Review: The Second Death of Locke
DNF at 82%. A revolving door of tropes with no single one lingering long enough to keep me invested.
Bovalina’s narrative structure was jumbled and misordered, which interrupted the romance (billed slow-burn but isn't), despite a promising magical system.
A quick summary
On the warring isle of Idistra, magic is wielded through a partnership betweens Wells and Mages. Grey is a Well - a literal vessel of raw power - but she cannot shape that power into magic. For that she needs a mage who can pull the power from her and turn it into a weapon. Enter Kier, her lifelong best friend and the only person alive who knows her secret identity.
The 5 nations of Idistra have been at war for 16 years, since the mysterious 6th nation - the isle of Locke - mysteriously disappeared into the sea, taking the source of all magic with it. Now the magic of Wells and Mages is waning, and the remaining nations are fighting over the scraps.
Bovalina chooses to give the reader most of the facts up front: Grey is really Maryse, the secret lost-princes of Locke and the only one who can restore it, though she doesn’t know how. Kier and Grey are both in love with each other, but neither will take the chance to reveal it, despite the fact that they have “bound” their magics together, meaning they can only tether to one another (as opposed to being passed around to other wells/mages), which is illegal.
The author holds a few specifics of Grey’s magic back as later reveals, but they aren’t really shocking enough to be plot twists or cause much narrative disturbance. Grey and Kier are charged with taking a false Maryse to the leader of one of the 5 warring nations. In so doing they survive assassination attempts by the other nations whose names never really stick because there are too many of them.
They, along with the standard motley crew of fellow travelers, quickly complete their mission and confess their love for one another in the process, which felt very unearned less than halfway through the book. But Bovalina still has a lot (too much really) for the characters to do in the last half, so she’s got to get after it.
Kier ends up kidnapped in a case of mistaken identity. Grey reveals herself to two of the nations in order to rescue him. The rescue goes awry, causing Kier and Grey to leap into the sea, which somehow brings the isle of Locke back. Spoiler, Kier actually dies in the process, but is brought back to life by the goddess of Locke, under the condition that Grey either (1) let him die in 30 days; (2) let him live but he’s confined to the isle; (3) let him live but Grey gives up her power.
The author tries to manufacture some tension by having Grey keep the truth of Kier’s own death, and the impending agreement she has to make with the Goddess, from him. Kier and Grey go about the messy business of cleaning up all the dead bodies on Locke, which had been perfectly preserved for 16 years. And this is where I DNF’d at 82%, when the motley crew shows back up.
So many tropes, so few pages
The author bit off too much to chew for the page count. The world building could have been significantly simplified (3 waring countries instead of 6 would have done the trick), and kept the narrative tight in on the well/mage magical system (which is awesome) and a much slower-burn romance.
I was pulled in by all the “men who yearn” talk, and that was really working in the first half of the book, but the author just let it go too quickly.
This single book could have done much better as a fully-fleshed duology, with the romance and the secret identity tropes occupying the first book, culminating in the rescue and jump-off-a-cliff moment, and the restoration of Locke and subsequent political machinations driving the second book.
As it stands, there isn’t a logical narrative structure. No clear first, second, and third act. The MCs go through too many relational stages/tropes for the actual length of the book, bouncing from besties who haven't confessed their obvious feelings for one another to lovers to separated by enemy forces, then back together again, then having to make major sacrifices to stay together. There may be more but I put the book down. A revolving door of tropes with no single one lingering long enough to make an impact.
There was very little character-driven tension in the book, which made each character feel flat. Kier always says the right thing at the right time and has no flaws or personal ambitions. The motley crew of travelers spends a few days together and suddenly they are a cohesive buddy unit who will do anything for each other. No disagreements or misunderstandings or arguments or betrayals. There’s a teensy little heated moment between two characters when the truth about Grey and Kier being bound comes out, but it’s resolved quickly.
Inconsistent pacing + flat characters wasn't getting it done for me. DNF.