A review by whatthefridge
Resurrection Reprise by Hailey Turner

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is a spin-off of the seven book Soulbound series, and while you can jump right in as a standalone, there is a sprinkling of spoilers for the rest of the series if you ever decide to backtrack. But if you don’t care about those spoilers, you can definitely still enjoy this in its own right. 

Since I did read the entire series, my review is heavily skewed by the comparisons.

Spencer was a minor character in Patrick’s story, but he was super fucking interesting both because of his taboo soulbreaking ability and for his bisexual disaster energy. I’m glad we’re getting his POV. It’s hilarious how literally everyone who knows him, and who knows his track record with vampires, immediately calls him out for getting sexually involved even before he actually starts anything sexual. And while my heart aches for the nonexistence of a threesome with Lucien and Carmen—like seriously what a tease having Lucien kiss him that time in Patrick’s book and have nothing come out of it—but I think Takoma manages to climb his way up to compelling me as a worthy love interest. 

I actually didn’t realize Takoma was Native until this book. He was even more minor than Spencer, and, with the way the author tends to be in-your-face about announcing PoC ethnicities, either I completely fucking missed it, forgot it, or it’s a surprisingly refreshing change of pace. In any case, this book manages to avoid simply announcing Takoma’s heritage upfront and instead leans into a gradual build up of information, which I appreciate. 

Something that truly elevates the story is the way Takoma’s Native heritage informs his opinions on territory disputes. I always gripe about this in other books, but it’s very telling when a story gets involved about land ownership and conveniently ignores the existence of Natives. But here we have an old vampire who has a personal stake in the land he’s overseen for over a millennia. This enhances the ongoing territory battle he has with a neighboring vampire court and, most importantly, the Coven that feels it owns this stolen land purchased through government channels. The conflict goes deeper than Takoma simply being possessive on an individual level. Additionally, Takoma doesn’t have any angst about immortality; on the contrary, it benefits him to remain around to watch over the ancestral land of his tribe.

In terms of plot, there’s a notable change of pace since this is meant as a standalone. It feels tighter and more polished. No meddling gods as deux ex machinas. And we get Spencer, now functionally in the same role as Patrick, becoming intimate—literally and figuratively—with the vampire court. Entirely the opposite to Patrick, who was very yuck about them and kept them at a far distance. We get to see vampire society from a different angle. 

When it comes to the relationship, the build up works really well. Spencer gets his first case on the new job and ends up coincidentally crossing paths with Takoma, who’s there for entirely unrelated reasons. I love the fact that Takoma does not back down from getting answers from Spencer, who is required to keep government secrets. The result is Spencer needing to get creative with middle ground responses to appease Takoma. Like, yes, force that communication.

Takoma’s investment in Spencer makes sense too. He respects the way Spencer valiantly fought beside him and his vampires at the “end of the world” (ie ending battle to Patrick’s series), and he empathizes with the way Spencer’s life is pressed down by rigid government oversight (Spencer’s magic is considered too close to necromancy, so his only options his entire life have been between execution or lifelong government servitude). Takoma would love to free Spencer from his bonds to a ruling body that Takoma does not recognize as legitimate. 

“Adhering to classified, following their rules, will not save you forever.” 

“I’m not asking to be saved.” 

“A pity, because I would save you if that’s what you wanted. I know worth when I see it.”

The sexual tension between Spencer and Takoma is on a simmer that they’re both fully aware of. Spencer is not against falling into bed with a terrible decision, and Takoma is not above seduction for the sake of entertainment. Ironically they do not immediately fuck. Usually plot being a cockblock gets to me, but in this case it works with the way these two are circling one another. Their dynamic is spiced up by Takoma’s possessive dominance allowing Spencer to embrace his own submissiveness. Spencer needs someone ordering him around, and Takoma is leagues above the government shackling him. And don’t worry this doesn’t make Spencer passive at any point; he has a backbone and he’s not afraid to use it. 

Perhaps the weakest aspect of the story is Wade. He’s only here as reinforcements for Spencer, provided by Patrick due to a variety of reasons. Wade is 21yo now but he still sounds like a little kid ready to emote and tattle, which ok fine he’s a baby dragon, but still annoying. Thankfully even with the overpowered properties of a dragon, there’s limitations put in place so he doesn’t feel like he’s overtaking any spotlight. However, his baby dragon status makes me wary of him becoming sexually involved in the next standalone novel that just came out with him as the lead. 

But, like, wow I’m impressed by how much I enjoyed this book as a whole.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings