Review: The Bright and the Pale

4/5

For fans of: Snowy/winter/cave settings, heists, dueling gods, friends-to-lovers, slow-burn romance, found families

Synopsis: Valeria is the sole survivor of a horrific plague that destroyed not only her village, but her kingdom’s economy which caused the persecution and suffering her people. Ten years after stumbling away from the worst moment of her life, she is mourning a year after her best friend and partner-in-crime sacrificed himself to save her in a job gone wrong. Or so she thought. Swept into a trek back to the place she once called home for riches unimaginable and a chance to start over with the one person who matters most, she will be caught up in an eternal war she thought was a myth, which could destroy everything she fought so hard to get back.

Review: Whooo boy this is a fun one, but I’m always a sucker for a good heist. Fast-paced, slow burn romance, mysterious, claustrophobic, horrific, and just SO.MUCH.FUN. I devoured this story pretty quickly as I followed Valeria with her sweet reunion with Alik, the trek across the kingdom, the political intrigue that isn’t the main point of the plot but a motivational force for many characters, and then the dive into the caves of the Knnot. Every horror movie that takes place in caves flooded into mind, which was the perfect setting for some seriously creepy scenes. If you are claustrophobic, this might not be the book for you. My one quip is that some of the important relationships just aren’t as fleshed out as I would like. Valeria is your typical “troubled passed and running from it” YA heroine, but that cliffhanger of an ending really has me intrigued for the next book. When a book ends and you just scream, “WHAT JUST HAPPENED!?!?!?!?!” you know it’s a good cliffhanger.