Review Detail

I don’t know if I liked this book more than the first one. Honestly, I think the first one was better and this one felt a little short. This story and world is still amazing and so unique. I was able to understand it a little bit better but I still wish there was more. It was fascinating to learn how the Ruining occurred and different events that finally tied together but this book felt really like it was two parts. The first part of the book was stopping the necromancer and the second was stopping the Ruining. I felt like the first part of the book went so fast. Also, the identity of the necromancer was not surprising at all. It was pretty obvious but I did appreciate the back story. Then I was surprised there was still so much book left but after that point, I just didn’t care as much? I really want to like this story but it just doesn’t click with me. One of the aspects I love that Hodge did was take snippets of Romeo & Juliet into this book as a poem or song. It was my favorite.

I think one of my issues with liking this duology are the characters. My favorite character of the first book is dead, Paris, so that leaves no other character I really liked. Romeo was way better in this book because he was finally ready to do something instead of just whine over Juliet. I still don’t like Juliet or Runajo so their half of the book just didn’t do anything for me. It was nicer getting Juliet’s side of the story. There wasn’t much development from the first book for the characters so my feelings never changed from then.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Overall, Endless Water, Starless Sky by Rosamund Hodge was an okay duology. I loved the story and the world that was created but it wasn’t enough to keep me invested in the story. This book really felt split in two and not cohesive which made me struggle with the pacing. With my favorite character from the first book being dead, I was left wanting more from the characters. Romeo was the only one that really was a little different from the first book but not as much. I do think this is a great take on the Romeo & Juliet retelling but I still feel like this would have been stronger as a trilogy to really make me care about the stories. The plot itself can only make me enjoy it so much.