Nicole's Reviews > The Curse of Sins

** spoiler alert ** '𝑰𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒓', 𝑱𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒆𝒕𝒍𝒚. '𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒏. 𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚'𝒍𝒍 𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆'.

The Curse of Sins is the second book in the series and continues where Aya and Will have a new understanding. Together with her once-sworn enemy Will she returns to their kingdom, her mission clear, to serve their queen and help save the realm in the war looming.

But was it really that clear?
Once returned, they are met with numerous questions and incertainties. And questions unanswered, that are not narrowing down but instead building up. What is the part of their queen in all this? What is the true purpose of Aya's powers?

In the meantime King Aidon is trying to figure out what type of King he wishes to be, met with the first difficult choices he will have to make. The secret he carries with him, standing in his way of living his life.

𝑱𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒆 𝒓𝒖𝒃𝒃𝒆𝒅 𝒂 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒕, 𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒇 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒌𝒔 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒎. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝒑𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒌𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒗𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒄𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒃𝒍𝒂𝒅𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕.

𝑱𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒆 𝒑𝒖𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒖𝒑 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒌. '𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒔,' 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅. '𝑰𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒔 𝒎𝒆'. 𝑨𝒊𝒅𝒐𝒏 𝒔𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒌, 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒈𝒂𝒛𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒙𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒓. '𝑩𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒉𝒆𝒓,' 𝑱𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒆 𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅, 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎. '𝑱𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒆__'

'𝑩𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒉𝒆𝒓'

The book focuses a lot on the new dimentions of the relationship between Will and Aya and their romantic feelings towards another. Interestingly enough, it is not the main focus and they are still struggling here and there to figure out their feelings toward another. I think that was a pretty good take, as it would be way to easy to give them their "perfect ever after" straight away.

Next to that, it also focuses around Aya getting into the role of the saint and researching her powers. The tría is not as it's used to be and shifts in trust and allies. Tova doesn't remember a thing and is tortured in her questioning, her rage focused entirely on Will. It strains the friendship and trust between her and Aya, while they figure out where they stand together in all of this.

I usually don't mind a slower pace in books, as long as it builds up to something. Book one was definitely slow-paced aswell. But I think the pacing in book two was bordering on boredom for me at a few times. Not much was happening for say 35% of the book other than researching, preparing and training. In that regard, I'd definitely say this book seems more character focused than plot focused. I think the book would land better with most, if you'd take out the more dragging parts and didn't have to be as chunky as it is.

Another thing I was left confused by is the dynamic. We have a general, an enforcer and a spie known as our tría. They work well together, because they are good at their tasks. However, at times the enforcer was better at spying and finding answers than the one person who had the affinity for it. I feel like her and there the development for each character, carved out so well in book one, was starting to fade a bit in book two.

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒐𝒅𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒂 𝒔𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉. 𝑰𝒍 𝒔𝒚 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏 𝒔𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒊 𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆, 𝒂𝒕𝒊 𝒍𝒊 𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒗𝒏𝒊 𝒔𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒊 𝒍𝒊 𝑷é𝒍𝒂. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉, 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒑𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒅.

However, the concept of it all was still interesting and there is definitely plenty to work with. Who doesn't love a good prophecy come true, deception, forbidden romances, political intrigue and dark magic? Towards the end of the book, the clues all come together and the pacing suddenly takes off with a battle and revelation. Leaving us again with that cliffhanger ending we all love to hate. It does set up perfectly for the next installment of the book and with that, another challenge to be met, another battle entirely than we were led to believe we were in.

This book has:
- Multiple pov
- Written in third person
- Queer sidecharacter; so if they/thems aren't your thing, you might want to skip this series.
- Sexual content

My rating for 'The Curse of Sins' landed on a 3.5☆

I was provided with an eARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you 😊