I loved the first books, but had a difficult time getting into the second one.. Maybe because there was so much for me in between the two? Once i get some time, I might re-read book 1, then go right in to this one.

While I loved Fever King, I feel like this one let me down a little. Where The Fever King was punchy and fast paced, The Electric Heir kind of flailed a little.

Slow to start and never really hitting that high point that could have come from some an exceptional author, it left me feeling like the story had just been used again with the main roles being played by different characters.

I will say however that Lee's writing is verbose and flows wonderfully onto the page - in this instance its not that i didnt like the writing style, it was the actual storyline that failed me.

I would definitely give it a go if you are a fan of narratives with very strong political references and also if you love a dystopian fantasy with a little magic thrown in

If not better, the writing in this one is just as good as in the first novel. It's visceral, it's gutting, it's hiding itself in the deepest dark corners of your mind, it's messing with them, it's making you doubt all that's going on, and it's making you quit trusting even your own shadow. Clearly, The Electric Heir is an extension of The Fever King, picking up six months after that, with Noam in a mess that's too large for him to pull himself out of on his own, and yet somehow pretending that he's got it under control, somehow pretending that he can get out (sounds familiar ...). This continuation dives even further into the pain, violence, and oppressive governments that I didn't think were even possible because of the first book's masterful success.

I got approved for an arc of this book a long longggggg time ago and only just now got around to reading it. Sorry folks but the last thing I want to read when a pandemic is starting is...well...about a pandemic.

3.5/5 stars

It’s hard to read about Noam going through the same stuff Dara did. Especially after Noam tried to help Dara out a bit in TFK. I do love how Victoria was able to showcase multitudes of victimhood. Dara and Noam’s first two interactions this book had me in tears.

I especially appreciate how Victoria took the time to write two characters who had different experiences with victimhoood. It’s so much easier to give someone advice then take it. Easier for Noam to say what Dara went through—with General Ames and Lehrer—was abuse than admit his own experiences with Lehrer were also abuse. So much easier for Dara to recognize Ames’ drug and alcohol abuse as being negative ways to cope than admitting his own. The book had different levels and layers to it. And it is particularly rough to witness Noam trying to twist everything that’s happening to say what’s going on isn’t. All of these were very realistic portals of abuse. I appreciate the time Victoria took in writing them.

I love how this book calls out Noam’s hero complex. Because my god did sometimes the kid get on my nerves with his hero complex 😅 So glad that others poked fun at it too!

This book also does a great job of weaving in flashbacks without them ruining the pacing of the book. I usually hate when books will have a flashback to something that happened earlier in the night, but somehow Victoria managed to write these scenes without it effecting the pacing!

One minor editing thing that was a tad annoying was that Noam flip flopped between being 16 and 17 all throughout the book. And I’m not talking about a flashback where they mentioned his age.

The reasons why I’m only rating this a 3.5 star book is because I found the second half of the novel to drag. Plus there was a weirdly paced random war scene in the middle that felt out of place. Basically the second portion was too slow.

I hated the ending. I found it to be incredibly unsatisfying. Yes, there were hints of hope in it, but overall I was left with too many questions.

All in all I liked this book, but I found the first one to be much more enjoyable. The ending fell flat much into the same way IGNITE THE STARS sequel fell flat for me. I did love the dual POV though.


Content Warnings and Trigger Warnings: (taken from Victoria's website) grooming, intergenerational trauma, genocide, violence, abuse (physical and sexual), statutory rape, attempted rape (on-page), mental health (depression, anxiety, eating disorder), suicide, slut-shaming, victim-blaming, emetophobia, drug and alcohol abuse, parental death, ableist language

i liked the way ms. lee writes and makes you care about the characters, I had read the first book and enjoyed it. I'm glad I read this book as well because i really enjoyed reading this. i look forward to more from the author.

This was just as a great as the first book! Victoria Lee has definitely become an author that I need to read more of. Her characters, world and action is just outstanding. She wrote a pretty good conclusion to the Feverwake duology. An action packed fantasy where loyalties are tested and some hearts destroyed. I loved the setting as well. I'm a city girl but NC has a place in my heart!!

We are back with Noam and his crazy ways. I feel like he grew a bit more in this book, but still had some major things to deal with. He's still a jerk, but he also becomes a bit more vulnerable. He and Dara are like polar opposites, but somehow it works!!!

I loved that this book hit on topics we mostly avoid in society. Sexual abuse is a real thing with real consequences and results for those involved. I loved that Victoria didn't shy away from it, but added it to a fantastic fantasy with some well-rounded characters.

Overall, I loved this book and definitely can see me re-reading the duology over sometime in the summer.

