Cassandra Reads

I liked this one more then the first book in the series (Cobweb Bride), although I think that's more because of first book syndrome - you don't know who anyone is or what the world is like.  

I'm not sure what to think about the relationship between Percy and Beltain (the Black Knight).  There are hints in this book, were both of them have "moments" about the other (his laugh made her shiver and he keeps touching her) but I didn't really expect anything to come of it.  I don't really hate the idea, but I'm wondering how that's going to work when the world goes back to normal. He's the son of a currently undead Duke, after all, meaning he'll be Duke at some point.  I'm also having trouble figuring out how old everyone is.  I think Percy is mid to late teens and Beltain is between 20 and 30.  I don't think the author ever says, really but that's the feeling I get.

Aside from that, the Cobweb Bride finally really shows up in this one!  That doesn't mean that world is back to normal (and we get a bit of a shock at the end of this one - about who the Cobweb Bride is).  There's a War going on, but Percy and Beltain seem to avoid most of it, and what they don't avoid Percy can truly kill.

The other POVs seem to fade into the background (for me at least) compared to Percy and her group.  I guess I'm the most attached to them.

Below are my two updates as I read this book, just to give an idea of what I was thinking as I read.

27% done with Cobweb Empire: This one starts right after Cobweb Bride ends, with Percy having just "killed" her grandmother. Her father's grateful (Gran had been suffering unable to die) but her mother is furious. there doesn't seem to be any love lost between Percy and her mother (her mother's kind of cold to her in the first book too). I'd expected this book to focus more on Percy that anyone else, but there's still quite a few POV changes. I had, I'm ashamed to say, completely forgotten about Ignacia and her whole I'm really a spy for the Domain thing. It got a little lost in the whole Percy is Death's Champion and is going to go search for the Cobweb Bride. A fun read so far, much like the first one.

51% done with Cobweb Empire: I feel a little strange saying this, but I think there's something between the black knight and Percy. They haven't done anything even remotely romantic but Percy's had a few moments were she gets a little sidetracked by him - his laugh made her shiver, for one. We've seen Beltain have a moment too (he wasn't willing to let her go after he warmed her up after another experience with the undead), although he went really cold to her after. I thought I was just reading too much into it when it was just Percy's POV (she is a teenage girl after all), but he's had a moment too and now I'm wondering . . . Not that I really expect them to end up together somehow but I'm wondering anyway.

Still loving this book as much, if not more, then the first. I already know who the main characters are, although we do have a few more in this book but that isn't the same as world building + all those new people. Out of all of them, I'm the most interested in Percy and I almost wish that we didn't know about the whole war thing from other people's POVs (it would have been nice to be surprised like Percy and her group were.