TL;DR – Blood & Honey feels like a subpar retread of its predecessor. It has the same villain and the same emotional & relational conflicts repackaged with a new setting and some plot device.
Blood & Honey, the sequel to Serpent & Dove, is not what I was hoping for, but is still an interesting read.
Lou and the gang find themselves on the run from her mother and desperately seeking allies to help them put an end to this dreadful conflict. The problem? Too many burned bridges. Too few options. When a mysterious new character steps in, everything finally seems like it might fall into place. Until it doesn’t.
I really wanted to like this. First off, Shelby Mahurin’s writing is still very strong. She has an effortless flow to her writing that pulls you into the story. She is great at describing the emotions and connections between characters. This book has some great new settings, but they are sorely lacking in depth. I would have loved to spend more time with the Dames Rogue or the traveling entertainers. Such interesting people to invest so little time in considering how important they are to individual characters and the overall plot.
I don’t understand Beau’s inclusion. He feels flat and a convenient plot tool. I imagine he will have some great importance, but his inclusion feels unnecessary at this point. I was even wondering about that at the end of the previous novel.
Lou’s lack of awareness when it comes to the motivations of specific characters astounds me. The ending should not have happened the way it did simply based off of what we know about Lou and what she (and we) know and understand about these characters. Lou has spent her whole life on the run avoiding dangerous situations and people. She should have shown better awareness.
On that note, she has spent her whole life afraid of becoming her mother and learning to not give in to her magic in the same malicious way the Dames Blanche have. She is creative, cunning, and resourceful when it comes to alternate solutions. We saw this many times over in the last novel. I don’t object to her struggling with this dangerous aspect of her magic, but I do object to her falling so fast into it because of feelings. I get that she is impulsive, but this feels like a huge regression to her growth and strength of character from the last novel.
The same thing with Reid. Of course, he is going to struggle with having magic. It goes against everything he was raised to know, but it just felt like his character regressed so much, in regards, to this and also, in regards, to his mother. It is a lack of creativity and inspiration on Shelby Mahurin’s part in both cases.
Finally, I am so over the lying/hiding the truth to create conflict trope. It is so overdone. It is so frustrating to me when characters keep digging themselves into holes because they couldn’t just tell the truth. I also find it to be lazy writing. Instead of creating conflict in a more innovative way, authors resort to this age-old plot device. It is not a good story when a lot of the central conflict can be fixed with one truthful conversation. Not a fan.
I suggest you still read it as it was still fun and it seems like this story isn’t over, but hold your expectations loosely.
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