This is a sequel to Fever King, which I reviewed here (https://deborahjross.blogspot.com/2020/01/short-book-reviews-plague-of-magic.html). Although I loved the premise of magic being carried by a highly contagious, near-fatal virus, and the virus having been unleashed on a fractured United States by a single power-mad man, I expressed reservations about the depiction of the moral consequences of actions, specifically politically motivated murder. Yet the world and its principle characters were powerful enough to linger in my memory, so I decided to give this next volume a try. And in it I found everything I missed in the first book. To be sure, this isn’t an easy, light-hearted read. It’s a brutally honest delve into the abuse of power. And as such, I found the story powerful and emotionally fearless. Lee doesn’t shy away from difficult or distressing aspects of the deep trauma suffered by the victims or the pernicious nature of the way their thinking and reactions become warped as the result of repeated abuse. In all the essentials, The Electric Heir completes and redeems The Fever King.

Calix Lehrer rose to power by first creating magically gifted “witchings” (the few survivors of the plague he himself unleashed) and then defending them against neighboring nations. Now over a century old, he chooses apprentices from the elite Level IV school – but these teens are not merely students, they are the targets of his seduction, manipulation, and abuse. In the first volume, refugee Noam is first overwhelmed by the privilege of Level IV, filled with hero worship for Lehrer, and first repelled and then fascinated by his fellow student, the charismatically beautiful telepath, Dara. In the course of that story, Noam falls in love with Dara even as he comes under Lehrer’s influence, to the point of becoming Lehrer’s assassin. It becomes clear that not only is Dara’s sexual relationship with Lehrer non-consensual because of the disparity in age and power and the impossibility of refusal, but it involves repeated brutal physical abuse, masked over by Lehrer’s healing magic. The book closed with Dara’s escape and likely death.

Now Lehrer has lured Noam into Dara’s place, forcing him through psychological manipulation and increasingly violent physical abuse into a model of himself: ruthless, exploitive, and devious. In short, to become Lehrer’s carbon-copy heir. Noam, like Dara before him, craves Lehrer’s approval at first, although it is unclear how much of this stems from Noam’s youthful vulnerability and how much is Lehrer making himself charming and magically persuasive. As it turns out, Dara is not dead, although he no longer possesses magic; he has returned with an underground cabal with one purpose: to end Lehrer and his international reign of terror. Lehrer has planted a spy in their midst, perhaps more than one. Noam, after an uncomfortable, divisive reunion, insists on remaining with Lehrer as part of the plot – even though it puts his sanity and his very life at risk. Meanwhile, Lehrer launches a pre-emptive strike against the neighboring nation of Texas, using weaponized magic. As Noam and Dara separately and together come to terms with both the overt and the subtle effects of abuse, it’s a race against time to stop Lehrer.

It’s a high-wire act to portray slow, intense, personal change and fast-paced action at the same time. Lee deserves immense credit for not abbreviating or minimizing the painful process by which Lehrer’s victims peel back the layers of guilt and shame, discarding the excuses born of what their abuser has led them to believe about themselves. This second volume fully addresses my concerns about the first with courage and compassion. It’s definitely not the place to start the story, but neither is the first book the place to stop. I’m glad I gave The Electric Heir a chance to take me with Noam and Dara in their journey into darkness and the emergence of hope.

For me, this was not as good as book 1. I ended up not finishing it. I love Veronica Roth, though, so I'm still giving it a good score

The electric heir is final book in the fevewake duology. This book gives the readers a look into Dara mind, which I found to be heartbreaking reading. Electric heir deals with mature themes such as abuse, rape, etc etc and the effects that it has on all-the victims. Overall amazing sequel and can’t wait to read more from Victoria lee

I liked this book more that the first novel. There were various dusturbing content., but overall well written..

I was granted access to this title by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this follow up to The Fever King, but not nearly as much. Victoria continues to handle delicate subject matter with complete sensitivity and grace, but the pacing of this book, and the level of on-page action felt vastly different to its predecessor.

I won't spoil it for you, but if you liked Fever king, you'll this one more! This duology is all I needed right now and it will slways have a special place in my heart.

4.5 stars |

Let's start by saying I absolutely loved this book - even more than the first one. The Electric Heir is fast-paced from the start and the characters draw you into the story very deeply and very fast. I couldn't put it down.

This book is, above everything else, above the story of a dystopian society and rebellion and romance, about trauma and abuse and the long journey to healing. Lee explores it very sensitively and thoroughly - so be aware of that if you read this book. This novel deals with so many different aspects of it: consent, sexual assault, abuse, rape, child grooming, gaslighting, eating disorders, substance abuse and many different mental health disorders.

While these are extremely important issues and it's amazing to see such healthy and accurate representations thereof, I did feel a certain lack of story sometimes.

