The Offering (Antius Ascending, #2)

by E R Arroyo

[shannonmiz]

While I certainly enjoyed Sovereign quite a bit, The Offering simply blew me away. First, I need to explain that for me to have a book be a complete five-star, it must do three things: (The obvious) be a great book,make me feel some strong emotions, and be hard to get my mind off of. I finished The Offering on Sunday, and teared up in the car about it today. So yeah, it applies. While reading, I laughed, I definitely cried, and I actually outright gasped while reading, and I truly cannot remember the last time I have had a book make me do that. Usually, the twists and turns are kind of predictable for me, mainly because I read a lot of the same genre. But no, there were surprises in this one that I absolutely did not see coming, and I loved it! I often miss that element of surprise, but there was no lack of that for me in The Offering.

The characters became even more developed, and I couldn't help falling in love with The City as a whole, but especially Tyce and Eli. We learn a lot more about Cori and the other characters, as well as the world they live in. A lot of things I'd wondered about were answered in this book, and if they weren't, there was generally a good reason why they weren't. We learn all this while immersed in the action and plot, and the whole book just flows beautifully. No boring parts, no awkward chapters, just great movement with the right amount of action and twists, intertwined with lighthearted moments and moments of humanity.

The whole book was good, but the second half was pretty much epic for me. The plot keeps moving, twisting, turning. I hated for the book to end, because I knew it was the end. And the ending... the all important ending. It's funny, I have never had a favorite book in which I didn't actually like the ending before. But truthfully, I had hoped it would go a different way. But the thing is, it ended so poignantly, so gracefully, so appropriately, and provided me with the necessary closure while maintaining realism.

I quite obviously recommend this whole series, it is definitely among my all-time favorites.

Note: I received a copy in exchange for an honest review; this in no way influences my opinion or thoughts.