Review: The Forever Court

The Forever Court

Rating: 4/5

Buy or Borrow: Buy 

Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Life is returning to normal for Denizen Hardwick. Well, the new normal, where he has to battle monsters in quiet Dublin bookshops and constantly struggle to contain the new powers he has been given by Mercy, the daughter of the Endless King. But Denizen may need those powers sooner than he thinks - not only are the Tenebrous stirring again but the Order of the Borrowed Dark face a new threat from much closer to home... 

I remember reading the first book in this trilogy, and not really being sure what to expect...but I ended up being totally blown away! This trilogy is so imaginative and original and with this book we find out the books are going to be a trilogy! I enjoyed this book, but it wasn't quite everything I hoped it would be. For instance a lot of the focus on Denizen was shifted and I was so excited to see more about him and Simon. 

We get a new POV in this book, and there are some new characters introduced. Uriel. Uriel is part of a cult. The cult where written perfectly, they where scarily dedicated and it was believable and authentic. But I was a little bit lost as I was trying to work out what the deal with was this group. And I just wanted to explore the world of the book more and see more of Denizen. See him talk to his mother and find out more about him and his past. I would say this is more YA rather than middle grade, due to content and so on. 

The imagery and the writing was still completely fantastic. The opening pulled me in and set up some intrigue, even if I did end up a little bit lost more than once. The writing still creates an atmosphere, and vivid settings that help to pull you in to the book. I was excited to see Abigail and Darcie and everyone again, but we really didn't get to see much of them this time, which was a little disappointing. But we did get to meet the Palatine and meet some more knights. Plus there was some interesting information about the Order and how it started, and I'd love to have dived in to that some more. 

In this book Denizen is dealing with the aftermath of the previous book and his new Cant knowledge. I still loved his character but I did kind of want to smack him one at some point but then I can only assume he was being a typical boy. He did see that he was being a prat at one point when he was feeling all betrayed by Simon. Which made a nice change. Denizen is hanging out with Mercy a lot this book...oh yes. She's back. And she's just as fascinating as ever. I'm not sure I ship them together because I don't entirely trust Mercy, especially after her little comment at the end....slip of the tongue? Or more? I'm excited to find out. 

The ending is intriguing, and I'm excited to see where this is going to go in the final book. I also want to point out some storytelling/writing that I loved....the way the Redemptresses story was told towards the end! I loved it. It broke up the narrative nicely, and was a clever and interesting way to tell the story and get two POV's in there. 

I loved the creepy bits in the first book, and how it was slightly dark. But the first book had some uplifting moments that this book didn't have. It was still fast paced, there was still plenty of action, and Denizen is still a great character. The writing is still completely brilliant, and I really enjoy the authors storytelling. Buuutt I was disappointed to not get to see some of my favourite characters much, and I was a bit sad not to get to explore the world more and see more of the various different creatures in the book. So this book was kind of a mixed bag for me, especially as I got a little bit lost buuuttttt with the knowledge at the end that this was a trilogy, I can understand why some of the things I liked and looked forward to weren't present, as I can see the kinda direction the story is going!