The Storm behind Your Eyes (The Marked Ones Trilogy #2)
by Alicia Kat Vancil
Blurb:
No matter how far you run you can never escape your past.We all make sacrifices. Some we make without thinking. And others that cut our hearts to pieces with every breath we take. For Travis Centrina, this is one of those sacrifices. Because when he was given back the one thing he thought he could never have again—the little brother he thought was dead—he didn’t realize his wish would come at a such heavy price.
Travis has been in love with his best friend Arius Nualla Galathea practically all his life. There’s just one problem—she’s about to marry his little brother Patrick. And so to ensure the happiness of the two people he loves most, he’s about to smash his own heart to tiny bits.
However, as Travis tries desperately to sweep the fragments of his broken heart into a dark prison of his own making, he begins to realize that not everything with Patrick is as it should be. That the fifteen years that separated them still holds a lot of unanswered questions…and secrets. Because when it comes to the Kakodemoss—the shadowy terrorist organization of Kakodaemons—secrets always come with deadly consequences.
Packed full of danger, emotionally disastrous choices, and heartbreaking rawness, The Storm behind Your Eyes, the second book in the Marked Ones Trilogy, is sure to mesmerize readers.
My Review:
I started this one right after I finished the first book, it’s nice when you find a new author and realize the whole series is released already and you can binge read the whole series in a row. The Storm Behind Your Eyes starts shortly after the end of the first book, this one focusses on Patrick getting used to now being a daemon and Travis is having a hard time knowing Nualla can never be his. There’s a lot of foreshadowing and then at the end it all comes together and it’s fast paced rushing towards the ending. I liked how almost from the beginning I knew something was up with Patrick, but there are only small hints and only at the end it starts making sense. I like this author her writing style. Overall this was an enjoyable book and I had a hard time putting it down. There’s so much going, lots of plot lines form the first book that are build upon and slowly mroe is unveiled. It was very well written.
I liked this book a little bit less than the first book in the series, but it’s still a good book. Why I liked this less? One of the reasons is that this book is told from three different point of views and while having Travis his point of view added to the mix can be nice, I also felt the focus on the love triangle was a bit awkward. I am not even sure if love triangle is the right word. As one the one hand we know he doesn’t has a chance and there’s not really a competition, but he is pinning for a girl he can’t have and at the same time I feel like this book is more about Travis and Nualla than Patrick and Nualla and then there is Parker and it’s just a bit messed up. I couldn’t really wrap my head around and determine whether I liked the extra point of view or not.
The second issue I had with this book is the issue of a few unresolved plot lines. The pace is very well done, a bit on the slow side, but it really works. There are some hints and foreshadowing and then at about 70% things start happening and things speed up towards an almost rushed pace. There’s hardly time to accept the first revelation before the other hits and it felt like those scenes and plot lines could’ve used a bit more elaboration. Then there are questions that I keep asking, but no one else does until it is too late and even then they are just working with what’s left instead of asking who and why. And the whole plot line with the past and what happened and how it impacts it now was just way too underdeveloped. It’s a bit confusing most of the time and then they remember and then not anymore and it was just a bit rushed. I kinda liked the plot line, but wished there was more to it, more explanation about it all as it was a bit too confusing now. I hope we will get those explanations in the third book, so I don’t mind waiting if that’s the case.
There’s a huge cast of characters and at times it was hard to remember who was who. Some fall more to the background in this book and some play a bit of a bigger role, but still not enough. I do think it’s well doen with how many characetrs there are involved and most are interetsing, but I just wanted to see more of them. When Nualla her sister popped up again I had almost forgotten about her and it felt like the author wanted to give her some storyline as well, but it just popped up in a few scenes and then whole chapters we didn’t hear anything about her. There’s not enough page time for each individual side character, which them all side characters feel like they played a minor part, but it’s more that there are lots of side characters who are each in a few scenes. Then Parker suddenly pops up and we see things from Nualla her point of view that Travis doesn’t see and it’s just weird. It also was a bit harder to keep the different point of views separate, maybe because there are more now and the voices don’t differ that much. They all have a similar voice and as Nualla is in both their point of views it could get tricky remembering who’s pov it was in a few scenes.
