Review: The Secret City

The Secret City 
Rating: 4/5 
Buy or Borrow: Buy 
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Locked away inside the fortified walls of Oxford's St Wilfred's College, surrounded by alchemists sworn to protect them, Taylor and Sacha are safe from the Darkness. For now.

But time is short. In seven days Sacha will turn 18, and the ancient curse that once made him invincible will kill him, unleashing unimaginable demonic horror upon the world.

There is one way to stop it.

Taylor and Sacha must go to where the curse was first cast - the medieval French city of Carcassonne - and face the demons.

The journey will be dangerous. And monsters are waiting for them.

But as Darkness descends on Oxford, their choice is stark. They must face everything that scares them, or lose everything they love.

I love C.J and I loved The Secret Fire last year, it was original and fun and I loved the writing style of both authors and how they worked so well together. I shipped Sacha and Taylor super badly. I was hooked from page one and read most of it in one go, this time round I read it all in one go! 

I connected to Taylor so much in the first book, how could I not with the whole bookish/history nerd thing, and I also connected to Sacha a lot too. I loved how they've grown and changed since the last book. Sacha has less "keep away" vibes going on, but he is feeling useless in Oxford and isn't enjoying being at St. Wilfred's. He feels trapped. Taylor on the other hand is struggling in her training but she's determined. I love the two of them, and I love watching the two of them together. Seeing them interact. They want to protect each other from the threats they face, and they have to work together in order to succeed. We got to watch the two of them grow closer together over the course of the book and I ship them so badly, and they where so cute together. 

Our characters continue to be well brought to life and relatable. Louisa was back, and we actually got her POV as well as Sacha and Taylor's, I loved getting a better insight in to Louisa and I'm still so curious about her and her past. I just love her, she's badass and I ship her and Alastair so badly. Seriously. There is much shipping in this book! The romance between the two ships is cute, and I feel like they're kind of the perfect matches for each other. I loved getting to learn more about Louisa's past and how she came to be with the Alchemists too! 

The Secret City is fast paced, full of intrigue and action and romance. Plus plenty of danger and tension that you can feel as you're sitting and reading. There's originality in spades, I loved the take on Alchemy in the book! Everything I loved in the first book was here in this book but we got more background on some characters, there where zombie like things, I was a bit sad there was no more to the story of their ancestors. I was kinda suspecting/hoping for more to the story! This book was a whirlwind and the ending....I'm not sure about the ending. I thought this was supposed to be a duology, now...the book is either being left open ended so you can imagine the rest yourself, OR there's going to be another book!? I'm not too sure? I'm kinda hoping for another book to see more of Sacha and Taylor!