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A Fated Review

 


A Sequel to Remember!

When first introduced to Adalyn Grace's story of All the Stars and Teeth, I was transfixed by Amora Montara's family history of legendary soul magic. A kingdom of different islands all dedicated to unique types of magic ranging from elemental to healing and everything in between. I appreciated the map imaging afforded to the reader in both the first and second book of this duology, depicting the locations of the islands for those living in the kingdom of Visidia. In this sequel, All the Tides of Fate, Amora's lost her father and ascended the throne. Her mother is her supporter but has made it clear Amora needs to win the hearts of her people and what better way to do that than by giving them something to root for--such as, a marriage!

This novel follows Amora traveling to the islands of her kingdom in search of a future husband and (eventually) another Montara heir. However, that's her cover story that she keeps up to the best of her ability. In all reality, in addition to being cursed with her dashing pirate, Amora is haunted by her nightmares every night when she lays her head down to sleep. The image of her father dying plays over and over behind her eyelids, blood and gore on repeat--spiking her heartrate and increasing her dreadful guilt in believing it was all her fault. Amora has learned of a weapon to altar the timing of events in someone's life. She's fascinated and determined that she'll be able to see her father once more and this drives her to assemble her sailing crew once more and set out on another adventure. Unfortunately, she keeps her true plans close to the chest in hopes to achieve her goal, by (mostly) whatever means necessary.

The ending caught me by surprise and I was truly heartbroken to learn that one of the purest souls between these two novels was taken. Although, they wouldn't have had one of the purest souls if it hadn't have happened this way. So, kudos(!) to Grace for achieving this phenomenal plot twist within this storyline. I found myself relating to this story in a truly personal aspect, more so than anything I've read as of recent. Having lost two family members within the last two years and undergoing questioning my presence here in this world, I found myself relating to Amora on such a personal level that I normally wouldn't be able to with a fantastical reading. I truly appreciate this sequel and gravitate towards Grace's depiction of moving forward when comprehending and accepting a familial loss.

The attention to detail and setting was done well. The flow and movement between chapters was appealing and easy to follow. I found a few typos, but nothing too deliberate that it stood out. The cover of this novel was beautiful, comparable to the first as well. I could only imagine what could come of having these two stories made into either movies or a television series. Woohoo! I'd highly recommend, through and through. I look forward to other up-and-coming novels from Adalyn Grace. :)

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