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I guess you wonder where I've been, I searched to find a love within / I came back to let you know, I got a thing for you and I can't let go (What You Won’t Do for Love �� Bobby Caldwell).

In a turn of events that should surprise nobody�� I really loved this book. Woah, can you imagine? But yeah, lovingly empathetic, hilariously witty, and devastatingly emotional; Lord of the White Hell book 2 combines all of the above in a stunning conclusion that has left me sitting here in ache... because my reading posture sucks ass, but also longing ache! Okay well, ��’m probably laying it on a bit thick and baring my heart in such an open way embarrasses me, so let me just cut to the chase before I run out of adjectives and say that Ginn Hale has written yet another masterpiece book series. I will say that throughout this review ��’m going to probably come across as a little more negative than I did when I talked about book one, but this is only due to the fact that there were a few characters that pissed me off like Elezar and Javier, but I promise that my incessant complaining is only a testament to how great this book is considering ��’m still showering it in praises! And while my heart still belongs to the Master of Restless Shadows duology (as you can probably guess considering I never shut up about it), I still think it's fascinating to see how these characters have grown and evolved throughout the years. Besides, it’s always nice when you can see how much an author cares about the characters they write as much of the readers. As for the story, we still follow Kiram as the only narrator as he’s trying to navigate through all the problems that he left festering from the last book. This all includes Javier being an entitled asshole, his mother with a long list of potential suitors waiting for him back home, and... oh yeah... Fedeles being cursed by an ancient shadow demon! Hold up, one of these things is not like the other? That’s kind of where my one criticism with this book lay, because unlike Master of Restless Shadows, which was able to sneak in a beautiful romantic story line aside all the world-ending plots, this book almost felt a bit disjointed in its inability to properly balance the importance of the several sources of conflict presented throughout the story. Like, I always enjoy romance in books, I really do, but I was really hoping that Kiram would have been able to push aside his constant infatuation towards Javier and instead focused on saving Fedeles like he had promised. ��’m just saying, their buddy is literally trapped in The Sunken Place right beside them and we all know this by this point in the story, so it’s kind of wild that they spent so much time dancing and taking strolls around the city. Nonetheless, I think it's important to understand that while The Cadeleonian Series has since evolved into having a very detailed and lore heavy fantasy setting, these first two books are first and foremost about a forbidden love between a culturally displaced young man yearning for adventure and a lord trapped in a dangerously conservative society trying to unlearn his inborn shame.

In fact, I’d probably say that these earlier books reminded me a little of how the Shadow and Bone books were very by-the-numbers Young-Adult fiction. And in my opinion, things only really started getting good when the author experimented with more complicated and weird narrative turns with the Six of Crows books. That sounds like a backwards compliment, but even though I didn’t finish the Shadow and Bone trilogy and stopped watching the show when they started adapting certain scenes from the book that I found boring (I didn't like Milo or whatever Alina's love-interest name was), I still appreciated that it set up a world where a badass like Inej could exist and thrive. Hm... what was I talking about again? Oh yeah, these Lord of the White Hell books are still fantastic, and even though the romance between Kiram and Javier definitely doesn’t hit the same way Atreau and Narsi's relationship from Master of Restless Shadows did, I was still captivated by their story and couldn't help but want them to run away together as if they existed in a song written by Carly Rae Jepsen. Unfortunately, this is the part where I say to say that that Javier never really grew on me in these books. I wouldn’t say that it ever got so bad that I felt like his wrongdoings towards Kiram were unfairly absolved by the narrative, but there was a disappointing lack of resolution in the hanging story threads nonetheless. Scenes that were given strong emotional weight at the climax of the last book were resolved way too quick with nary an apology in sight! By now I think I've made it clear that I have very strong opinions on ��the correct�� person in stories being the one to ��make things right.�� It’s kind of my thing! And look, I believe that Javier has a strong character arc and ��’m clearly not taking it too personally considering my rating for this book, ��’m even loathe to admit that I can see why this more naturalistic approach to Kiram and Javier making up after their big fight is enticing from a writing perspective seeing as it mirrors real relationships more closely. Yet... I still just kind of wanted to see Javier�� in pain? Wait that sounds bad, ��’m just saying that my favorite parts in a novel, be it Lord of White Hell or Simon Snow, are when the love-interest is suffering. Huh, that sounds worse. Eh whatever, I might as well admit that ��’m a real sicko and I feed off of scenes in books where the love-interest is going through it, jealous and bitter. That's probably why I like love-triangles, ��’m messy and I love drama! Anyway, what ��’m getting at is that throughout the entire story I was totally the devil on the shoulder, telling Kiram to leave Javier's flat ass because my boy Vashir is over there looking to give him real riding lessons! Really though, more than anything I was hoping that Kiram would have been more of an active player in the story, as I often felt like he was little more than a spectator to the events happening throughout the book. Sure, maybe it’s purposeful that Kiram plays the Nick Carraway role, looking on in admiration of this rich dude, but given all the narrative focus given to his prestigious mechanist skills, I was hoping his talent would come up sooner than the third-act.

