Bebo Saucier Carrick's Reviews > Chrysalis and Requiem

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This book had all the ingredients to make it a new favorite: sapphic romance, dark academia, biblically accurate angels, cults, nonbinary/trans rep... alas, what it did with those ingredients was a wild ride, but like the kind that you want to get off of as soon as possible.

The two main characters were god-awful. And not in the way where they're so evil that you love to hate them. They were just completely empty vessels filled only with obsession (Veaer) and hunger for love (Elise) Their chemistry was NON-EXISTENT. For the life of me, I cannot understand Veaer's crazy obsession with Elise after seeing her literally murder someone else, and the fact that that element of the novel was not believable made everything else just that much less believable. Veaer is an absolute doormat of a character that seems to just exist to be a love interest for Elise, and that could be excusable in a side character, but she's the MAIN CHARACTER.

I also do not understand much of anything about the world of this story. There are terms thrown around like Senti and Caemi (Caemi gave me heavy furry vibes, so do with that what you will), but the differences between these races (species?) aren't explained at all. I am left with so many questions. Why do people care about the four heirs so much? Why do caemis seemingly have less rights than Senti? Who has magic and who doesn't? How do you know what kind of people have magic? How do the caemi and senti ascend to angels? What kind of education do most people need to thrive in this world (clearly arts/magic but like what about math and shit)? Additionally, the "dark academia" vibe fell very flat because the school just seemed to be a backdrop for the story. I was hoping for more academic rivalry/classics references as I come to expect when that genre is mentioned.

The shifting timeline also didn't make sense. I find myself wondering what the flashbacks to years 1 and 2 add to Veaer's character at all, especially since there weren't many of them at all.

Now despite all that I disliked about this book, it has some points that are its saving grace and that got it to 2 stars instead of just one. Tychon's character and his transness being connected to divinity was incredible. Veaer's visions of Tychon as a biblically accurate angel were very interesting. I really loved the connection this novel made between trans bodies and heavenly/angelic bodies, and if that aspect were more heavily included, I think I would have enjoyed this book a lot more. Alas, this saving grace was a mere spot compared to the rest of the book, so its inclusion was not enough to make me enjoy this book in its entirety.

Publication date: March 16, 2024