The Vanishing Throne Book Two of the Falconer Trilogy

OMG OMG OMG

This book feels so nostalgic and i don't even know why.

Good continuation of the series...Took a while for things to start heating up with the romance. Very slow burn. Several twists.

Absolutely loved this book, I thought it was a lot better than the first one! It was gripping, riddled with suspense, action, heartache and angst!

Once the majority of the world building was done you were thrown right into the story. The characters are great, both flawed and full of depth.

It surprised me and kept me in my toes, there was a LOT of twists and turns and the ending shocked me!

This book was amazing! An absolute page turner!

You may have seen in my review for The Falconer that I predicted there would soon be a 5 star rating for me in this series. Turns out I was right! The Vanishing Throne was an exquisite sequel to an already amazing book. The lore of this series was one of the aspects that I enjoyed the most in the first book, but here it gets explored in even more depth and detail and that was absolutely beautiful. Because of that, even the moments of “down time” that made the first book less pleasant for me were so much more enjoyable to read. I was left with a constant thirst to learn as much as possible and I think it’s safe to say this is one of the most well done world buildings I have ever read. The characters, of course, also had a special role in my rating. Aileana. And Kiaran. And Aileana and Kiaran together. My heart was absolutely put on a rollercoaster ride! We see Aileana at her lowest at the beginning of this book, dealing with the consequences of the events at the end of The Falconer. We see her PTSD, but we also see her putting herself back together. Once again I found her to be an incredibly inspiring female lead, and one that so many more readers should be talking about! And then there’s Kiaran. I swear this man has taken my heart by storm and I must make it my life’s journey to have more people talk about him. He deserves to be in the book boyfriend list of us all just as much as a Maas Illyrian Warrior. There is so much to learn about my beloved reading the pages of this book, and not one of those things makes him less fascinating and dreamy. What can I say? The more tormented and dangerous and vulnerable they are, the harder I fall. KIARAN MACKAY, I WILL WORSHIP THEE. Put him and Aileana together and you have the ship of dreams. My heart rejoices and breaks and lives every time the two breathe the same air. And when they’re LITERALLY breathing the same air…well…*wink* Another aspect that I really loved was how much more space was given to some of the secondary characters that I had loved from the first book, but without losing the focus from Aileana and her journey and, of course, Kiaran. I loved getting to see Catherine outside of her comfort zone, showing her true, fierce colors. What I loved about her even more is that through her character we see that a woman does not have to be a warrior to be strong. It was so relatable and so inspiring to read! We also get to learn more about the Seers, not just through Gavin (that was surprisingly not as hateful in this one) but also through multiple new characters that are introduced and that really help add to the incredible world Elizabeth May has created. And, to my joy, we get to see more of Derrick—a lot more! My beloved little one has so much more page time and plays such an important role for the storyline. I’m like a proud mother! But my favorite secondary character (who is one of the new entries of the story) was certainly Aithinne, Kiaran’s sister that we only saw mentioned in the first book. Aithinne was an incredible addition to the story, not just because thanks to her we get to learn so much more about Kiaran’s past and the mythology of the story, but because she was another amazing example of female resilience, fierceness and power of which this story is full . Of course, this book ends with one of those cliffhangers that rips out your heart and throws it across the room. It should come with a warning for the frail of hearts because I WAS SCREAMING. As I write this, I am already starting The Fallen Kingdom and I’m so nervous I’m biting off my fingers. Pray for me to the bookish gods. Recommended for EVERYONE. JUST READ THIS DAMNED SERIES. THANK YOU. YOU’LL THANK ME LATER.

One again THAT CLIFFHANGER!! This book was even better than the first one. We got so many more details about the world, the faerie powers, and a new direction with the plot. And the complexity of the characters arcs were just amazingly increased. Getting the backstory for our main characters definitely helped pull me further into the story. I'm so excited to see where things go next with some new powers at play!

I can't think of anything smart to say because I am still an emotional mess after the roller coster of emotions this book made me feel.

You know what really upsets me? When only the first book in the series is an audio-book and you can’t even get a physical copy because all the libraries around you only have the digital copy. Like, what type of BS is that? The audio-book for the first one was so incredibly great that I was so pumped to get back into this world but then there was no audio-book. That’s called trickery and I’m not happy about it. Ugh. I’m never going to get over this. I’m moving on. So the reason my rating is a little lower than what it actually should be (besides the bloody audio-book drama I just laid out there) was the writing. She would Italicize flashbacks, which wouldn’t bother me at all (and it would actually be really helpful), if it wasn’t every other paragraph. I found myself getting aggravated with the constant flashback lines. But what kept me going... ...were the twist. My goodness she threw a huge twist in there about 2/3rds of the way in. My heart literally tore open for the characters. Aileana going through some serious PTSD was written so well throughout the whole book; proving you can’t just shake it off and that it will change the whole you do things. Derrick proving he has humanity and showing everyone his home and opening it up to those who need it. Kiaran standing up for those who he loves (and proving that he can love) and revealing a huge secret that involves his sister Aithinne. There were a lot of things I loved about this book. The continual building of this world is phenomenal. There are different layers that we get to see and experience. May does a great job of not keeping you in the dark when it comes to describing the weapons and the people. I am already reading the third book, and I am ready to see how this catastrophe comes to an end. --- RTC. I did NOT see that ending coming! --- I'm sorry, Kiaran/Kadamach is who and his sister Aithinne is what? I did NOT see that coming. Nope. --- Me: hi I just figured out how to get this book on my kindle can I keep it longer? Library: no Me: but I'm like half way through Library: no Me: Well I guess I'm buying it then.

I am NOT. OKAY.