“You keep a secret too long and it gains a kind of power over you, I think. It starts to own you.��

I know right now you’re thinking, ��Oh, he’s really going to talk about Javier for four paragraphs, huh?�� and�� I am, sorry. Hey, I said the Lord of the White Hell books were on the romance side of things more than anything else, and if there’s one thing about me, is that I can rant and rave about romantic interests for ages! Besides, if Kiram and Javier can ignore Fedeles being mind-controlled like Wanda Maximoff controlling the citizens of Westview, then so can I. Anyway, I know that Javier’s whole obsession thing he has going for Kiram is supposed to be darkly sexy or whatever, but after a while he really was just giving Quasimodo vibes. Not the hunchback bit, the creepy stalker bit. I mean, these books are definitely of the era in which they were written, where the love-interest was always aloof and demanding, but ��’m just thankful that this kind of characterization has since been re-examined in the public consciousness. ��’m not saying that nobody can have a toxic characterization, but a little variety is always nice and I always like it the most when the characters like each other. Because damn, this "I own you, my love," Nosferatu, Phantom of the Opera type shit was everywhere back in the day! I couldn’t escape it, and I think by the time we got to Divergent, I had enough. Remember the love-interest named ��Four?�� I can't believe the author really expected us to take him seriously with a name like that? I've exhausted this point, but I've always found it to be a breath of fresh air whenever a love-interest is supportive and shows their love through anything other than an obsessive need to control and own. Sure, I’d say that these characteristics were given to Javier because they’re aspects literally drilled into him by his up-bringing as a Cadeleonian lord, which is a point that’s literally discussed by Kiram at length throughout both books, but I’d argue that because Kiram is always ��giving in�� and never holding Javier accountable for his bad behavior, I couldn't help but wonder if these two would remain happy together when the dust settles. Hm, maybe I do want to see him in pain. Had Javier been given his own pov chapters it could have helped alleviate some of my issues with his selfishness, but I still have to appreciate the fact that while Javier is Lord of the White Hell, this is still Kiram’s story through and through. It’s through his eyes that we’re able to examine the Cadeleonian culture, and through him that we’re given leave to judge and ponder accordingly. I should move on, because it's starting to sound like ��’m in love with Kiram or something... but let the record show that this is not the case, I tell you! ��’m not in love with Kiram�� ��’m in love with Narsi.

That was a joke, by the way. Maybe. Um, I could go on and on about the reasons why I don’t think Javier and Kiram are a good match for each other, but it's important to know that that fact doesn't mean that I think it's a flaw in the writing. There are plenty of love stories about people that shouldn't be together that I love! But let's talk about the art of dance and Kiram’s love for it. We never see anybody getting down in book one because it's important for us to see his alienation and separation from his home, and during a school dance, Kiram is noticeably ignored by his classmates (including Javier, by the way) and is forced to watch from the sidelines and repress his cultural love for dancing. It's sad stuff, really! While in this book, the scene is mirrored as Kiram goes back home to his family and while at the cookout he again relearns his love for dancing, having a grand old time cutting the rug with people who aren’t so socially repressed. These two moments are (in my opinion) purposefully contrasted with each other, and even though Javier is clearly Kiram's one true love (as designated by the narrative), I still couldn't help but picture a stilted and wooden future for him should he stick with the stick-in-the-muds. ����’m never gonna dance again, guilty feet ain’t got no rhythm�� and all that. It doesn’t help that the only time Javier was there to ��protect,�� it only ever highlighted his obsessive jealously and childishness. A guy flirting with Kiram? Javier is there with his hand on the hilt of his sword, but later in the book when Kiram is getting mugged, all of a sudden he’s nowhere to be seen? Chilling with his horse or whatever? Man, he never really did anything much to combat the noble man-child accusations, did he? All take and no give, this guy was�� as Yoda once said. And yeah, I guess he offers shelter when Kiram has an intense falling out with his family, but even then it’s more his friend, Nestor’s hospitality that he has to thank considering it’s his house they’re all bunking at. Now back to good things, despite all my complaining thus far, even if they’re kind of toxic and maybe not good for each other, Ginn Hale’s got the chemistry thing between them down pat. Kiram would say something devastatingly earnest, Javier would say something disarmingly charming, and I’d say ooo~ooh girl, shock me like electric eel! It’s a tried and true method, really. Besides, I think this book was smart in that the narrative gave Javier and Kiram a Romeo and Juliet sense of impending doom where we can’t help but hope that things will work out for them regardless of the risks. And not to brag, but ��’m one of those people who never turned on The Titanic and I always enjoyed the love story as well as that bit where they're all hanging off the side of the boat. I've got layers! Really though, show me a tragic love story and I’ll be seated. I didn't like Javier, but I really did love this book! Besides, there’s no doubt in my mind that Ginn Hale’s writing remains an tired-and-true source for electric entertainment, sensitive representation, and blissful happiness!

And though I only want the best, it's true / I can't believe the things I do for you.