Riven by Bronwyn Eley Pages: 492
Published by Talem Press on August 13, 2020
Series: The Relic Trilogy #2
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy & Magic
Source: ecopy from Publisher
Also in this series: RelicKaylan's life as she knew it is over. Again.
Hunted by the guards of Edriast and their ruthless captain, Kaylan is forced to flee into a world she’s never seen, armed with a power she never wanted. With her brother Elias by her side, she escapes to the distant city of Stynos, where rumour has it a possible ally is waiting… An ally who might help Kaylan control the violent magic that’s become her burden to bear.
But Kaylan can’t hide forever – not from the forces that surround her, or from the darkness inside herself. Rebel leader Bellamy seeks her help to destroy a regime; Captain Thorn pursues her with a vengeance; and as her power grows, her inner demons begin to seep through the cracks…
Kaylan may be strong, but is she strong enough to resist the Relic?
Riven is the engrossing second instalment in Bronwyn Eley’s dark YA fantasy series, The Relic Trilogy.
*Note: This is book 2 in a series that should be read in order. There may be spoilers for the first book in the series.
If you are new to the series, you can check out my review of book one here*
Riven is the second book in the young adult dark fantasy series, called The Relic Trilogy by Bronwyn Eley. Relic is a fast paced, action packed sequel. I think I enjoyed this book even more than the first book, Relic. Because I read it right after finishing Relic, I already had a really good idea of the world and the characters, so I was able to just jump right in and enjoy the crazy ride that Riven takes us on! But as I mentioned in my review of Relic, Bronwyn Eley does a fantastic job setting up the world, so I think it would be really easy to get back into the swing of things even if you had a break between reading book one and book two.
Riven takes place after the events of the first book in the series-Relic. As a refresher, our main character Kaylan was named the new Shadow (or guard) of Lord Rennard. But the Lord has a relic , that grants him power, but in exchange the relic slowly poisons/infects everything surrounding it. I won’t get into spoilers from the first book, but something big happens at the end of the first book that sends Kaylan on the run, which is where the events of Riven pick up. Kaylan herself has really grown a lot as a character, which I always love to see a reader. I loved watching her think though each of her actions and even battle with herself over some of the events in the book. It was really fascinating and she is such a wonderful heroine. She is strong, but not perfect, which makes her more relatable in my opinion. The magic in this series is strong and fierce, and in some ways really unpredictable. I found it fascinating to watch Kaylan war with herself about what was happening. (to her and around her) Magic plays such a big role, and watching magic corrupt or change characters in this book was an added element that I was so interested to learn more about. Magic in this book isn’t always a physical thing that you can see. There is also a mental element to the magic and seeing how that was affecting the characters psychologically was fascinating! I couldn’t wait to see how all of that was going to play out, and I can’t wait to see more in the next book.
As I mentioned in my first review, this is a dark fantasy and as the world and actions are ramping up, so does the darkness. I love that Bronwyn does not shy away from things that might upset the reader. She goes for it, which made Riven a really thrilling read for me. I couldn’t guess what was going to happen next and I absolutely loved that! I cannot wait to see how this trilogy is going to end! I think the Relic Trilogy is perfect for fans of dark young adult fantasies that don’t pull any punches. I loved this book even more than the first! Bring on book three!
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2020 New Release Challenge
- Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge 2020
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