Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Please note that this is the second book in a series and will contain spoilers for The Beautiful! You have been warned!
Goodreads Synopsis
Following the events of The Beautiful, Sébastien Saint Germain is now cursed and forever changed. The treaty between the Fallen and the Brotherhood has been broken, and war between the immortals seems imminent. The price of loving Celine was costly. But Celine has also paid a high price for loving Bastien. Still recovering from injuries sustained during a night she can’t quite remember, her dreams are troubled. And she doesn’t know she has inadvertently set into motion a chain of events that could lead to her demise and unveil a truth about herself she’s not quite ready to learn. Forces hiding in the shadows have been patiently waiting for this moment for centuries. And just as Bastien and Celine begin to uncover the danger around them, they learn their love could tear them apart.
Review
So, if you read my review for The Beautiful then you’ll know I had a few issues with it. The first being that it really lacked the involvement of vampires as it was marketed and that I wish I was able to connect with Sébastien more.
It’s almost as is Renée Adhieh heard me and gave me everything I asked for. This book is the vampire book that we wanted The Beautiful to be and it honestly did not disappoint.
This book jumps straight in, following the events of The Beautiful and I was more than happy to be back in this world with these characters, especially because now we have chapters from not only Celine but Sébastien, Odette, Michael and Eloise (to name a few). I loved being able to connect with these characters more and understand their motives. I grew to love Sébastien more and was really happy that this book focused more on him and his journey.
Whilst Celine was not seen for the beginning of this book it really made sense and it made her chapters more interesting. We watch as she struggles with remembering the events that took place in the first book whilst balancing a tailor shop and a new romance which is incredibly one sided. However, Celine quickly takes back control in this book and it was interesting to learn more about her past and her life.
One of the things I loved about this book was learning more about the side characters and reading from their perspectives. We see Pippa struggling with keeping Celine safe, Arjun being the most loyal of friends and Odette being the absolute best.
Although I found myself struggling to get into this book at the beginning, I found that I was unable to put it down from 40% onwards. There was so much action in this book and it never slowed down. I found myself more intrigued and eager to carry on reading (which I did into the early hours of the morning}.
I do however wish that the ending hadn’t had felt so rushed. Everything happened at once and I felt myself having to take a moment to let my brain catch up. Whilst I am incredibly shocked by some of the revelations (one had me near to tears), I wish that it had been spaced out a bit more and given more depth.
Adhieh is the master of creating these insanely captivating and atmospheric worlds that you just want to explore more. If you were on the fence about reading The Damned I really do recommend picking it up. As I said at the beginning, this is the book I wanted The Beautiful to be with vampires and different mythical creatures! I honestly cannot wait to read the next book in this series!
Rating: 4/5 stars
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