I put off reading this second book for years, because I didn't care for the allusions made in the first book that Sybella, the MC of this story, had a dark past involving parental sexual abuse.  But I really wanted to read the third book, and I can't stand reading out of order, so I sucked it up.

The allusions were not misdirection; Sybella's background is full of abuse and cruelty, and the author walks a fine line in terms of incest, stopping short by the strictest definition, if not the spirit of it.  Either way, it's distasteful and unpleasant; I'd have enjoyed the story more had it not spent so much time on the setup and background.

Once Sybella commits to her mission to rescue the Beast of Waroch from her family's dungeons, the story improves, as does the pacing.  There's a Deus-ette ex machina in Sybella's unexpected connection to The Beast that I'm not sure was really necessary, though it didn't really affect the plotting one way or the other.

Generally, not as good as the first book, but an engrossing read nevertheless.  I appreciated the author's note at the end outlining that while the story itself was whole cloth fiction, the events and many of the characters were historically accurate, though she owns to compressing the timeline for dramatic purposes.  If I can read and be entertained, and learn a bit about the Duchess Anne of Brittany at the same time, all the better.

 I read this for a Halloween Square - Paint it Black.

Genre: Historical Romance
Year Published: 2013
Number of Pages: 387 pages
Date Read: 3/19/2017
Series: His Fair Assassin #2  
Publisher:  Houghton Mifflin

“Hate cannot be fought with hate. Evil cannot be conquered by darkness. Only love has the power to conquer them both.”

I must admit that it has been awhile since I had last read Robin LaFevers’ hit novel “Grave Mercy.” However, years later I finally read the sequel of this fantastic series called “Dark Triumph” and I must say that it was even more exciting and personal than “Grave Mercy” was!

When Sybella first arrived at the convent of Mortain, she was mad with grief as she used to live with her monstrous dictator of a father d’Albret and her brothers Julian and Pierre and her life there was full of misery and turmoil. Just as Sybella was enjoying her life at the convent, her life takes a drastic turn as the abbess of the convent forces Sybella to go back to d’Albret’s kingdom in order to find a means to weaken the dictator during Brittany’s war with France. When Sybella founds out about this mission, she becomes truly heartbroken and she starts doubting the existence of Mortain as she wonders to herself about why would Mortain force her to go back to a life of pure misery with d’Albret? It was not until later on when Sybella meets up with one of d’Albret’s prisoners, a huge and ugly man called Beast who is a loyal servant to the duchess of Brittany and a pawn that d’Albret wishes to use against the duchess. When Sybella meets up with the prisoner, she decides to free him in order to prevent d’Albret from using him against the duchess and the two make their way towards the kingdom of Brittany to turn the tides in the war against France and d’Albret himself. But, Sybella will soon realize that she may have feelings for Beast and that might turn the life that she has known all her life upside down.

Wow! Even though I had enjoyed reading Robin LaFevers’ “Grave Mercy” novel, I never would have thought that I would enjoy the sequel “Dark Triumph” even more than “Grave Mercy!” I loved the way that Robin LaFevers made this sequel much darker and more personal than the first book as readers are introduced to Sybella’s side of the story and how her life was full of turmoil and betrayal that made her doubt her existence in the world and how Mortain would allow her life to become so turbulent. I really enjoyed seeing the character development that Sybella goes through in this book as she had an extremely miserable life with her treacherous family and I actually felt bad for her during the moments where she starts doubting her existence in the world due to certain circumstances not going her way. I also enjoyed seeing the relationships that Sybella had developed over the course of the story, especially her relationship with Ismae, as they shared a sisterly bond that kept them close to each other and I like the way that Ismae tries to comfort Sybella during her times of stress. But the character I was the most interested in was Beast himself as he has many similarities to Sybella (both love to fight off the bad guys and both had lost people that they cared about) and yet, he still retains a happy and go lucky attitude during the whole ordeal with d’Abret and the French. But, I cannot leave out one of my most favorite aspects of Beast’s character and that is (seriously) his BODY TYPE! I like the fact that we have a hero who is described as not being handsome looking, but still has an extremely muscular body that is able to take down any forces that come up against him and it is this description of Beast that makes me really fall for him!