The story focusses a lot of the three main characters now and we basically have three stories going, so I guess it makes sense there’s less room for the side characters. I liked to see how Patrick was dealing with the change, although I did wonder why he didn’t tell the others what he was going through. I also liked seeing Patricks and Travis getting some brotherly bonding time. It was nice to see more of Travis, his character got a lot more depth and attention in this book, but I wasn’t a fan of the love triangle. There is a fun side plot involving Connor and I liked how he handled things, although I was a bit sad he wasn’t in the story more.
There isn’t as much focus on the romance as in the first book, where the first book was more about Patrick and Nualla, this one is more about them and Travis and there are quite some scenes about Travis and Nualla together and it just left a bit of a bad taste as in my opinion Travis missed his chance and I didn’t like how it sort of seemed the build on the love triangle now while the battle was already won. There is also another love interest for Travis and while I liked her I felt like I never really could focus on her as she wasn’t around enough and Travis still only could think of Nualla.
When it comes to world building, we only slowly get pieces. No one tells Patrick anything and he has to figure things out for himself, sometimes it was hard to know what exactly is different now that he is a daemon. There’s also a conversation about how they appear human that made me think that they didn’t look all that different except for the horns and how the explanation about their cover and the sun didn’t make much sense. Then there is a bit about the evil guys, but we never really hear much about them and their plots, we do get a nice chunk of info towards the end, but there’s still so much that doesn’t get explained, like the why. So they are more the mysterious evil guys here. I wonder if that changes in the last book.
To conclude: The Storm Behind Your Eyes is a nice sequel. It kept my attention and I enjoyed this book. I liked all the foreshadowing and how towards the end the pace picks up and pieces fall on their place. I only wish things had slowed down a bit at the end, it felt like a few scenes could’ve used a bit more elaboration. I also wasn’t a fan of the love triangle, but I am not 100% sure why. It was just weird how Travis and Patrick were both in love with the same girl, while they are brothers and Nualla is marrying Patrick. The romance between Patrick and Nualla has less focus in this book as we suddenly have three point of views now. We have Travis as a main character as well and there are a lot of Travis and Nualla scenes as well. I had some trouble remember who was who and felt like the side characters took a bit too much of a back seat, especially with the large cast of characters. Some plot lines with them are set up and then we don’t hear about them for a while. We only get a few pieces of world building as no one tells Patrick anything about the change. We do learn a bit more about the evil guys, but they are still too mysterious. I still have a lot of questions remaining, so I can’t wait to start the third books right away and hope that answers everything.
Links:
– Goodreads
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Other books I read and reviewed by this author:
– Alicia Kat Vancil – Daemons in the Mist (The Marked Ones #1) – 4 stars
I enjoy coming across series that are already finished so I know I can enjoy the books without the thought of having to wait for the next installment.
I’m not a fan of love triangles, but it sounds like this one has that little extra about what’s going on with the younger brother. Sounds exciting! Enjoy the next one!
I don’t mind multiple points of view, for the most part. But there are occasions when there are so many flips between characters that I get dizzy, or they retell the same stuff, or the times when I get the villain’s POV and it kills the suspense for me.
Sophia Rose recently posted…Five Stars! According to Hoyle by Abigail Roux #Review
I read so many new releases, it was really nice to start a series and just buy the next book and read the whole series in a row, I can’t remember the last time I did that. It was a lot of fun and it’s a great series.
It’s not really a love triangle in the traditional sense of the word. There’s not really a battle and I did like how they wrapped it up in the next book.
