Welcome to my stop on the Rayna’s Sacrifice blog tour! Huge thanks to Blackberry Book Tours for giving me the opportunity to take part in this! I was provided a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review.

Review

Before we get started, this book is a direct follow on from Mariana’s Secret, so you should definitely check that one out first!

After finishing the last book, I was very excited to get started on this one as I have been itching to go to the Katori mountains since the first book in the series, The Half-Light and it definitely didn’t disappoint! Although we are introduced to other settings in the previous two books, I loved the fact that from the beginning we are in an entirely new place and beginning to learn more about the mysterious and secretive Katori people. 

As always, Kai continues to be a great protagonist and I love how he gradually grows. Yes he can still be a rash and impulsive teenager with a snarky side, but he is incredibly considerate and thoughtful too. I particularly enjoyed how we got to see more of Rayna in this novel and her relationship with Kai. It’s also refreshing to see a healthy teenage relationship too, whilst they both appear to be in the ‘puppy love’ stage with the occasional moment of jealousy, they both communicate well and don’t let themselves be defined by their relationship. Whilst Rayna was a great character in the previous novels, I feel it’s this third installment where she truly shines. One moment that stands out to me is when Kai has to leave her to venture further into the mountains, although she wants to go with him she also feels excited about being on her own and learning who she really is and I adored that mentality.

With a new setting comes new characters and a lot of them were very memorable. It was great to meet Lucca, Kai’s grandfather and I really enjoyed their little interactions and how the complexity of their familial relationship was illustrated by awkward, suspicious, dialogue and looks. After seeing brief glimpses of him in the previous novel, we also see more of Keegan in this one both through the stories of the Katori people and through meeting the man himself. Whilst a lot of the characters in the series so far have been complex and not simply ‘good’ or ‘bad’ it’s nice to have a character like Keegan to come and shake things up. He’s awful but in a way that you’re really eager to see what he does next and if anyone would be able to stop him.

In this novel, Lombardo continues to show her talent for description and dialogue with every character having a unique voice. By meeting the Katori people and seeing their world, we also dive deeper into the depths of the world that Lombardo has crafted. It was fascinating to me to see how there are different tribes of Katori and how different they all are from each other and yet they are still considered to be one ‘people’.  

Overall, I really enjoyed this novel and it was everything I was hoping it would be after the slightly slower second book. Rayna’s Sacrifice really picks up the pace and allows you to explore even more of the world and the characters who inhabit it. This series is well worth a read and the cliffhanger ending of this book has me reaching for the next!