The Ever Cruel Kingdom (The Never Tilting World #2)

The Ever Cruel Kingdom delivered a very satisfying conclusion to this duology. I however still liked book one just a tad better. That is not to say this book was bad but it did drag for me in some areas while still entertaining me.

I don’t have much more to add to this review that I didn’t already say in my review for book one. Everything that I loved and adored in book one was very present throughout this book, whether that be the world or the characters or even the plot. What I will say here is my one critique, and that is the story kind of dragged like I said. This story though still had me completely in its hooks.

I am such a Rin Chupeco fan at this point. Seriously all the books I have read by them have left a very lasting mark on my reader heart. I am so eager to pick up any and every book they plan on releasing.

I have loved everything I’ve read by Rin. She’s really good at building worlds and characters that I actually care about. This series was great at showing how greed can ruin the world around us but we still have time to fix it if we just work together.

Purchased for High School Library

In the first volume of this YA fantasy duology, twin sisters raised on opposite sides of a stationary world each fall in love and get caught up in a propulsive plot that brings them and their partners hurtling together in its final pages. This sequel is fun for finally showing those four characters interacting — and it remains a nice piece of representation that one of the romantic relationships is F/F and the other involves a young man with only one arm — but there’s a little less conflict all around now that everyone’s feelings are settled and their epic travels across a Mad Max-style desert are largely behind them. The quartet of viewpoint protagonists all sharing a common space also underscores how similarly author Rin Chupeco has written their voices, which was less evident before.

Ultimately I’m satisfied by how the story resolves here, and the central metaphor of a new generation tackling the climate crisis brought on by their elders is certainly apt, but the narrative hasn’t quite grabbed me the way the previous book does.

[Content warning for self-harm, panic attacks, and cannibalism.]

Sister stories will never not be my thing. Picking up immediately after the ending of The Never Tilting World, The Ever Cruel Kingdom introduces us to a world of change. A moment when the world we know is transforming into something terrifying and new. It’s up to Haidee and Odessa to fight for their future. Not only a world where they do not lose the ones they love, but one where their worlds will survive. The stakes have never been higher and The Ever Cruel Kingdom is practically non-stop action. If you thought it couldn’t get any more intense, think again.

But where Chupeco’s books consistently hook me are the characters. I live for the friendship between Lan and Arjun. The ways they share looks like, “OMG can you believe her” and their fierce sense of protection. This multiple POV format allows us to get to know our favorites even better. I’ve become so invested in them that there were moments that made me tear up and my heart drop. It may just be me, but I also got some series Tomb Raiders, searching for clue, vibes and I was here for it.

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