I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Oculta by Maya Motayne Series: A Forgery of Magic #2
Published by Balzer + Bray on 4/6/21
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 541
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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After joining forces to save Castallan from an ancient magical evil, Alfie and Finn haven’t seen each other in months. Alfie is finally stepping up to his role as heir and preparing for an International Peace Summit, while Finn is traveling and reveling in her newfound freedom from Ignacio.
That is, until she’s unexpectedly installed as the new leader of one of Castallan’s powerful crime syndicates.
Just when Finn finds herself back in San Cristobal, Alfie’s plans are also derailed. The mysterious organization responsible for his brother’s murder has resurfaced—and their newest target is the summit. And when these events converge, Finn and Alfie are once again forced to work together to follow the assassins’ trail and preserve Castallan’s hopes for peace with Englass.
But will they be able to stop these sinister foes before a new war threatens their kingdom?
Short and Sweet Review
After the events of the first book, Alfie and Finn haven’t seen each other in months. Alfie is preparing for a peace summit with Englass, a place where magic has been outlawed and their citizens are treated as less than. Meanwhile Finn is enjoying her freedom, but unbeknownst to her she becomes the new leader of a powerful crime organization. Alfie and Finn are brought back together when there are multiple murders occurring in the city and they seem to be attacking people related to the summit.
Alfie has a lot on his plate, the summit is actually something his brother Dez wanted to happen and Alfie feels an obligation to make sure everything goes right. It doesn’t help that there are murders occurring around Castallan during the time of the summit. Alfie and Finn try to find out who is calling the shots when it comes to these murders and they’re doing a lot of digging and at times I felt that this changed the pace of the book and things were moving so slowly. It doesn’t help that Alfie has to try to make the Englassian Royals feel welcome, he tries to make sure Prince Marsden feels the most welcome because it seems he’ll be the hardest to convince, Princess Vesper on the other hand seems to try to help Alfie with convincing her family that the summit is a good idea. Finn is on the other side working with a crime syndicate and she knows she needs to succeed in finding out who’s in charge so she can pass on the title of leader. Finn and Alfie obviously like each other, but they try to fight their feelings for whatever reason. They both know that they basically complete each other so this ridiculous take on we should fight our feelings didn’t work for me. The ending was intense and a lot of great stuff happened there, but I think it took way too long to get there. This book could have been 100 pages shorter.
This book had such a different vibe from Nocturna. I was waiting for more magic and fun but I think this book took on a darker tone. The ending was great the twists and turns were unexpected and I’m interested to see what the last book has in store.
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