It was amazing seeing Noam through Dara's eyes; giving the reader the opportunity to learn things about him they hadn't before. While I loved it, it also bothered me a little bit because so many of Noam's character traits that we see through Dara we never see through Noam's actions. Instead of the author showing us many of his traits for ourselves, Dara just tells us "Noam always does this".



Read my full review at thebooktrovertblog.wordpress.com!

Before I say anything, I think it’s incredibly important to point out the trigger warnings for this book, particularly the relationship between an adult and a minor. All trigger warnings are available on Victoria Lee’s website, but this is the one I feel needs pointed out and emphasised the most as we see it through the eyes of one of the characters involved. It has become ever rarer for me to pick up the sequel of a book I loved and enjoy it just as much as the previous book. While I can’t say I thought this was as enjoyable to read as The Fever King, it was good in a different way, and not in the way I initially expected it to be.

This sequel was amazing! I loved the character development and I really enjoyed the way the story flowed. Victoria Lee is an amazing writer and she crafted the story so beautifully.

3.5 stars.

This second half of the Feverwake duology gave me much more to appreciate. The story line moves quick and keeps things interesting while the character development continued to bloom quite wonderfully. As a result, I found that the sequel read easier for me and kept my attention quite well.

There is more focus on character in this piece and less political detail, which I think also helped from my personal perspective. I was able to engage more fully with the story while still getting the pieces of world building that made the story feel full and imaginative.

The representation in this duology is well done and there is quite a bit of impactful content with regard to relationship development, domestic abuse, and sexual abuse. It is pretty well constructed and comes off with a good serious note while not dragging the plot down overly heavily. The characters are realistic and flawed with respect to these aspects, a good note in my book.

The downside for me was the ending. While the action portion of the ending was well done and I did appreciate the thought and detail that went into creating it, I felt a little let down in terms of summary detail. I needed things to be a little more fleshed out and well-rounded here rather than feeling like things quickly got summed up and tied with a neat little bow.

Overall, a good and smooth read and the rare case for me where the sequel in a duology was better than the initial composition (which still got a respectable 3-star rating from me).

Good lord, what a stunning conclusion to an amazing first book. The impact of this book was just as great as The Fever King. There's more darkness in this book than in the first, and it's definitely not one for those who are easily triggered by themes of sexual assault or grooming of young individuals. It was definitely difficult for me to get through at times, but not for all of it, because there is also some light and hope at the end of the tunnel. I cannot recommend this enough. It's a story of survival.

***TRIGGER WARNING: adult/minor sexual relationship, sexual/physical/etc abuse, addiction, mention of suicide

The Electric Heir is the finale in Victoria Lee's Feverwake duology. Several months have passed since Dara and Noam parted ways. They've both changed, and now they're ostensibly mortal enemies, fighting on different sides. As Lehrer's conquest plans ramp up, Noam and Dara must get to know one another again while working to prevent an act of aggressive biowarfare.

This duology is awesome, and quite pertinent at present, ironically, given the current COVID19 pandemic. More than that, though, it’s a story about surviving, being more than a victim, and facing uncomfortable truths. It’s about how different people cope with abuse, and with not being believed. For me, it resonated not for sexual or physical abuse, but for emotional. It also resonated in a weird fashion with the life trauma I suffered at age 20 that led to me becoming legally blind, and eventually to stop driving. Because I didn’t, and don’t, *look* like anything is wrong, sometimes I get people being a-holes. I also have ME, which is a chronic, hidden neuro condition. Again, nothing looks wrong. Both drastically changed my life, and learning to cope with each, and with ignorant people has been a challenge. My rambling point is that they are also things to be ‘survived’, that greatly affect the psyche. Dara's loss mirrored my loss of visual quality, and all the stress and strife with learning to live with that loss.

The Electric Heir is darker than Fever King. I want to squish Dara and Noam, to keep them safe and stick the broken pieces back together. It’s a more character-driven story, which I tend to enjoy. Still, it can be pretty heavy reading.

***Many thanks to the Netgalley and Skyscape for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

<i>arc provided by the publisher and netgalley in exchange for an honest review</i>

So, this sequel and end to this duology was definitely a ride. It really made me feel so many different emotions. I was angry, on the verge of tears, happy— you name it, I experienced it while reading this book.

Overall, I think this was a strong conclusion and that everything wrapped up nicely. I wish we could’ve gotten to see more of the ending and had that expanded upon but I’m still happy with what we got.

This series is definitely more character driven over being plot driven but wow do these characters get development, good and bad. I loved Noam and Dara and Ames and everyone else involved with them. I love that each character has flaws and that they’re talked about too, they aren’t just run of the mill heroes and I loved it.

I can’t wait to see what Victoria writes next!

4/5 ⭐️


TW: sexual assault, drug and alcohol abuse, murder, abuse, genocide, pandemic, suicide, eating disorders, child abuse, domestic violence, torture.

Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read and review this title. I will review this title at a different date.