Bid My Soul Farewell (Give the Dark My Love #2)
Beth Revis
Razorbill
Published September 24, 2019
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About Bid My Soul Farewell
The stunning finale of the epic fantasy duology from New York Times bestselling author Beth Revis.
Alchemy student turned necromancer Nedra Brysstain has made a life-changing decision to embrace the darkness–but can the boy who loves her bring her back to the light before she pays the ultimate price?
Lunar Island is trying to heal. The necromantic plague that ravaged the land has been eradicated, and Emperor Auguste, the young and charming leader of the Allyrian Empire, has a plan: rid the island of necromancy once and for all. Though Greggori “Grey” Astor wants what’s best for his people, he knows that allying himself with Auguste threatens the one person he loves most: necromancer Nedra Brysstain. Feeling like he already failed to save Nedra once, Grey becomes determined to help the Emperor rebuild Lunar Island while still keeping Nedra safe from harm.
Back at the quarantine hospital, Nedra’s army of revenants are growing increasingly inhuman by the day. Wracked with guilt for imprisoning their souls, Nedra vows to discover a way to free the dead while still keeping her sister by her side.
But, still reeling from the trauma of the plague, the people of Lunar Island are looking for someone to blame, and Grey can only protect Nedra for so long. And when Nedra and Grey are thrust into a battle with an even more terrifying adversary, Nedra will be pushed to the darkest depths of her necromantic powers. But can Grey let her go that far?
My Review
This was the first book I read after having my miscarriage in December. I had been meaning to read it for a while, but it seemed like it was going to be dark and have a lot of grief in it, since Nedra loses so much in the first book. I picked it up just before Christmas and looked at the cover and thought, yep, she looks about how I feel. And I knew it was the right time to read it.
So many things about this book really met me where I was. I totally identified with both Nedra’s grief and her desperation to somehow bring back the sister she’d lost. Her frustration with the people around her who just didn’t understand where she was coming from emotionally totally resonated with me. And the way it complicated her relationship with Grey– who loved her every minute of her journey, but had to find his own way to heal, and also couldn’t support some of the things she was doing felt so real to me, too.
It IS a bit of a dark read. The people in Nedra’s colony are recovering from a plague that left many people dead and many more amputee survivors. Nedra desperately wants to find a way to bring her sister back from the dead. Grey wants to help the people who’ve been overlooked by the government and he wants to protect Nedra, too.
Even though it’s dark, I really needed this book and I’m so glad I was able to read it right now. Sometimes a book is perfect for a certain time in your life, and I feel like I found this one at exactly the right moment.
Content Notes
Recommended for Ages 14 up.
Representation
Nedra is an amputee. Her sister was bisexual.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used once.
Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. One scene shows a woman undressing in front of her lover and then the lead up to them having sex. It’s suggested that they are intimate again after that but nothing happens in scene.
Spiritual Content
Nedra believes in the god Oryous, and visits a temple. Grey has grown up with religious traditions but doesn’t have a personal connection to them or personal faith.
Nedra learns to see and have some control of the souls of others as part of her powers of necromancy. As her power grows, a darkness in her grows, too.
Violent Content
Some brief descriptions of battle and the aftermath of battle, including some graphic descriptions of gore.
Drug Content
None.
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