Sarah Rees Brennan

Mae Crawford’s always thought of herself as in control, but in the last few weeks her life has changed. Her younger brother, Jamie, suddenly has magical powers, and she’s even more unsettled when she realizes that Gerald, the new leader of the Obsidian Circle, is trying to persuade Jamie to join the magicians. Even worse… Jamie hasn’t told Mae a thing about any of it. Mae turns to brothers Nick and Alan to help her rescue Jamie, but they are in danger from Gerald themselves because he wants to steal Nick's powers. Will Mae be able to find a way to save everyone she cares about from the power-hungry magician's carefully laid trap?

The Demon's Covenant

continuing my reread! i felt like while the first book focused on setting up the world these characters live in and the overarching plot they are dealing with, this one centered on everyone's relationships with each other. i can see now why mae is the narrator here, because she is able to bridge the separate stories happening with jamie, seb, nick, alan, and even sin, who are all hiding things from each other and/or have thinly veiled distaste toward each other. that being said, i did feel like a lot of this was mae being a fly on the wall haha. one thing i love about this book is that there is more jamie in it (thank god! he is my fav next to alan), and i am glad for more sin from an outsider perspective (aka the perspective of someone she actually likes, at least in this book lol), and despite mae's overhearing tendencies, she still plays a role that is very integral to the story (and will continue to be so into the next book!). i always find it so fascinating to see nick from mae's pov in this book, bc nick doesn't focus on his external looks all that much and always just feels awkward in his own body (for obvious reasons), while mae sees him as this very smooth and very handsome young man lol. i also generally just loved seeing nick's development here from the first book — he's learning to like people! he's learning feelings! omfg. i loved his connection with annabel and also jamie, as well as his flaws that he is continuing to learn from. like with the first book, i found myself more horrified at some of the content of the book than when i was younger aka gerald marking a CHILD omfg how horrible!!! i've also begun to think more about how this series is truly a product of its time; would i love it so much if i were reading it for the first time now? the whole seb storyline... i don't remember if i was that sympathetic to him the first time around, but the second time around i def wasn't. SORRY. but i still have a deep love of the central five characters that kept me going, and i mean, i still sped through this book in like 2 days, so it definitely still has intrigue enough for me to want to know what will happen next. after all, it's been so long since i read this book that i began doubting key plot points that i firmly believed as truth for the longest time from this series... only one way to find out. on to the third book!

The Demon's Covenant

Reviews