For those of you who do not like suggestive themes and strong violence, there are some surprisingly violent moments in this book which includes many characters getting their throats slit by the assassins that might be uncomfortable for some readers.

***SPOILER WARNING!!!***

Also, the fact that Sybella’s family, her brother Julian and d’Abret included, seem to want to get into a sexual relationship with her, despite the fact that they are “related” to each other and that might be a bit upsetting for some readers to handle, especially since it shows that Sybella clearly does not want to engage in such relationships with her brother Julian and d’Albret and they were basically forcing themselves upon her.

***SPOILER ENDED!!!***

Overall, “Dark Triumph” is a truly fantastic sequel to “Grave Mercy” that fans of historical romance and books that deal with assassins will definitely enjoy for many years! I am definitely looking forward to the third book in the series “Mortal Heart!”

Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog

Dark Triumph

by Robin LaFevers
Book 2 of His Fair Assassin
Audio book narrated by Angela Goethals

The most recent updates will be added to the top each re-post.

As I progress through the book and find reasons to update, more events may or may not be revealed.  So I will include a **SPOILER WARNING** right here just in case I have inadvertently given away anything significant to the story itself.  I've done my best not to mention any big spoilers, but I don't always check myself accordingly.

Review for Dark Triumph | link coming soon

Progress on 11/11/16:  203 of 405 pages | 393 of 716 minutes (50%)

And suddenly I am furious.  Furious that she does not even care that she lured me back to hell on earth with a false promise and that for a span of time, death was more inviting to me than the life I was forced to live--the life she had forced me to live, using lies and a lure she knew I would find irresistible.

[...]

She tilts her wimpled head and studies me.  "Something as paltry as a lack of Mortain's permission would not stop the Sybella I know.  Perhaps in the end, your ties to d'Albret are stronger than your ties to Mortain.  You have, after all, known and served him far longer."

Apparently, using the promise that Count d'Albret would bear the death mark of Saint Mortain, the Abbess of the Convent of St. Mortain had sent Sybella back to the hellish nightmare of her childhood home--even knowing the kind of mental and emotional trauma Sybella had gone through before finding her way to the convent.  Sybella had been promised that she would be able to deal the killing blow to d'Albret, but has, as of present not found the mark in appearance anywhere on the man.

Which is depressing considering what a terrible, malicious man he is.

However, I continue to find the Abbess much more manipulative and evil than many of the others.  At least Count d'Albret is openly vile.  The Abbess hides behind her Saint and uses him as an excuse for all of her commands, claiming that she knows best what he wants from his handmaidens.  And then, in the quote above, more to hurt Sybella than for any other reason, she rubs it into Sybella's sensibilities that maybe she truly is d'Albret's daughter after all rather than Mortain's--a conflict that Sybella has been having in her head since the beginning of the book and that is slowly driving her mad.

On top of that, Sybella's newest hope had been built on the idea that she is a daughter of Mortain and serves his will.  The sisters of the convent had always warned her about killing outside of Mortain's will, which would cast her out of his favor and damn her soul.  This is the reason why Sybella had been hesitant to kill d'Albret without the death mark; and yet now the Abbess is rubbing that in her face as well.

It really makes me want to reach in and punch her in the face.  It might actually be satisfying if Sybella can find the courage to do so in the end, and I look forward to something like that.

Progress on 11/11/16:  134 of 405 pages | 260 of 716 minutes (33%)

The connection between Sybella and Beast is much more complex than I had imagined, but not surprising.  Between being d'Albret's daughter and this new revelation, I'm actually kind of giddy to see where this slowly budding relationship heads.

Things are getting most interesting indeed!

Progress on 11/11/16:  109 of 405 pages | 206 of 716 minutes (27%)

Keeping my eyes on his contorted little face, I change my plan.  "I will not kill you.  Just put you to sleep for a while.  Just long enough to free the prisoner.  You will have a goose egg on your head and can explain to the others how you were overpowered and were helpless to prevent the escape."

At the word escape the little man stills and cocks his head.  He pauses for a long moment, then carefully steps away from the door and motions me toward it.

I frown.  What trick is this?

[...]

"You want me to free him?" I ask.

