got_quiet

I've finished off the second book of this duology, and would say that ultimately I enjoyed it, and my quibbles are minor. While Kiram and Javier were the clear centerpieces there was a large cast across both books and all of the characters were interesting and felt individual, not yoked to the central pairing but with their own backstories, lives, motivations, etc.

The second book is almost exclusively set in Anacleto, which is Kiram's home town, so instead of him being a fish out of water among the Cadeleoneans at Sagrada, Javier is in a similar situation in the opposite direction. A lot of time is spent on what amounts to worldbuilding and scene setting. If the plot is broadly about Fedeles' curse and attempts to cure it, very little of the book is actually dedicated to that. It's more about Javier getting a taste of what it's like to be able to be openly gay, to acknowledge and own that part of himself fully, and about him deciding whether to turn his back on Cadeleonean society completely.

The existential problem in the book is sort of prepared against for sort of, but not really until maybe the last quarter of the book or even later does anyone suddenly need to do anything about it, and quickly. This makes the ending feel a little abrupt, but a lot of the major, frantic decisions that happened in the end did have their foundations set in previous scenes. The culprit was of course as expected. I don't think Hale was trying to be sneaky about it. My only real gripe, which is maybe a minor one, is that Kiram discovers what's really going on basically by someone sending him a letter laying it all out.

A mystery book this is not. It's much stronger in its characters and worldbuilding, which does has some cliches. It plays a bit with the "nasty kinda Christian repressed culture sucks and is wrong" the "open, spiritual, gay accepting culture is right" trope, but manages to avoid being too cartoonish about it by showing bad politics and restrictive social mores on the Hadiim side, and it humanized the Cadeleonian side in the previous book.

The story is still told in Kiram's POV, and there's a lot about him learning to assert himself within his family too. Of the other characters in the first book only really Elezar and Nestor get any page time. Elezar, poor guy, ends up with his heart crushed but manages to remain loyal, and now that I know the next set of books is focused on him I'm definitely picking them up. I am an absolute sucker for the pining types. It's also a lot hornier than the previous book. The breakup at the end doesn't last very long at all. And in the safety of the Haldiim district Kiram and Javier go a little wild.

That makes two for two in titles I've enjoyed from Ginn Hale. I think we have similar taste in plot/romance ratio, in cast sizes, in quantities of blood spilled (a lot) and in general tone, so maybe I will start seeking out the rest of her stuff.