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Thursday 17 December 2015

{Review} Dark Heart of Magic (Black Blade #2) by Jennifer Estep

24402674Posted by Melanie
Release Date: October 27th, 2015
Finished Date: December 4th, 2015
Publishers: K-Teen
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance
Source: For Review
Format: eARC
Pages: 368
Buy: Amazon UK Amazon US / The Book Depo

There Be Monsters Here. . .

It's not as great as you'd think, living in a tourist town that's known as "the most magical place in America." Same boring high school, just twice as many monsters under the bridges and rival Families killing each other for power. 

I try to keep out of it. I've got my mom's bloodiron sword and my slightly illegal home in the basement of the municipal library. And a couple of Talents I try to keep quiet, including very light fingers and a way with a lock pick. 

But then some nasty characters bring their Family feud into my friend's pawn shop, and I have to make a call--get involved, or watch a cute guy die because I didn't. I guess I made the wrong choice, because now I'm stuck putting everything on the line for Devon Sinclair. My mom was murdered because of the Families, and it looks like I'm going to end up just like her. . .

The Review: I really enjoyed the second book in the Black Blade series, even more than the first!
Now that we know a little more about this world, it was very easy to slip right into it again and pick up where we left off. Lila has officially become part of the Sinclair family and has learned a good few things about herself and her parentage. She is still honing her abilities whilst trying to keep them secret which could become problematic when her boss chooses her to compete in the Tournament of Blades. In the tournament she will be pitted against not only her enemies but also her friends and that includes Devon whom she is still having mixed feelings about.
Weird things are beginning to happen around town though, demons are being forced out of their homes and into the city or worse! Murdered! Then once the tournament is underway – people start turning up dead, drained of blood…. Lila must get to the bottom of it all whilst keeping an eye on her charges, keeping an eye on herself and keeping an eye on Victor Draconi who has a few plots and plans up his sleeve that need to be revealed.
Lila became more self assured throughout this book and more mature, she seemed to weigh everything up, considered the outcomes and made decisions, which is unlike many characters we read about in this age range. For all she had made a connection with Devon in book one, I was glad that they didn’t just dive bomb into a relationship because I enjoy the simmer, the little moments where attraction and chemistry comes to the forefront of their minds and gives those special scenes that really get your heart invested in them. I do like them together, as I said, they have great chemistry, she seems to be on a very equal footing with him in her capabilities and that it nice to see – they complement each other rather than being dependant on each other.
I thought this was a fab sequel in the series and I loved the tournament storyline which gave it a very fantasy like feel. I like the mysteries that arose throughout the story, first off we have the dead demons that need seeing to – it may feel like this is not much of a story but just wait for the tie in. Then we have super spy/thief Lila in action as she goes in search of information and to see what certain people are up to…. What she discovers will be quite the eye opener and I really liked who we met because of that. We also have the tournament which would be awesome in its self, seeing the characters wield their powers in a combatant way and finding out who is the best amongst them but when you add to that someone sabotaging the challenge, contestants turning up dead…. It became excellent! and! To top it all off, Lila will learn some huge secrets about herself and her family which makes me really excited for the next book. Loved this! 

4.5 Flowers! 

Thank you to K-Teen for giving me the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review. 

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