I was really happy that they never did two perspectives of the same scene in thsi book. The voices were a bit too similiar, but beside that the multiple point of views were well done. And indeed when you get the villain’s pov it can work to make things more suspensefull or it can kill the suspense altogether. I am not a fan of villain pov’s in general though, especially when they are really evil, I do like a redeemeable evil guy.
Lola recently posted…Review: The Storm Behind Your Eyes by Alicia Kat Vancil
I do like finding a new series and then seeing that most or all of the books are already out so I can read them all.
Mary Kirkland recently posted…Bark Box Subscription Box Review
It’s been nice to find a series where all the books are already out and read them one after another, it’s not often I do that.
Lola recently posted…Review: The Storm Behind Your Eyes by Alicia Kat Vancil
Hmmm, you’re generous giving it 4 books. From your review, I would’ve knocked down a rating.
It might not be a love triangle, but pining for a girl who’s not in to you can get old fast, and annoying. He’s the hero for chrissakes! He can go after another girl! lol
Also, I don’t like weak world building in my fantasy. Especially since he’s just newly “transitioned”, I need my world contrasts so I can get a good grasp of what being a daemon is about.
Braine Talk Supe recently posted…Loved It: Acts of Creation by Elisabeth Staab
From my review it sounds more critical, I did enjoy it, but it’s harder to find many good things to point out, beside the fact that it’s very well written and kept my attention. The book just flows well and is enjoyable to read, even though I had lots of issues with it as well. I did find this one the weakest book in the series, the first and thrid book are both better, but I still give them all 4 stars. For me a 3 star book I usually have more difficulties getting through and I did enjoy this overall, even though it may not sounds like it 😉
He eventually went after another girl and I liked that about book 3. It was a bit annoying that in this book he kept pinning after her, even though he would never act on his feelings as he didn’t want to hurt his younger brother and best friend. I think that’s the part that bothered me the msot, he knows he doesn’t stand a chance and the reader knows it and while I can understand it takes time to get over it, I would’ve liked to see more focus on the other girl in this book already.
The daemon’s a re pretty normal compared to other books, they mostly look and act normal, so I think that’s why there isn’t much world building and the author keeps a lot of the world building for the last book. The world building is one of the weaker parts of this series and while it’s well done, I just hoped for a bit more. The daemons are a bit too normal and it was frustrating no one told Patrick anything about being a daemon.
Hmm, this has aspects that sound interesting Lola but I am not at all sure about the romance. Glad you enjoyed the foreshadowing and that the story pacing improved as you went.
kimbacaffeinate recently posted…Snickerdoodle Cookie Truffles and Color Me Mindful : Underwater by Anastasia Catris
Overall I like the romance, I just wasn’t a fan of the attempt at love triangle in this book, I like the romance more in the first and third book.
It is very well written, with a steady pace and the foreshadowing was done very well.
Lola recently posted…Review: The Storm Behind Your Eyes by Alicia Kat Vancil
My cousins adore this series.
As for the multiple POV’s, I don’t mind them as long as they don’t make the plot or flow feel disjointed and choppy. If I’m reading a romance told in first person POV, then I want both the heroine’s POV and the hero’s, otherwise the book feels incomplete.
Angela @Simply Angela recently posted…Ransom Canyon by Jodi Thomas
It’s a great series and I really like this author her writing style.
I agree multiple point of view must be doen well. I don’t mind having only one point of view, but I also love having multiple point of views. In this book each point of view does really add something to the story, which I like.
I love when all the books in a series are already out, or at least several of them. I tend to love multiple perspectives in a book, but it sounds like it threw things off in this one. It does seem like a good book, though.
Christy recently posted…Darken the Stars by Amy A. Bartol
I read so many new releases and often have to wait on the next book in a series, so it was awesome to find a series where all the books were released already and then read them all in a row. All in all I think the multiple perspectives worked well in this series, but in this book it was a little hard to distinguish the voices at times, it got better in the next book and by then I was even happier we got three point of views, as with the things that happen then it was really necessary. It’s a great series 🙂
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