The Mirror of Beasts by Alexandra Bracken

Rating: 5 stars

Recommended Ages: 14 and up

Release Date: July 31, 2024

The Mirror of Beasts is a satisfying and emotional sequel to Silver in the Bone, the cliff-hanger for which I simply wrote, "I'm annoyed" as my review. But I'm often annoyed with cliffhangers, so don't mind me. What I was hoping was that the character arc I thought was being undone at the end of Silver in the Bone would be redone in The Mirror of Beasts, and thankfully it was. Amazingly, I was able to read Mirror without having to re-read Silver, even though I thought the story's mythology was a little difficult to fully understand in first book. It's a unique take on the Arthurian legend, so even if you had a familiarity with the very old tale, Bracken changes things up to the extent that you are really starting from scratch. In other words--you need not know anything about King Arthur and his Knights to enjoy this duology.

We pick up right as we left off in Silver, with Tamsin, our main protagonist, picking up the pieces from the destruction in the first book, only to be thrown a loop when someone she thought long gone shows up to surprise her with a revelation about her whole existence. With her is Neve and former priestesses Cait and Olwen. Not with her is Emrys, the spoiled son of the head Hallower and one of the reasons "I'm annoyed" became my review for the first book. Thankfully, it doesn't take long for Tamsin and Emrys to reunite--for whatever that is worth to Tamsin--so for those of us who were "annoyed" at the way things ended for them in the first book, we get most of the second to make up for it.

Mirror is more emotional and heart-wrenching than Silver. The stakes are even higher, and considering how Silver ended, that's saying something. The chemistry between Tamsin and Emrys picks right back up, and the fish-out-of-water experiences of Cait and Olwen in the real world provides a light respite from the story's emotional toil. Mirror eschews a lot of the tropes often found in young adult fantasy, and even the rivals-to-lovers storyline didn't push forward in a straight line. Because of this, and the unique world that Bracken built, I didn't guess the twists along the way. I was too engrossed to even really try. That, to me, is the mark of a great ending.

**Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an e-arc in exchange for an honest review**