Reviewed by Marcella
TITLE: An Echo of Gods
SERIES: Briar Constance Series
AUTHOR: Tallie Rose
PUBLISHER: NineStar Press
LENGTH: 320 pages
RELEASE DATE: March 7, 2023
BLURB:
The Gods are back.
Briar knew it wouldn’t be easy dealing with Eliana, but she thought the other Gods might help her. This is their problem, after all. But they don’t want to answer her call, and when they do, it’s always the same answer—blood, sacrifice, loss. All the things Briar doesn’t want to hear.
Still, with Bastianna and her group of Believers breathing down her neck, Briar has to figure out some way to banish the errant Goddess. She just hopes she can do it without losing everyone she loves.
REVIEW:
As I read the first book not so long ago, which received a 5 out of 5 stars, this second book had some high standards to keep itself to, and I can tell you: the book did not disappoint.
Where the first book in this series had a lot of suspense, whether summoning Eliana would work or not, this book was packed with drama. Throughout the book, Briar, Soren, and their friends tried to fight the inevitable: getting rid of Eliana without needing to sacrifice and kill someone. Every bit of hope they got, got smashed down by Eliana. The despair the characters felt was put into words so well, so vividly, that I felt more and more dread towards the end of the book to see how they were ever going to solve the situation. How this was done was both surprising and brilliant at the same time, definitely worth the heartache.
While Tallie Rose’s writing style remained ever so vivid and with the perfect amount of descriptiveness, it also changed slightly. The first book was written solely from Briar’s point of view, while this second book actually also incorporated Soren’s point of view, indicated by the chapters starting with SOREN. This gave the reader a unique chance to see the world through his eyes, through the eyes of someone equally damaged by Eliana, yet without the endless powers Briar possesses. It gave another perspective on the whole situation, one that was both refreshing and heartbreaking.
I was glad to see the characters from the first book again, bigger roles for some, the redemption arcs for others, and the deaths of yet others again, but I mostly loved the closer look at the gods. This gave so much more depth to the whole world Tallie Rose has created, showing even gods whose names were lost with time to the current inhabitants of the world.
While I loved the way the story progressed, heading towards the inevitable with a plot twist, the drama sometimes became a bit too much. Lillia started to get on my nerves, as did the endless cycle of dead-ends. Fortunately, the steamy sex scenes made life seem a whole lot better, despite the pressure all felt.
Overall, the book was as great as I expected it to be, even with the drama, as that was simply what they brought on in the first book. All we can do now is hope that the series gets turned into a trilogy, as the ending certainly hints at a possible third book, even with a pretty well-rounded ending
RATING: 
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