Hmm... the plot thickens, but we're at a turning point in the book now that Sybella has no other choice but to find and free Beast as his time is running out.  The little man who guards Beast in d'Albret's dungeons piqued my interest almost immediately.  He doesn't speak and he has reflexes like a master acrobat--I am very intrigued.

And I'm ready for some more excitement outside of Sybella's continued undercover work, which is really putting a strain on her mentality.  She's slowly becoming more and more fatalistic and that makes me really nervous.

Progress on 11/10/16:  97 of 405 pages | 182 of 716 minutes (24%)

We're getting closer to seeing Beast!  I have to admit, he was one of my more favorite characters from the first book.  I'm a little excited.

Meanwhile... the events surrounding Sybella and her family, as well as the incestuous feelings that her brother Julian doesn't bother to hide, makes me feel a bit squicky.  The fact that she needs to play along in order to accomplish her assignment makes me feel for her, and I'm hoping that Sybella gets out of that situation soon.

Progress on 11/10/16:  65 of 405 pages | 112 of 716 minutes (16%)

I will quit the convent.  She cannot force me to stay here.  Tucked far away on her little island, she will not even know I have left.

Well, that escalated fast.  As I recall from the first book, Sybella was always the wild card, needing to be coaxed to do anything at all, and having such an unpredictable will that I'd been surprised that she so willingly went on a mission that proved so emotionally trying for her.

Then again, at some point in time, I expect someone to put St. Mortain's Abbess in her place.  She's all talk about Mortain's will all the time, but her decisions and manipulations have always been questionable.  And deplorable.

Progress on 11/10/16:  57 of 405 pages | 100 of 716 minutes (14%)

I am part listening to this as an audio book, and part reading it on my Kindle as a print e-book.  And so far, I'm really getting into the book, though I don't know if that is per influence of the audio narration, or because the book is just so easy to get into.

There is action from the outset, and we immediately learn that Sybella's world is a much different place than Ismae's had been from the first book.  When other reviewers had mentioned how much darker the series is in this second installment, I had my reserves going by what the first book was like.

But, indeed, things are a bit darker, and so far, following Sybella's mission as she infiltrates her father the Baron d'Albret's home, we see just how dangerous this particular assignment is for Sybella, physically, mentally, and emotionally.  If there ever were the classic dysfunctional family, I'm sure this one would be it.  And honestly, I was quite surprised to learn that the nasty Baron d'Albret who'd been trying to gain possession of Duchess Anne, turned out to be Sybella's father.

Also with Sybella's assignment here, you also get to see another glimpse of how fallible the convent's direction is.  While Sybella still doesn't see it, we've already gotten a taste of how the Convent of St. Mortain can be completely, and utterly wrong about what needs to happen and who needs to die.  And once again, we also get to see how readily the girls of the convent are manipulated to do St. Mortain's work just because their Abbess decrees it so, because at the same time, the convent risks Sybella's safety and sanity in their supposed service to the Patron Saint of Death.

And we've already seen that Mortain works in ways that are not quite exclusive to the convent.

Anyway... bring on Beast!  I can't wait for him to make his appearance, as it seems that he will be featuring prominently in this book.

Basic Info

Format: Audio
Pages/Length: 13hrs 36mins
Genre: Young Adult; Fantasy

At A Glance

Love Triangle/Insta Love/Obsession?: no
Cliff Hanger: no
Triggers: n/a
Rating: 3.5 Stars

Score Sheet
All out of ten

Cover: 8
Plot: 7
Characters: 9
World Building: 7
Flow: 6
Series Congruity: n/a**
Writing: 7
Ending: 7

Total: 7
**The books in this series are each about a different character therefore not really a way to say how it reflects the previous book**

In Dept

Best Part: ACTION
Worst Part: I got bored.
Thoughts Had: Oh new character!; Kick his butt; bored...; action again!

Conclusion

Continuing the Series: yes
Recommending: yes

Short Review: I loved Grave Mercy so i figured i would love this as well. Thou this book is about a different character, the vibe is the same. I don't really see what she wanted to save Beast thou, not like it affect her an any way if he was killed. I was bored though some of the middle when not much was going on. But the action in the end made up for it a bit.

Misc.

Book Boyfriend: Beast, kick everyone behinds for me
Best Friend Material: n/a

Review in GIF Form: