Dark Triumph, 2: His Fair Assassins, Book II (His Fair Assassin, #2)

by Robin Lafevers

When Sybella arrived at the doorstep of St Mortain half mad with grief and despair, the convent was only too happy to offer her refuge - but at a price. The sisters of this convent serve Death, and with Sybella naturally skilled in both the arts of death and seduction, she could become one of their most dangerous weapons yet.

But her assassin's skills are little comfort when the convent returns her to the life that nearly drove her mad. Her father's rage and brutality is terrifying, and her brother's love is equally monstrous. But when Sybella discovers an unexpected ally she discovers that a daughter of Death may find something other than vengeance to live for . . .

Action, courtly intrigue, supernatural and a beautifully written romance to bewitch fans of Sarah J. Maas and Holly Black.

• ISBN10: 0544227204
• ISBN13: 9780544227200
• Publish Date: 1 April 2014 (first published 1 January 2013)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 4 May 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Houghton Mifflin
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

“It is a good thing that I no longer have a heart, because if I did, it would surely break.”

I didn't end up connecting with or loving Dark Triumph as much as I thought I would.

I think this might be because Dark Triumph is slow to start and slow to get going. I was reading it in short intervals, because life was so busy, and I wasn't getting a chance to become immersed in the story. I only started getting into the story in the last half and even then, I wasn't fully invested.

Dark Triumph is a YA Historical Fantasy and the story is character-driven and has a slow pace. I usually love character-driven novels because seeing the world through characters' eyes and witnessing their development is fascinating, but for some reason, I didn't care enough about the characters to fully appreciate them overcoming their struggles and trauma and developing and finding their inner strength and light.

Sybella is a dark character who has gone through extremely dark and tragic events. She's the type of character that I usually tend to like - badass, slightly unlikeable and morally grey - and though she's a tortured and broken soul who's ultimately trying to survive and do her best, I couldn't connect with her character.

I like the slow burn romance, but I didn't end up loving it. Beast is not the typical YA love interest and it's wonderful to see his relationship with Sybella develop because he's kind, brave, loyal and understanding. He sees Sybella for who she truly is and vice versa.

The lore related to the old gods and their convents are interesting and the sisterhood between Ismae, Sybella and Annith is heartwarming.

I don't know where things went wrong, because Dark Triumph is the type of story that I'm usually drawn to, with characters, themes and a plot that I tend to find intriguing. It's a well-written book and a solid sequel, but I wasn't fully invested.

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

[MurderByDeath]

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.

[reveriesociety_]

Stopped at 90% because I don't know what's happening to me lately that I can't bring myself to get to the end. Not because I was bored but because my heart can't take whatever it is that happens at the climax omg I'm getting weak.

[KitsuneBae]

Immediately jumped into this one. I ship Sybella and Beast more than Ismae and Duval. XD

[vagasker]

Finally a YA series where the main characters aren't whiny or make stupid decisions. I love it!

[Linda]

*I received a free ARC of Dark Triumph from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt via Netgalley in exchange of an honest and unbiased review*

ARC received on October 6th 2014.

Sybella is an amazing character to follow, and I fell in love with both her and Beast in Dark Triumph!

This and all my other reviews are originally posted on my blog (un)Conventional Bookviews

[Chelsea]

Quick Thoughts:

1. A lot darker than Grave Mercy. I wasn't expecting it.
2. I loved that the love interest wasn't a good looking, typical guy. I admired her for seeing past all that.
3. I was really creeped out by the brother, Julian. I didn't like his ending very much.
4. All the villains were pretty creepy.
5. I loved seeing Ismae around. I wished we had seen more of her though.
6. Really, really enjoyed this book despite being new characters.

[Stephanie]

Gosh, Sybella was so much more interesting to read than Ismae. And more developed. And her story had some suspense. And I was surprised by events that took place in the book. This was far, far better than LaFevers first novel of the series. I look forward to the third.

[Amanda]

In a galaxy far, far away. Wait. No. That's not how it goes. In March of 2012, I read Grave Mercy, the first book in this series. (March 2012 may as well be another galaxy, so you understand my confusion.) That's 18 months between books. While I didn't necessarily need to remember everything that went on in the first book (which was good, since I didn't), the lack of my memory frustrated me. Dark Triumph would have been more deeply layered, had I read these closer together.

Which is to say, it IS deeply layered, and I missed it because I couldn't remember what happened in Grave Mercy. Bits and pieces of the world---the handmaidens of Death and the convent's role---were frustratingly unfamiliar and just out of my grasp. Too much recapping would have weighed this already long story down, so it's more my problem than anything.

Despite all that, I was intrigued by Sybella, who has so many secrets and hardships to bear. There are a lot of dark and ugly issues here, many of which are never explicitly stated, but rather left to the reader to fill in the blanks. Sybella isn't a heroine you want to be. Perhaps be on her side or her friend, should she let her guard down long enough.

Even though Dark Triumph is technically YA (Sybella is only 17), the characters and situations feel adult-ish. But it's never graphic; the fight scenes are quick and efficient, and the love story takes a back seat to Sybella's struggles. It was a nice break from all the historical romance I've been reading, and I hereby resolve not to let 18 months pass before I pick up the third book in this series.

[nitzan_schwarz]

2013 cleaning my shelves challenge