Epic amazing absolutely brilliant, This book kept me completely engrossed from the very 1st page.
I absolutely love the character depth and how you slowly watched them grow over the course of the story.
Absolutely cannot wait for the next book in this series.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

I devoured Kingdom of Souls before it was even released as I was lucky enough to win one of the gorgeous golden proofs at YALC, and the story was epic!

I was soo happy to yet again be lucky enough to receive an arc, but this time for the second book Reaper of Souls.

I really loved this book and love Barron's style of writing that creates such a clear picture of the fantasy world she is trying to depict. Arrah and Rudjek's POV are split throughout the story which allows us to become more personal with each character.
I love how each little thing that was happening, even if it didn't make sense at the time, was just building up to the bigger plot and kept you on your toes trying to (unsuccessfully) guess the ending which kept my engagement throughout.

I look forward to reading more books from this author.

I had such high hopes for this book.

It took a while for me to get to it as I knew I wanted to re-read the first. Kingdom of Souls remains a strong and engaging read, and I’m glad I re-read as I’d forgotten a lot of the details.

Reaper of Souls is a good book. It’s an engaging read, full of suspense and loveable characters. The dual narration gave a much deeper insight into the world and the reader was able to learn about events the character would otherwise have no way of knowing. It fleshed things out as the lore surrounding the characters continue to evolve and grow.

But at the same time, I was disappointed. The supposed twist happened three times in a row, so by the time the truth was revealed, I disbelieved it. This distanced me from events as I was just waiting for it to emerge that it still wasn’t what people thought. Twice would have worked for misdirection; three times started to feel predictable.

While circumstances were not quite what they seemed, the introduction of a love triangle had me rolling my eyes. It felt so cliché: young adult book = love triangle. One of the things I loved most about the first book was the way the romance and the friendships were played out, so it was a shame to see that undermined. In a way, yes, I know it wasn’t that straight forward due to what was happening with the characters and two being drawn together did make sense but still… I wasn’t a fan.

Arrah also felt like she went on a classic second-book arc where she withdraws, becomes distant from her friends and lets the power go to her head. She’s such a strong character that, again, it felt like some of these tropes could’ve been avoided. Luckily, it never went as far as disliking the character and she does pull back from it, but I did want to give her a shake.

Reaper of Souls is a good book that could’ve been great. The world-building is spot on, the tension and the pace for the most part worked well and the characters learning about who they truly are added interesting depth. It just needed to avoid some cliché pit-falls to take it to that next level.

Thank you so much to Harper Voyager UK for sending me an ARC of this book! This is one of my most anticipated reads of the year - I loved the first books so I was really excited to read this one. To summarise: I loved it! The series is a West-African inspired fantasy - I loved the world - and there were so many twists and turns I didn't predict even considering the plot twists from book one. I loved how Arrah's character development and I felt this fantasy had a really unique viewpoint. The big focus on different types of magic was great too, and the plot POVs helped us to get to know Rudjek more which was cool because I felt like I didn't really know him from the first book. Now I just have to wait for the final book!

I did enjoy this one but felt it was a little slow to get going after the fast paced an climactic end to book 1. Arrah sort of reverted back a bit in this one and I wasn't completely sold on the love triangle (although those are a bit of a pet peeve of mine anyway).
A solid book 2 but I expected a bit more.

I really loved this sequel! I thought that it was fantastically written, well paced, and an excellent continuation of the story. Rena Barron's writing is immense and powerful as she continues the tale of Arrah as she faces new dangers, secrets and challenges. The second in a trilogy that I would highly recommend reading!

This book is amazing! I adored the way the history was told from the character's perspective. It's a unique. It realy has a beautiful writing. I can't wait to read more works of this author.

Really enjoyed reading this sequel. I had forgotten how much I love these characters! Arrah is a very strong character who had grown up a lot in the first book. Now she is trying to prove herself and save the day and her friends. I can't wait to read the final book in the trilogy because I can't believe that is all we will hear from Arrah

Thanks to Netgalley, publisher and author for a copy of this book.

Highly recommended. Excellent follow-up to her first book and can't wait for more!

5/5

I loved the first book in this series but sadly this one wasn’t quite the same.

I loved Arrah as a protagonist who is a bit grey- neither a hero nor a villain usually. And I really enjoyed the magic systems again, but this one I found to be too slow moving for my liking.

I found this a little slow to start for me , but maybe because I was trying to remember the first book, but once I got past that boy it didn’t let up and that twist at the end I need the next book now ! Fans of you fantasy, action and love, this book is definitely for you, go read the first book as I highly recommended this series!

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Title:Reaper of Souls,
Author: Rena Barron,
Publisher: Harper Collins UK,
Publication Date: February 18 2021,
Genre: Adult Fantasy,
GoodReads Link:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4123397227

Thanks to both NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for the opportunity to read this book.

