The Curse of Sins - ARC Review
Book Review:
The Curse of Sins
by Kate Dramis
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I was so excited to get book two in the series. Thank you so much to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for a copy to review. Also getting approved for the audio ARC seemed perfect as the best way to fit it into my TBR. The problem with ARCs is that we have to wait longer than normal to get to the next, final in this case, installment though. Also, I have gone back and read my review of the first book and laughed now that I’m through with this one.
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For world-building, I think I'm just going to have to get used to romantasy not having as much. The second installment of the series did give us a bit more background into the religion. We get to follow along with Aya as she researches the documents the church has about Evie. This is how Aya comes to learn and put the information about Evie together. Even still there is not too much information given about her.
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In my previous review, I don't think I covered the magic system. Which is a shame as it is interesting. Some aspects might seem a seen them before type but that's true for almost everything. People are born with a magical affinity granted by one of the gods. These individuals are called visia(?) and can only draw on so much of their abilities, they refer to this as their well. If someone has more than one ability they have practiced dark arts to be able to gain more abilities. These affinities are elemental (wind, fire, water … I don't remember any earth binders?), physical (healing or harming), and mental (persuasion and feelings). Also after the events of Evie's time, Visia aren't allowed to be rulers.
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The main characters for this one remain with a new addition. Aya has accepted her role as the second saint. She struggles more in this one to understand what that means than with her inner darkness. Whereas Will is full of inner turmoil for other reasons. Will has to walk the fine line between his previous role and Enforcer all while his mental shields are crumbling. I must say it never really explained that I can recall, is it just from the blowback of using his powers so much? Then we have Aidon, the funny charming prince who is now having to step into his kingship with a country turned against him. A new addition to this book would be Josie, as we see her struggling through the aftermath of what Book 1 did to her partner and family.
Character work is something that is done very well in both books. We get to see our characters work through turmoil, joy, and grief and see how that can change them. Aya and Aidon shine in this capacity. The author is also very true to real life in the emotional range of our characters. Her author note showed how Dramis wanted to show that characters, much like us, can go through emotional growth only to circle back around to having the same issues later. On that note though let's move to the pacing.
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Well, maybe not the pacing but also a little bit. I feel that the book was too long. Sure it is typical fantasy length. However, we had several instances where it didn't seem that the plot was moving forward and repetitive scenes. This doesn't seem necessary to the amount that it was done even to convey the emotional states and depth of our characters.
The plot of this one seems to be that Aya and Will are returning home to face their queen. While they don't fully trust her they also know this is their best chance to find answers. Aya must discover what the greatest wrong she has to right is before war is upon them. They decide the best course is to hide their relationship. This way Will can still pretend to be flirting with the queen. Most of Will's time is still spent searching for the weapons supplier mentioned in the first book and hating himself. While Aya is sent for an emotional upheaval after an attack close to home.
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One point against the specific version. For this read-through, I listened to the audiobook for the first book to have a refresher before starting the audiobook ARC. While the narrator has a good voice and pronounces stuff correctly there were issues. Mainly the issue is that there are different main characters between male & female and there was no noticeable difference. Then even between the different perspectives of the same gender or conversations, there was hardly a distinction between inflection of voice. This just made it hard to know who the perspective of each chapter was from.
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After the slow pace of most of the book, the last portion was just wow. Again I'm left with several questions and this time even conflicting feelings. Why did the mob boss feel the need to send that "message"? He and Aya had been on working terms for years it makes no sense and does nothing to the plot really except add to Aya's emotional strain. Then there is what happened to Tova, just why? I like the way the story is going in a sense and will definitely read the final book. Hopefully, there will not be unanswered questions or needless pacing bits in that one.
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