Queen of Night

3.5, I just really loved the first one.

At the end of Thief of Spring, the first book in the duology, Hades is trapped in Tartarus and Persephone finds herself stepping into his role. Queen of Night picks up where Thief of Spring left off, with Sephy desperate to rescue Hades.

This book, y'all, Katherine Macdonald weaves fae elements and traditional Greek mythology together to tell a story that just grabbed me by the heart. Hades - Luliver - is a broken boy, hurt by those who were supposed to love him. We get a look back at all the times Sephy met him as a child, and it's clear that she was his anchor to anything good and kind and true. Sephy is perfectly imperfect. She doesn't instantly master her new abilities. She isn't superwoman, remaining stoic in the face of adversity and her true love's absence. She struggles to learn to control her powers. She misses Hades and has to find ways to persevere even though sometimes she'd just like to curl up and cry.

And I really liked getting to see more of the minor characters in this book. I love Sephy's dad. Everything he did, he did for love of Sephy and her mother. Seeing him in the same space with Sephy's mother and learning more of their backstory was wonderful. And Libby? My goodness, she is a delight! She jumps right into the underworld scene and gets busy learning how to make heads roll. She doesn't let being human slow her down in the least. That's a best friend - one who'll follow you to the Underworld and not ask why.

This was well worth the read, and I really liked the combining of two familiar things - fae and myth - to make something new and delightful.

My thanks to Booksprout for an ARC of the book. All opinions here are mine, and I don't say nice things about books I don't actually like.