Court of Wanderers was the second and final book of Reaper series. The story following an Alurian young vampire hunter Remy Pendergast who found love and companionship with spouse wannabe Lord Zidan Malekh and Lady Xiaodan Song. This first book absolutely grabbed my attention with all good romance tension, action pack, political intrigues and characters personal growth. All my favorite in one book. Sadly the second book feel like water down quality version of the previous one.

I still got my favourite trio with their harmoniously polyamorous relationships. But I cant feel intensely from their scenes or banter. I remember I hold my breath with anticipation and tension at first simple scene when Remy met Malekh. I missed that strong bond and relationship from book two, beyond all sex scenes feel like only filler on journey plots.

Half pace felt dragging but another half it pick up and thickened the plots. The conflicts are alot but some felt unnecessary busy, inconsistent and rush to the end. The worldbuilding didnt get any new improvements or developments. And although this story is done, I am still found my self longing and wait something that missing from this story.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hodderscape from Hodder and Stoughton Publisher for providing copy of this audiobook and ebook. I have voluntarily read and reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Expecting Publication : 2 April 2024

I liked this book a lot better than the first, which I was just really uninterested in for some reason that I couldn’t really place. The plot on this one caught my attention though and I enjoyed the relationship between Remy and his mother.

I adored the polyamory. I thought it depicted that kind of triad relationship really well. I loved how much they all loved each other and were so protective over each other, especially while Xiaodan was ill.

I did find with both books, they had a bit too much sex for me. Though this one was better than the first. This one also had a lot of characters especially in the Vampire courts, so that was a lot to keep track of. Every time one of the court leaders did something I had to stop and remind myself which one of them it was.

In all, I don’t think this is a series that I will read again, but I’m glad I went on to the second book.

I was really looking forward to this book after really enjoying the first but I was left missing the depth I wanted in the relationship. There were definitely some nice moments between Remy, Xiaodan and Zidan, but I felt there were many missed opportunities as things just kind of felt a little too on the surface.

Although "Silver Through Nightfall" was one of my favourite books last year, this sequel was a huge disappointment to me. Everything that I loved about the first one isn't really elaborated on and the characters I so loved, especially Remy, felt like a shadow of what he was in book 1.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for the digital ARC, it has not affected my honest review.

An enjoyable read in this sequel to Silver Under Nightfall where we reconnect with our favourite characters from Book 1. Although this didn't live up to its predecessor for me, this will definitely have its audience.

I am quite sad that the ending to the series was quite disappointing. I loved Silver Under Nightfall and had Court of Wanderers as my most anticipated reads.

Not that I didn't finish it just that it didn't tug at my heartstrings or make me feel as much as book one did. What I did enjoy was Remmy and his relationship with his vampires, i think I just needed more of the spark that made book one so special.
Overall 2.5/3 stars and I am still intrigued to see what else Chupeco writes in the future and I will be shouting about Silver Under Nightfall from the rooftops but as a standalone.

The download date was unfortunately missed, I would be happy to re-review if it became available again. I have awarded stars for the book cover and description as they both appeal to me. I would be more than happy to re-read and review if a download becomes available. If you would like me to re-review please feel free to contact me at thesecretbookreview@gmail.com or via social media The_secret_bookreview (Instagram) or Secret_bookblog (Twitter). Thank you.

As this is a sequel, inevitable spoilers for book one, but none for book two...

Remy, Xiaodan, and Malekh won the battle against the Night Empress in book one but at the cost of Xiapdans powers. They must all seek refuge at the infamous Court of Wanderers.

Remy must pose as Little more than the couples familiar, all the while they all come to realise they mean much more to each other than all that (like we didn't know this already)

But with the Night Empress entering Remys dreams, and tensions between the Courts, what will our trio have to get through to have their ending...

I loved this sequel, I loved the politics and the action and most of all the dynamic between the characters, especially the main three.

Was an enjoyable end to this story but I would dive back into this world in a second if given the chance.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hodderscape for the review copy... out now so you can binge this duology in its entirety

Court of Wanderers is the second book in Rin Chupeco’s duology, Reaper. The first book, Silver Under Nightfall, is a phenomenally dark and gothic vampire book. Overall, Court of Wanderers had heaps of potential but fell short in delivering what the first book did.

