I received a digital copy from TBR Beyond Book Tour via Entangled Teen. All reviews are my own.
Picking right where we left off in Last of the Talons, Shin Lina is back from “the dead” with new abilities, more vital forces, and a new deadly prophecy running rampant in the deepest parts of the dark. Sophie Kim made sure to dedicate this sequel to “The Angry Girls,” and the words on the pages did it justice, but I have mixed feelings about the overall results of this mini action-packed story.
"Everyone thinks the Reaper of Sunpo—eighteen-year-old assassin Shin Lina—is dead. The only ones who know the truth are her cherished little sister and Haneul Rui, the icily gorgeous Dokkaebi Emperor, who she was sent to kill…and kissed instead.
Now, with the potent Imugi venom surging in her veins, Lina’s returned to right all wrongs. Already her body is changing, growing stronger, stealthier, and more agile, with serpentine scales she can call at will. She is living vengeance, seeking retribution for the massacre of the Talons. She’ll become the sword who cuts down the rival Blackbloods gang, along with their ruthless crime-lord leader. And when she is through, she will take the kingdom as her own.
But there is a mysterious side to Lina’s growing power, a dark voice inside her that whispers and guides her as she slips through the shadows of Sunpo’s streets. One that warns her not to trust the Dokkaebi, especially Rui.
Because if her destiny isn’t to love him…it must be to destroy him."
In Wrath of the Talon, Lina is all about revenge. She plans to cut down each faction in the Blackblood’s army to have her sweet justice against Konrarnd Kalmin. While she works in the shadows, she is also getting used to the new power of the Imugi’s blood running through her veins. As noble as her intentions are to right wrongs, something ancient lurking has a different path for her toward the throne.
First, let me say that this may be a me thing. I feel like I’m in the beginning stages of slump reading, and Wrath of Talon got caught up in it. It didn’t help that the book revved up to a slow start. It took a while for me to get into the story, and once I found my place in it, I still had difficulty focusing. The main problem that bothered me throughout this title was the excessive monologuing. Lina is now sharing her mind with “The Voice”; it was like watching a debate team argue over molasses vs. simple syrup. Now, I get Kim had to show a personality switch when it came to adding this invisible force, and I also understand how important “The Voice” was for this version of events, but it turned me all the way off. It was too much talking, not enough action.
You know what? Let’s just say I straight up don’t like Shin Lina. “The Voice” has made her even less desirable as a person. To me, she is still very weak. She hasn’t learned from her mistakes in LOTT because she still falls prey to them in WOTT. She may be good to do the dirty work, but I’d never give her the “Big Job” because she’ll get cocky and fail.
We don’t see much of Rui in WOTT, unlike in LOTT, because this story is about Lina’s redemption. I won’t say he got moved as a background character because he’s very much present, but we see less of him as the playful hero and more of a quiet supporting character. Rui is still sweet and is very much Team Lina. He does not play about her.
We have some answers to questions left unsaid in LOTT. I appreciate Kim for detailing both sides of history between good vs. evil. I also love that there is more action in this story. I felt in LOTT, Lina boasted of being this great assassin, but we saw her fall flat on her ass on every other page. At least in this book, we see the beast Lina always thought she was making its breakout appearance.
Overall, I rated this book 3-stars. I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t pick up Book 3, Reign of the Talon when it releases in September. I’ve gotten this far, and I want to see it through. Especially with that shocking, gut-wrenching ending, I wonder how Lina will fair in the end. I just hope there’s less monologuing. On a side note, there is a gumiho sighting, and I wonder if the sly fox is the spin-off in Kim’s latest novel, The Gods and the Gumiho. If so, way to link it!
Wrath of the Talons is available now.
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