Review--Shadows of Perl by J. Elle

 

The dazzling romantic fantasy world of House of Marionne continues in this dark and deadly sequel full of forbidden magic, devastating lies, and broken hearts.

A must read for fans of Stephanie Garber, Leigh Bardugo, and Alex Aster.

Unleash the darkness. Claim your power.

Quell Marionne’s explosive final Rite of Induction to House Marionne sent shockwaves through the magical world, unearthing long buried secrets and her own deadly power. But she paid a steep price: her family and her love. Fleeing Chateau Soleil for House of Perl, for once Quell is celebrated instead of shunned. She has finally found somewhere to belong. But secrets lurk in every House, and Quell’s quest to find her mom threatens to lead her deeper into the shadows.

Assassin Jordan Wexton, second-in command of the Dragun brotherhood, must protect the source of all magic, the Sphere. Yet the biggest threat to the Sphere is Quell Marionne—the girl he loved, until she claimed the deadly, outlawed toushana. As the Sphere cracks and war brews among the Houses, can the only way to save the world be to kill his own heart?

Now, these two lovers-turned enemies must confront their competing ambitions and conflicting loyalties. Or die. The future of magic hangs on their decision.

Shadows of Perl is J. Elle's second installment in the House of Marionne trilogy and I must say I forgot quite a bit about what happened in the first installment. I had notes, so I remember the main points, but I struggled with remembering who everyone was. There were a LOT of characters in this one. While some roles were minor, there were just so many I was struggling to remember the who's who of it all. I wish books like this, where you have a large assemble, would have a character guide in the beginning. True, this book does give some House history and magic information, but a character guide would have been really nice!

Quell has left her grandmother and House Marionne and is off in search of her mother who she separated from all that time ago. She is desperate to find her mother after learning of the atrocities her grandmother was committing. But there's a larger problem at stake as well. House leaders are in search of the Sphere. The big "sphere" that contains all the magic. And since magic equals power, ultimate power, everyone is trying to get it. And with Quell's toushana powers, she just might be able to find it...if she can learn how to wield her powers correctly.

Quell is on her quest with Yagrin, Jordan's brother and there's no love triangle between brothers to deal with thankfully, as I was honestly worried about that. Jordan is not out of the picture yet, though there is still a great deal of tension between him and Quell as he's hunting for her since she has toushana. Lots of drama.

I'll admit that this one did kind of slow me down. I had a busy week on top of things and getting back into the story was sometimes a struggle. Especially when an unfamiliar face popped up that we were supposed to remember. It also didn't help that the occasional character would have another name they used as well and it was just a bit confusing for me.

I feel like this wouldn't be an Elle book if there wasn't still some romance (of course I base this off of having only read the first book in this trilogy, lol!) and there still is. Naturally Jordan and Quell cross paths again and things were interesting. There's a lot to unpack between them and while things were overly romantic or swoony, the tension was to die for! And there may have been a little bit of swoony moments happening!

The ending was full of chaos--the good kind! Lots of action scenes happening and the chaos that comes from that. Big things were happening that are going to change everything for the third and final book. While I was struggling with this book for the most part, I feel like the majority of it was being overwhelmed with all these characters. Yes, I felt like I could remember a few of them, but then there were the ones I really didn't remember who kept coming onto the page making things more confusing. Hopefully by diving into the third book next I won't have that problem as much, but yeah, a character guide would've gone a long way to jogging my memory. I think I will need a bigger notebook for note taking so I can jot down every character next time so I have a better idea of who they are for the sequels.

But all in all, this was still a fun read. I enjoyed the action and the tension between Quell and Jordan. Definitely looking forward to seeing how things will wrap up!

Overall Rating 3.5/5 stars