This it book two in the Kingdom of Souls trilogy and it picks up a few week after the end of book one. Arrah now with the powers of the tribal chieftains Ka's has to try and sort out the chaos left behind due to her families mistakes. Desperate not to follow in their foot steeps, Arrah has to return to the tribal lands to look for help from what may be left of the tribes there to defeat the Demon King and his followers.

Set in a world richly mingled with folk magic and spooky voodoo tales and legends. It also looks at the consequences of love, life, death and what can happen when revenge can split families and how power never truly makes some one happy.

It took me a while to get into this book. I felt it needed more action in the first half. Characters were mentioned and then just left to the side. I needed more of Keria and Essnia's relationship and a little less of Arrah and Rudjek constantly going on about how they can not touch.

I really enjoyed the twists in this book and getting more information an the history of the world and the relationship between Dacho and Dimma plus the other God's.

Reaper of Souls by Rena Barron is the second in her trilogy (which began with Kingdom of Souls in 2019 – check out my review of the first book here) and is out from Harper Voyager in the UK. This continues the story of Arrah and her friends after the events of the first book, and is a true middle book. It relies heavily on details from the first one (some of which I’d forgotten despite recently rereading it) and while there was some resolution of story threads in Reaper, it feels very temporary. This second book adds to the background lore of the world, with a strong focus on the Orisha and their politics and the way they influence the characters. While I did really enjoy reading it, I didn’t love this as much as I did Kingdom. Due to the added dimensions to the storytelling in this, the character relationships that had been one of my favourite elements of the first book did not get as much space as I would have liked. It is a very solid follow-up, and I’m still looking forward to the third book in the series.

Loved the unusual setting, the character and the world building of this this story.
It kept me turning pages and I was fascinated by what I read.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Stopping her mother and sister from releasing the demon king was only the start. Arrah and Rudjek have to act fast to stop a war.

I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Arrah returns from saving the Kingdom from her mother and sister's demon army, but no one sees her as a hero. People are scared of her, terrified of what her limitless power will do.
Arrah doesn't have time to dwell on this. She discovers that one of the other tribes may have survived the slaughter, and she sets herself a mission to track them down and help them.

Rudjek is the Crown Prince, now that his father has taken the throne. He is also part-Craven, and one of the few people that can kill demons easily. With the help of the other cravens, Rudjek plans to track down where the demon king plans to attack next, and take an army to stop him.

I think my favourite storyline in this book was Dimma (Arrah's past life) and Daho (the Demon King). Dimma is an immortal who falls in love with a mortal man. Despite being a god, Dimma has a naivety about her, and she seems so much more ignorant to the rules and expectations of existence than her brothers and sisters.
Only when she falls in love with Daho, does she being to question the rules that surround them.
It shows a much softer and more caring side to the goddess of death and the demon king. They weren't always the villains.

The not-so-good.
I really struggled to stay connected to the narrative. For a long book - nothing really happened for a good chunk of it. And I didn't feel like the characters were evolving, or we were learning anything new.
I mean, seriously, there is one big battle in Rudjek's storyline, but we don't get to witness any of it because he was unconscious. He wakes up two days later, and finds everyone injured.
Arrah just... travels; tests her new magic; fears her new magic... travels some more.

The ending picks up a bit, but I'd already lost interest, to be really invested in it.
I kinda want to see how the trilogy ends, but I'm not in any rush.

Really enjoying this voodoo infused story of witch doctors and powerful women. Arrah is a lot more world weary in this book but it feels like a natural progression. The plot is twisty and satisfying the writing is engaging. Highly recommend.

Having read the first book in this series as an arc, it has been a long time since I have delved into this world and I honestly cannot remember anything from the first book. That is no fault of the the author or the series as I know I enjoyed the first one, I just have trouble remembering plots as I tend to read a lot of fantasy and they can meld together.

I'm going to re-read the first one and pick up this one in the future!

Will update once I have read it!

Honestly, I was itching to have my hands on this sequel after the way the first book ended. The continuation from the last book is perfect, it shows both Arrah and Rudjek dealing with the powers they gained. Which leads them to go off in separate ways to deal with the Demon King. I love reincarnation stories so this was the icing on the cake for me. I don't want to give too much away but I loved it and would highly recommend the series.
The pacing was exceptional, the story was so readable and fully loaded with action and twists. The ending was a little disheartening but I am assuming there is a third book and we will get all the answers we need in there.

I was happy to be able to read the first book which was Kingdom of Souls like a few years ago.

I was fortunate that I was given an exclusive invite to read the ARC of the sequel! I'm very grateful!

It was a slow pace reading for me because I was remembering the story from the debut novel.

Wow, the twist at the end though was like coming back from the beginning of KoS. I cannot wait for the third installment!

If you are into mythology, fantasy, action adventure and love, I highly recommended this series!

I'm still rooting for Arrah, and Rudjeck in the end, please don't disappoint me.

Thank you for the chance of reading this incredible second book, Harper Collins!

The sequel to Kingdom of Souls. A good second book and I still liked the characters and their relationships. The story was entertaining .