyways because I love you and I’m here for this”. IT WAS AMAZING AND SO PERFECTLY KIND OF EVIL. I think I love Branwen even more now.
Speaking of characters, the more I got into this book the more I found myself disliking Essy (Branwen’s cousin) . She’s never been my favorite character to begin with, but I just found her annoying in this book. Not annoying in the way that I wanted to pull my hair out, but annoying in the way that I wish I understood her actions better. I would read the crap out of a novella from her point of view to really get into her mindset.
Kristina Perez is a literal GODDESS of world building. It was obvious she had done her research and her vivid writing style really made Kernyv feel authentic. It was magical and balanced so perfectly between showing and telling. Watching Branwen explore the new lands and castle were some of my favorite scenes of the book. The entire story was beautifully written.
This book starts soft and goes into a violent crescendo of drama and the ending BROKE MY HEART. The build up to the final events was laid out in the perfect way to absolutely destroy a reader and I am upset. After initially finishing this book I sat on my couch and just cried. I cried for my girl Branwen, I cried for everything that was going to happen, and I really cried that I’ll have to wait over a year for the next one of Kristina Perez’s masterpiece books in this trilogy. It was a perfectly sculpted dagger of an ending and all I’m left saying is: “how could you do that??”
Okay, but actually, I’m left saying that this book was even better than the first. This trilogy is a must read and I love it. Wild Savage Stars was the perfect follow up to Sweet Black Waves that’ll leave you speechless and wanting more. Do yourself a favor and read these books.
Thank you so much to the publisher for sending me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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