Review – Diamond & Dawn (Amber & Dusk, Book 2) by Lyra Selene (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 384 pages
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Release Date: December 3, 2019
ISBN-13: 978-1338547597
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Amber & Dusk duology
Source: Bought
Rating: 4/5 stars
“Mirage, triumphant in her coup of the Amber Empire, returns to the palais prepared to take her place as empress. With the support of her friends and a tentative, blossoming romance with Sunder, Mirage is on the cusp of taking hold of everything she has ever wanted.
However, her place in the sun is not as sure as she expected, nor is it quite as bright as she imagined.
When the Empress Severine’s body was recovered from the battle, Mirage discovered she was not dead after all. Rather, Severine is in a coma, her every breath a threat to Mirage’s newfound power. Worse, a distant cousin, Gavin d’Ars, appears at court with the challenge of his blood claim. As Mirage uncovers more secrets from her family’s past, she proposes a series of ancient, grueling trials to determine the most deserving heir. But in Mirage’s fight to defend her vision for the empire, she begins to splinter all of her alliances. Will the battle for control leave anyone untainted?”
Series Info/Source: This is the 2nd, and final, book in the Amber & Dusk duology. I purchased this book.
Story (4/5): This was a decent conclusion to the Amber & Dusk series but feels a bit unfinished to me. When I got to the end I kept thinking that maybe there were going to be more books, but it sounds like this is it for the series. The story starts out a bit slow but picks up a lot when we get to the contest between Gavin and Mirage. The whole story is focused around Mirage keeping her throne and trying to build a better Amber Empire.
Characters (4/5): While the characters are well done, none of them are very likable. I understand Mirage’s drive but think she’s pretty awful to even her best allies. She does grow and change throughout the story but I never engaged all that well with her. Sunder is by far my favorite character, but I felt like he was in the background more often than not and spent way too much time just doing whatever Mirage wanted.
Setting (4/5): The setting is very typical fantasy in style. The kingdoms are decently built out and the magic and history are well thought out.
Writing Style (4/5): This book is easy to read and flows well. The story is told completely from Mirage’s POV. I struggled a bit to remember where the story left off in book 1, it would have been nice to have a quick synopsis or just better reminders throughout the story to help the reader a bit.
Summary (4/5): Overall I am glad I read this and it was a decent conclusion to the series. This is a lot of intrigue and the interesting parts of the story (the search for the Relic and the contest) take a long time to get started. I also didn’t find the characters all that likable or engaging which made me enjoy this a bit less. This is a solid fantasy series and I would recommend if you like intriguing magic with lots of intrigue and politics.
