Dark magic has awoken Nemu’s enemies, and they will stop at nothing to have their revenge.
What’s it About?
Magic demands its price. In the sequel to Of Water and Dragons, Nemu and Ambiorix must fight to survive in the wild lands of the Caitt in northern Caledonia where they have sought refuge after Ambiorix’s desertion from the Roman army. Another more sinister danger also stalks them, a result of Nemu’s dark magic. Their idyllic world is about to be shattered, and their relationship tested.
First Impressions
Our second novel opens with Ambiorix and Nemu hidden away in a small northern tribe, trying their best to live a normal life with their new son, Bran. But can a soldier truly be happy away from the heat and excitement of the battlefield? And can Nemu turn her back on the call of magic hidden amidst the glens and lochs of the countryside, especially when a powerful spell carried out at the end of the first book has brought forth a dark magic more sinister and deadly than any dragon? Turns out the answer is nope, and not on your life. The first book in this series presented us with such a brief meet cute between Nemu and Ambiorix before fate ripped them apart, so it was honestly refreshing to see them enjoying a bit of normalcy raising cattle together with their young son. But alas, fate would not let them rest.
Although they do get a fair amount more on-page time together in this sequel, it really doesn’t take long before Nemu and Ambiorix are once again ripped from each other’s arms to fight their own battles, and my goodness are there are lot of them. A decent amount of this read involves a slew of confrontations and battles interspersed with traversing the countryside. There is so much travel back and forth between various Roman settlements, northern tribes and misty islands, not to mention skirmishes involving Romans against Celts, Romans with Celts against Romans, mortals against goddesses, and a plethora of former lovers from Nemu’s past, that it was quite a challenge to keep them all straight. The overarching struggle though is reminiscent of book one in that Nemu and Ambiorix seem stuck in an endless cycle of trying to find their way back to each other. Book one solely dealt with that journey involving the mortal realm, but the situation is certainly elevated a notch or ten here as we see their efforts cross into an unearthly realm as well.
From Faery to Goddess
We were first introduced to Nemu at the beginning of book one as a seemingly innocuous faery unfamiliar with the ways of humans. As events have progressed however, we have come to realize that there was much more to this supposed delicate faery than first met the eye. Not only is Nemu actually the Goddess of Vengeance, Becuille, but her dark magic from the previous book has brought forth a whole slew of characters from her past who want nothing more than to bring about her downfall. Because she did…something…that was horrific and unforgiveable. What she did exactly? Unclear. We meet three new goddesses in this sequel, are reintroduced to a fallen foe from book one who now takes on another form, and we throw in the god of the underworld for good measure in the final act. Needless to say, there was a lot going on, and throughout it all we only get bits and pieces of the complicated history that connects all of these different characters, but are never privy to a comprehensive explanation of how the entire puzzle fits together. It seems the bulk of those details will be reserved for the next book.
While we understand that there is a fervent hatred from some of these goddesses against Nemu/Becuille that will drive them towards some unsavory alliances and stratagems, it’s frustrating to not fully understand their motivations for so adamantly seeking her collapse. We also see that history seems to be repeating itself for these characters, as though fate as them trapped to constantly relive the highs and lows of their previous lives. You have to wonder why they wouldn’t just decide to go their separate ways for once. While book one saw Nemu give up more and more of her fantastical life in an attempt to be what Ambiorix would desire in a woman, this second novel really dives deep into the ancient magic of the land. The imagery brought forth from these mystical elements, whether they be in the forms of ravens, wolves, or the creepy labyrinthine bowels of the Underworld, was truly poetic. That being said, it was tricky at times to fully understand the rules of magic we’re dealing with here, especially when it came to death. Some characters took on new forms in death, others were never truly lost, while some are ne’er to return. We also see how some magic which was thought lost can be regained, while other magic can be shared to those who are apparently mortal. Some might say magic in itself doesn’t need to have rules, but some more explanation of the fantastical elements of this world would have benefitted our overall understanding of how certain events played out.
*A copy of this book was provided for an honest review*
Series: Soul Echoes, book 2. This is definitely a series you need to read in order. I was hoping for more discovery of Nemu’s past in this book, but if anything I encountered even more questions. Here’s to hoping book three will resolve some of these outstanding mysteries involving Nemu’s connections to various characters, not to mention her super mysterious mother.
Would I befriend the heroine? I dunno, this lady seems to share details of her past purely on a “need to know basis”, and that “need to know” always seems to arise when you’re staring death in the face.
Would I date the hero? Ambriorix definitely won me over a bit more in this second book. It was hard to connect with him in the premier novel, but we see how far he’s willing to go to win Nemu back in this sequel, even if it means battling his way through the Underworld.
Final Impressions: This series focuses a lot of attention on telling Ambiorix’s story and Nemu’s story, but there seems to be a challenge at telling their story. A significant portion of this book highlighted Ambiorix’s struggle at confronting his identify as a soldier. What kind of soldier can he be if he’s no longer fighting Rome’s battles? The other portion of the book dives deep into Nemu’s confrontations with the many characters of her past. There are moments where these two focuses start to blend, and just a handful where they truly mesh together in a way where we feel that our hero and heroine are fighting the same fight. Those are the moments that stand out in that they rely on and draw strength from each other, but they are still too few and far between. There’s more of those scenes here than in book one though, so hopefully the third book in the series can really go to the next level in bringing these two distinctive paths together.
Smut Level: This aspect of the book was…interesting. There’s definitely a lot more in the way of sexy times, but they’re not necessarily sexy fun times. At one point another character takes on the appearance of Nemu to sleep with Ambiorix, another time Nemu switches bodies with someone else to sleep with Ambiorix, and we even see Ambiorix sleep with someone else to get some magic. I almost feel like by the end of this series most characters will have slept with each other, and they might just decide to have one massive relationship involving all of them.
Get it on Amazon: Click Here. $0.99 Kindle Price. 328 Pages.