Read my review of the first book in the Immortals Descending series, Storm Front.
Like the previous book in this series, this one starts with a fascinating origin story. This time, it’s not the origin story of a god, but of the inciting event to his evolution. Foxglove kicks us off with lots of questions, then makes us work for answers that aren’t anything close to simple.
This story settles neatly into the enemies-to-lovers trope, but as usual, this author never follows a linear progression to Arwyn and Declan’s happily ever after. Once they start interacting directly (i.e., Declan becomes Arwyn’s prisoner), this story could be overwhelmingly angsty. However, these men are both way too bratty for that, and I thoroughly enjoyed their epic hate sex as much as Declan pretended not to. Even when secrets are revealed and elements of this story could have gone in the direction of heavy angst, Foxglove keeps moments poignant instead of overwrought.
The unexpected and heartbreaking truth revealed at the end of this story means yet another book in this world that led me to plenty of tears. The amazing world-building that evolves from this revelation once again blows me away in the face of these authors’ collective creativity. The character development that both main characters go through is fantastic, especially because each leads the other to become the best version of themselves rather than being the absolute reason for it. For too long, Avarice has believed themself to be the god of Greed. I love the eventual resolution of their characterization and found it more than satisfying, but I’d even have taken it a bit farther and argued that they are really the god of humanity itself.
Characters and timelines here cross over with the previous book in this series. Like Storm Front provides historical context for lands we’re familiar with from other stories in this world, Shadowfall does the same with an even more incredible reveal. Assigning deities to facets of life and making them integral aspects of historical events presents Foxglove with an interesting conundrum in this book, but they work out a clever way to avoid stepping on Ares’ toes with a traditional war.
I look forward to seeing Arwyn and Declan pop up in future stories and continue to be their delicious, bratty selves. Finally, this is very much a book for cat lovers, and not just for the way Foxglove presents the fantastical wyverns. Each book by these authors gets better and better, and I don’t regret supporting them and this incredible world.
Disclaimer: I received a digital review copy of this book from the authors.
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