Siege of Shadows
Ratings3
Average rating4.3
The Effigies seek out the true origins of the Phantoms that terrorize their world in this thrilling follow-up to Fate of Flames, which Elise Chapman calls “an immersive and monstrously fun read.” There’s nowhere to hide. Not when you’re an Effigy. No matter where they go, Maia and the other Effigies can’t escape the eyes of the press—especially not after failing to capture Saul, whose power to control the monstrous Phantoms has left the world in a state of panic. It’s been two months since Saul’s disappearance, and there’s still no sign of him, leaving the public to wonder whether the Sect—and the Effigies—are capable of protecting anyone. When Saul suddenly surfaces in the middle of the Sahara desert, the Sect sends Maia and her friends out after him. But instead of Saul, they discover a dying soldier engineered with Effigy-like abilities. Even worse, there may be more soldiers like him out there, and it looks like the Effigies are their prime targets. Yet the looming danger of Saul and this mysterious new army doesn’t overshadow Maia’s fear of the Sect, who ordered the death of the previous Fire Effigy, Natalya. With enemies on all sides and the world turning against them, the Effigies have to put their trust in each other—easier said than done when secrets threaten to tear them apart.
Series
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3 primary books#2 in Effigies
Effigies is a 3-book series with 3 released primary works first released in 2016 with contributions by Sarah Raughley.
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Edited 2/19 for a reread before reading the final book in the series.
Love this book. I mean, it was awesome the first time, but I loved it even more the second time around. Everything I said before holds true, but it's like it gets better now that I kind of know where things are going. And can actually remember the first book.
Original Review
That ending! Come on, after those last two chapters, I NEED the sequel - don't just leave me hanging. Ugh. Oh, right, review - not just word vomit. Awesome characters, Maia's settling in more and I like the way the team is starting to feel. The only thing keeping this from a 5 star is the fact that there's moments where the plot starts to feel a little typically dystopian - and there's a reason I'm not a fan of dystopians. But the characters, I love these characters so much.
Review from my blog: https://athousandworldssite.wordpress.com/
This story takes place a few short months after the end of Fate of Flames and we finally see Maia settling into her role as the fire effigy. With the other three girls, they're finally starting to become a team. But betrayal comes from within their very organization and Phantoms aren't the only monsters they have to face.
Maia's right in the middle of it with Natalya (the previous fire effigy) still trying to break though Maia's mind to control her body, Saul convinced that Marian (one of the other minds trapped in Maia's – the first fire effigy) is the key to his plots and Maia herself is keeping a secret that could rip the effigies apart: who (maybe) killed Natalya. (Because if she can't trust her own mind, what can Maia trust?)
For me, the thing this book does very well is the characters. I usually shy away from first person stories because so many times you don't learn anything about the rest of the cast (and you learn way too much about the main character). It's like they're little satellites that revolve around the MC and have nothing else going for them. That's not this book.
While I like Maia, she isn't even close to my favorite character. (Maybe fourth, depending on how much problems I'm having with Belle at the moment.) But she's a likable main character. She's taken to her role as well as I hoped she would after the struggle for her in the first book, and while she's not as ‘tough' as the other effigies, she doesn't have to be to be strong.
The other effigies are all important character, with their own struggles and histories, and we only get to see part of that here, but it's so lovely. I adore that the most important relationship that Maia is building isn't a romance, but the friendship between her teammates. Each of them are unique individuals and, because you have three headstrong girls, their teamwork isn't always the best.
And, there is a bit of romance here, but Maia is pretty good about focusing on her job to save humanity instead of how cute the boy is. Which is as nice as it is unusual. (And the romance itself isn't without complications, though I have to admit very strong affection for her love interest. And there's no triangle to be seen!)
However, the one thing stopping me giving it a higher rating (and I can't tell you how much I wanted to) is the plot development. While I loved that the first book focused a lot on monster fighting, and I love that this book starts revealing more about the effigies, I have one problem.
At times, the plot starts slipping into a generic dystopian world where it's up to our teenagers to overthrow the corrupt government. I really did not see the hints of this in the first book, and this is a plot point I don't think I like. (There has to be some reason I don't like dystopians and I think this is it.)
That being said, this is a solidly enjoyable book and a series I'm very happy with as a whole.
I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
The ending still has me going “What the hell...” but I think I can pull together some other feelings towards this book.
Many of my feelings are the same the first book. I like the girls v.s. monsters theme, although this book had a lot less fighting and a lot more whining which I'll get to. I was hoping that Maia would have gotten more control over her power – maybe not Belle level, but couldn't she come close?
I still like the theme of trying to figure out the past in order to protect the future and in this book they really dive into that... a bit, I did wish there had been more, but what we got is pretty good.
Now, the first book I gave 5 stars and this one only 3... most of this is because of the romance and the secrets. Maia is all about the Effigies being a team, working together, maybe being friends, yet she hides practically everything she knows from them –including the stuff about Rhys. She also can't decide how she feels about him, even though it is obvious, which is so aggravating. I don't want to spoil the first book too much, so I won't go into it, but in this book Maia kept whining and not DOING. I wish she had trusted Lake since they are close or even Chae Rin about what to do and told them everything about Natalya's memories.
So because of all the stuff she did wrong, we have an over-dramatic ending. Why? because there is no way– sigh Anyhow, I want more fighting and more understanding, but none of that really happened until the end. I felt I could have skipped half the book and still understood most of it. Well, except for the new type of bad guy but I still don't see their importance shrugs
The characters aren't flushing out either since we don't learn more about them. Sometimes the other effigies seemed like placeholders which was weird. Also, Brendan (?) didn't act his age all the time which I found odd, and I'm sorry a grown ass man checking out a teen (I think she's a teen anyhow) is just plain wrong. Yes, someone kinda stepped in, but it just was a creepy moment not addressed.
So, will I read the next book? I might. I am actually interested in the story. I want to know why the effigies exist and if the monsters will ever go away. I don't give two peanuts about the romance which seems underdeveloped and pointless, but I like Saul and want to know more about Nick and Alice.
