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monicalaurette's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
“But comfortable doesn’t win battles.”
After a long month I was finally able to finish this book after reading We Set the Dark on Fire. Now be warned, this review will not censor spoilers from the first book but will for this book.
So WUtMS is narrated by Carmen Santos, the rebel spy who had been placed in Medio’s School for Girls five years ago to get into the highest ranking family in Medio. To get information and sneak protestors into the city. To help further the mission of La Voz.
And the girl who left Dani Vargas broken, bruised, and burned on a road next to the dead body of her mother-in-law & guards; unsure if the girl would ever return her love, keep her promise, and not betray the rebellion. But with Dani’s loyalty put into question, and the organization she was raised in seemingly changed overnight, Carmen runs BACK into the city where she is a wanted murderer to save her, and save the group she considers family in the process.
While fighting both sides to prove loyalty, love, and support for the cause, many others' stances come into question and friendships are broken, lost, and shot down. But will Carmen be able to unite and tie together La Voz from the attack coming down on them all from her evil ex-husband?
“It makes you worthy of the title rebel.”
I felt like this was such a good conclusion to the story that began with WStDoF. The growth of the characters and the inner turmoil of Carmen was a great piece to see instead of it being in Dani’s view again. To see both sides of the couple. I loved how passionate Carmen was about both Dani and her loyalty to La Voz, showing that you don’t need to have a one-track mind to be successful, and that sometimes having something else worth fighting for along with the bigger picture can help push you farther than expected.
Of course I love a good book about women falling in love as well, but seeing the fight in the relationship that stemmed from the end of book one through all the issues in book two was nice to see. It’s not always going to be a catwalk to be in love, but it makes life so much brighter. That even when they fought, the love that the other felt for each other was what grounded them to the world. Though personally I don’t know how many declarations of love I’d be giving if I knew someone was coming for me with the sole purpose of ending my existence, but that’s what escapism is for!
“But even through all of that, the sun was shining.”
I gave We Unleash the Merciless Sea 4 stars like the first book. While I wish a certain man was not left alive, I’m okay with how he came out of the final battle. I also liked the twist of the La Voz leadership at the end of the book to see a mantel taken up in a new direction than the thousand of years before. And while I’m sad I won’t be able to see Dani & Carmen live on until their ends as a happy couple, I’m glad that I was able to be there while I could.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, War, and Violence
Moderate: Medical trauma, Medical content, Gun violence, Blood, Abandonment, and Death
Minor: Lesbophobia
booksthatburn's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
WE UNLEASH THE MERCILESS STORM picks up right where WE SET THE DARK ON FIRE left off, right after violence and revelations but from Carmen's perspective instead of Dani's. Read this for a character-driven story of love during danger and revolution.
The tone is immediately grimmer than the first book. Dani’s arc was one of hope and disillusionment in difficult circumstances, where Carmen’s begins in the wake of terror and betrayal with things going from bad to worse.
Carmen has two non-blood siblings who were around in the first book but this time around the narration includes Carmen's warm impressions of them. Her dynamic with Alex is fraught right now because she doesn't trust Carmen's loyalties after how close she got to Dani. Sota is more matter-of-fact and even more secretive than Alex. Speaking of Dani, Carmen starts off having no idea where she stands with Dani or whether she's cemented her loyalty with their husband since losing contact with the rebels.
WE SET THE DARK ON FIRE had a lot of worldbuilding to do and WE UNLEASH THE MERCILESS STORM uses it but doesn't add much to it in a grand sense. It adds more parts of the island, including the camp for La Voz, but other than the fact that there is a class divide it doesn't do much explaining of anything already covered in the first one. The overall effect is to treat this as the second half of one giant book rather than leaving space for someone who needs reminders since reading the first book. This is a duology, so that's fine, but this is best read as close to immediately after the first book as you can manage for the ideal experience.
The whole purpose of this book is to address things left hanging from the first book, like Carmen's sudden revelation and their entire relationship, for a start. Carmen is a different person than Dani and this book is about her troubles and goals which means there is a new storyline and some new things which are introduced and resolved. As far as I can tell this is a duology which is completed by this book. While there could maybe be more books in this setting, Dani and Carmen's story seems complete with a lot of things wrapped up. In a bigger sense I'd like to know what they do next and how the rebellion turns out in the long run, but it's closed enough to be the end.
Carmen is the new narrator and her voice is distinct from Dani's. She has a pretty different background from Dani (even at the school they received different training) and pays attention to completely different things. This picks up exactly where the last book left off, but from a different character’s perspective. This wouldn’t make sense to start here without reading the first book.
Even more so than the first book, the plot revolves around Carmen and Dani's relationship. This first thing is Carmen has to figure out how to get to Dani to see if they even still have a relationship, and the story proceeds from there. The story keeps moving and I like how it ends up, this is a good finish to the story and I'm satisfied with it overall.
The tone is immediately grimmer than the first book. Dani’s arc was one of hope and disillusionment in difficult circumstances, where Carmen’s begins in the wake of terror and betrayal with things going from bad to worse.
Carmen has two non-blood siblings who were around in the first book but this time around the narration includes Carmen's warm impressions of them. Her dynamic with Alex is fraught right now because she doesn't trust Carmen's loyalties after how close she got to Dani. Sota is more matter-of-fact and even more secretive than Alex. Speaking of Dani, Carmen starts off having no idea where she stands with Dani or whether she's cemented her loyalty with their husband since losing contact with the rebels.
WE SET THE DARK ON FIRE had a lot of worldbuilding to do and WE UNLEASH THE MERCILESS STORM uses it but doesn't add much to it in a grand sense. It adds more parts of the island, including the camp for La Voz, but other than the fact that there is a class divide it doesn't do much explaining of anything already covered in the first one. The overall effect is to treat this as the second half of one giant book rather than leaving space for someone who needs reminders since reading the first book. This is a duology, so that's fine, but this is best read as close to immediately after the first book as you can manage for the ideal experience.
The whole purpose of this book is to address things left hanging from the first book, like Carmen's sudden revelation and their entire relationship, for a start. Carmen is a different person than Dani and this book is about her troubles and goals which means there is a new storyline and some new things which are introduced and resolved. As far as I can tell this is a duology which is completed by this book. While there could maybe be more books in this setting, Dani and Carmen's story seems complete with a lot of things wrapped up. In a bigger sense I'd like to know what they do next and how the rebellion turns out in the long run, but it's closed enough to be the end.
Carmen is the new narrator and her voice is distinct from Dani's. She has a pretty different background from Dani (even at the school they received different training) and pays attention to completely different things. This picks up exactly where the last book left off, but from a different character’s perspective. This wouldn’t make sense to start here without reading the first book.
Even more so than the first book, the plot revolves around Carmen and Dani's relationship. This first thing is Carmen has to figure out how to get to Dani to see if they even still have a relationship, and the story proceeds from there. The story keeps moving and I like how it ends up, this is a good finish to the story and I'm satisfied with it overall.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Homophobia, Gun violence, Murder, Sexism, and Misogyny
Moderate: Grief, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Child death, Sexual content, Violence, Medical trauma, Torture, Death, and Medical content
Minor: Ableism and Fire/Fire injury
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