What Would You Sacrifice For Love?

I recently finished reading This Cursed Light by Emily Thiede. This is book #2 in the Last Finestra duology.

~POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT~

  Rating: 3.75/5 stars

"When the gods make the rules, the players must choose: Sacrifice their love to save the world, or choose love and let it burn?

Six months after saving their island from destruction and almost losing Dante, Alessa is ready to live happily ever after with her former bodyguard. But Dante can't rest, haunted by a conviction that the gods aren't finished with them yet. And without his powers, the next kiss from Alessa could kill him.

Desperate for answers, Dante enlists Alessa and their friends to find the exiled ghiotte in hopes of restoring his powers and combining forces with them to create the only army powerful enough to save them all. But Alessa is hiding a deadly consequence of their last fight--a growing darkness that's consuming her mind--and their destination holds more dangers than anyone bargained for. In the mysterious city of the banished, Dante will uncover secrets, lies, and ghosts from his past that force him to ask himself: Which side is he on?

When the gods reveal their final test, Dante and Alessa will be the world's last defense. But if they are the keys to saving the world, will their love be the price of victory?"

I absolutely adored This Vicious Grace—from the magic system to the Italian-inspired world to the romance. And this sequel did not disappoint in any front, and even upped the stakes with additional world-building and character development. While I’m sad that these two books are it for this world, I also can’t see how Emily Thiede could expand this story into further books. All in all, it is a perfect young adult duology that has a little bit of everything.

Pretty early on into my reading of this book, I made a note to myself: “All of the characters feel wittier and more sarcastic than in the last one! Which I’m here for—they’re all making me laugh.” I still stand by that comment even after finishing the novel. There’s something to be said for seeing characters go through an inherently stressful and traumatic event together and then get to show a sillier, more relaxed side of themselves as they heal from that trauma. That statement stood true for everyone on page, no matter their status as a major or minor character, and made everyone feel inherently more human.

Going into this, I wasn’t expecting This Cursed Light to be told in dual perspective—but I’m so glad it was. While frustrating to see the continued insecurities and lack of communication between Dante and Alessa—seriously, y’all, talk to each other!—that dual perspective built the tension of this book. In many ways, I do consider book one to be Alessa’s journey and book two to be Dante’s journey. Which makes sense, considering these two are the true Duo Divinado!

I wasn’t expecting the sheer volume of world-building expansion this book had. Not only did we travel farther away—to the Continent, no less—but we received more lore about the ghiotte and the gods, Crollo and Dea. Of course, one should always expect more world-building in a fantasy series, but it blew me away to see and find the set-up for these details in the first novel and to see those details come into play, or even complicated situations in the second novel.

If I had to critique this book, my only complaint is that the pacing is a little too fast. I found myself wanting more time to linger in scenes to draw out stronger emotionality from our characters, like we had in book one. I also found myself longing for the conflict to push the characters a little bit more. It felt like obstacles—such as Dante winning over the ghiotte or the ghiotte accepting the Finestra and Fontes—were overcome too easily. With a slightly slower pacing and a greater intensity to the conflict, this book would have easily been a five-star read.

This young adult fantasy duology has so much to offer a reader. From fun, realistic characters, to death-defying adventures, to a romance that makes you absolutely swoon—it's an entertaining fantasy duology. Was it perfect? Definitely not. But the fact that I found it difficult to put the book down speaks volumes about how fun and beautiful the writing was.

Check out This Cursed Light, and discover what sacrifices you'd make for love.