The strength of this book lies in the way the relationship between Remy, Xiaodan, and Zidan develops. They remain one of my favourite relationships in any book, full of tension, sexiness, and also gentle love. The tender moments we see more of from Zidan specifically healed my heart and the intimate moments were also a chef’s kiss.

I think where this book went wrong was in trying to fit enough world-building and plot for a trilogy into just a duology. The number of new magic elements, characters, and history that were introduced in this book was overwhelming and confusing, which left me with questions by the end. The leaps of logic happening were hard to follow which was frustrating.

Unlike most people, I actually enjoyed the court politics in this book. I thought the blend between action and politics was entertaining; it just lacked in execution. I wish we spent more time in this book on the historical elements and getting more depth to the world at a slower, more manageable pace, with the third book being focused on a lot of the action in the last third of Court of Wanderers.

Overall, I don’t regret reading the second book in this duology, as I wasn’t ready to let go of Remy and the rest of the characters yet. I would still recommend picking up Silver Under Nightfall as it is a masterpiece, and then decide if to follow up with the second book.

3.5 rounded down. I absolutely loved the first book for the atmospheric vibes and of course the main throuple so I was suuuuper excited to see how the developments would go for book 2. While the continuation of the relationship was okay, it lacked the depth I was hoping we would get. The focus was way too much on the court politics in this book, and I didn't feel invested in basically any of the new characters. The atmospheric vibes that I loved in the first book didn't really continue here, imo, either.

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review

I have inhaled this duology over the last three days, I think I'll be seeing this universe every time I close my eyes for quite some time.

These books really had everything. They were bloody and horrible and teeming with fantastic villainous plots and at the same time so smart, sexy, and heartfeltly funny that I couldn't help but fall in love. The dynamics between Remy, Zidan, and Xiaodan were the best - the way Remy's unease grew into care in Book 1, to transform into this beautiful relationship that we saw in Book 2.

I'm so torn between wishing the review date had been further away because I would've loved to savour the two books, but also I'm so glad that this is now out for everyone to read. If you read and enjoyed Book 1, I think you'll love this - there's a focus shift away from Aluria and towards kindred court politics and the various histories associated with Remy's family. If you haven't read Book 1, or any of Chupeco's work for that matter, I highly recommend it. It has all the necessities of a gritty fantasy, but with particular twists when it comes to the romance and also horror aspects!

I felt like I could see every battle happening in front of me as a play by play which raised the tension further and further. After all the stress and hours that I put into this series, I felt like it really paid off and the ending was so special. Just such a joy to get so stuck into such a fantastic duology.

I love Rin Chupeco’s writing so much and thought that this was such a good sequel to Silver Under Nightfall. I was so captivated by these stories and these characters and I am in awe at the way the author is able to continue a story so well

4/5.

Really loved this book just like I loved the first one. Wished that it had a bit more action in it like the first one did, as this one was a little slower and more political. But I did really enjoy the action scenes that we did have in this one. Sad its a duology bc I would love more from this world/these characters

Thank you to netgalley for providing me with both an e-arc and an e audiobook Arc for this title. It's the second in a series so I rushed out to read the first one before embarking on this journe. I did find the writing style and pace of this book was difficult for me to get into, although I did really like the plot and the characterisation. There was really good representation as well with bisexuality polyamory Etc so I did persevere through, however, i rated that bookbetween a 3 and 3.5 star but again this isn't a criticism of the author this is just my enjoyment of the writing style. Then I started Court of Wanderers and I did feel the same about writing, I just couldn't get into a groove with it. However I then switched to the audiobook and wow what a difference! The narrator was absolutely brilliant and brought the text alive for me. I was immediately captured and sent crashing back into that world with a totally different outlook on it. Again, I really enjoyed the characterisation and the story and this really did bump the book up to a solid four to four point five stars for me. If you are a vampire fan, this is another take on vampire and human relationships, heavy on the consent and equality and it was definitely an interesting read. I will look out for more books from this author, in fact I had quite a few my TBR but will probably look at audiobooks as either a companion or is the sole read.

I enjoyed this book as much as the first book. Rin Chupeco is quick becoming an auto-buy author for me.

