The Second Death of Locke the devastatingly romantic instant Sunday Times bestseller!

The Second Death of Locke is a very solid adult fantasy novel with a bit of romance but not too much spice, an interesting magic system and a very diverse cast. I found the beginning a little difficult to get into because the world is not the easiest to grasp and I was pretty confused for a while, but it got better after some time. Even though the magic system was unique it also stayed a bit vague unfortunately, I was often wishing to get more information about it. The same goes for the world which is rather big but we don't get to see a lot of it yet. That being said, I loved that the story is all wrapped up well in the end and doesn't necessarily need additional books, although it's apparently to be the first in a series. I also loved the characters and their relationships, to me they seemed real (both the romantic and the friend-relationships) and believable without being over-dramatic. One big plus is the diversity of the cast, especially regarding gender identities and sexual orientations. To me it felt like an honest depiction of these diverse people, not for hitting points on the inclusivity scale but for telling the story of characters outside the cis-hetero-norm. The writing was also really good – cohesive and suitable for the characters, I enjoyed myself reading this book. I'd recommend this book for all fans of high fantasy who want a story which isn't too complex so far but also not cosy, there is a lot of gore and fighting going on Thanks to Little, Brown and Netgalley for the e-arc!

The yearning in this one is truly masterful! The world building perfectly blends with the loveabale characters and captivating narrative, which in turn immersed me into the story from page one. The (actual!) slowburn in ''The Second Death of Locke'' really sells the feelings the characters have for each other and only underlines the emotional scenes the characters share.