Hoping for the same magic as "Silver under Nightfall," I eagerly awaited its sequel. However, while the dynamic between Remy, Malekh, and Xiaodan remained, the plot failed to captivate me. Perhaps a revisit to the first book could have reignited my interest, but alas, this sequel left me disappointed. I am determined to revisit both books, though.

Rin chupeco is always a guarantee! I loved the first book , but I loved this one even more! I loved the discovery of family secrets and and it was great to find out more about the politics of the various courts and the characters involved. Also the murder mystery part was very intriguing and the romance part was well done!

In conclusion I must say that it was a good sequel and that I was satisfied with the responses I received!

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

Thanks to Hodder and Stoughton and Net Galley for providing me with an Arc.

Rin Chupeco's 'Court of Wanderers' seemed to be an intriguing sequel to the Reaper series, which details the journey of Remy Pendergast, a vampire hunter and his unexpected vampiric companions, Lady Xiaodan Song and Lord Zidan Malekh. I was eager to read more about their conflicts against the vampiric courts and Court of Wanderers, and what else would happen with the Night Empress. I would say that the things that I enjoyed most in this novel were the characters of Lorien and Riones, who I felt had interesting development compared to how they were before.

Though the first one had flaws as well, I felt as if they were more apparent in this sequel. The development of the relationship between Remy, Xiaodan and Malekh felt very shallow and was what made the constant sex scenes feel awkward as I did not feel like there was not any more mention of their romantic relationship. I would also would have liked to have seen more development of Xiaodan and Malekh as individuals, rather than simply as romantic partners of Remy, and any development being an extension of him.

Though the world-building and politics were interesting to read at first, I felt that this novel was too expositionary for a sequel. There was a lot more world knowledge that felt more like info dumping than important components of the plot. Not having this information from the first novel, makes these extra concepts feel random and out of place.

Though there were new pieces of lore brought into this novel that had the potential to be riveting, I feel like the novel spent too much time exploring this rather than development of other characters or plot, which slowed the pacing and made it hard to read through.

DNF at 35%

Continuing on from Silver Under Nightfall, Remy Pendergast is travelling with his companions Lord Zidan Malekh and Lady Xiaodan Song after their recent fight with the Night Empress. On their way to the Court of Wanderers to try and save a severely injured Xiadon, it’s clear this journey isn’t going to as quick as it needs to be, and some secrets are just dying to be revealed.

I absolutely loved Chupeco’s The Bone Witch series, so I knew I’d enjoy their writing style, and Silver Under Nightfall left me wanting more. Yet this didn’t deliver. I kept waiting for it to get good, for something interesting enough to hold my attention, and whilst bits did happen, it wasn’t enough for me to keep reading.

There was so much just dumped on the reader in these great big massive chunks, and some things from the first book seemed resolved so early on that this didn’t help me cling to the desperation that it would pick up soon. It was so slow in places I could have skipped pages and it wouldn’t have made a difference, and not only that, but the pacing is neither here nor there, it’s so inconsistent.

It’s such a shame this one was a DNF, and I don’t think I’ll come back to it to attempt to finish it just to see what else happens.



Did I like the book? I wanted to in the beginning.

Did I love it? No. Far from it.

Would I recommend it? No. Unless you can forgive extremely slow pacing and lots of info dumping. Maybe.

Sadly this was a bit of a disappointment. There were a few issues with the previous book, but not nearly so many as in this one. Even if you discounted all the odd quirks of English they have somehow incorporated (eg. people making landfall from... land, and somehow Xiaodan's eyes being a singular eye and many other oddities) the weird pacing and tedious court/political drama made this a bit of a slog. Also I have grown to dislike all the characters apart from maybe Elke. I hate the whole puppy trope, I think the boring yet frequent sex was unnecessary and some of the plot just didn't make any sense. How is there a whole cave temple under a lake that take a few minutes to swim down to, yet people come and go easily and don't seem to ever get wet? How did Remy et al end up on a tiny island by magic? How did Rin manage to write the most un-mysterious locked room style mystery ever? The big reveal was just kind of dull.
I would definitely try another book by them, but I'd hope for better editing for language and pacing. And either leave the sex out, or make it more fun and relevant.