It’s rare that I like a sequel better than book 1, but I think that Court of Wanderers beats Silver Under Nightfall! We get more worldbuilding, more vampire politics, more and bigger battles, and (my personal favorite) more of Remy’s family.

My complaint from book 1 still stands - I don’t feel like we know anything substantial about either Malekh or Xiaodan, and I feel like the romance is very contrived. I just don’t believe anyone is in love! This bothered me a fair amount, as I think the romance is a major selling point of this series, and it especially felt weird because I think the other relationships in this book are absolutely fantastic. Elke and Remy’s friendship is so well written, and the relationships within the Pendergast family were so incredibly raw and tangible. I think my thoughts on the romance in these books are pretty unpopular, so don’t let it dissuade anyone from trying these out! I think this is a case of ‘this didn’t work for me personally’ and not ‘this is just plain bad’.

Another unpopular opinion, given the other early reviews I’ve seen - I LOVED the vampolitics (new word I’m coining for vampire politics). The scenes at the Allpriory really felt like a group of people who had been bickering for hundreds of years. It was a little complicated and hard to follow, sure, but that made it all the more enticing. I do wish that maybe we had a map of Aluria and the surrounding lands - I have the paperback of book 1 so maybe this was a feature in the hardcover? - but I had a bit of a hard time discerning where all of the different events were taking place during the war.

Despite my difficulties placing the many locations, I loved the continued worldbuilding in this book. The bloodwoods were fantastic, a little bit reminiscent of George RR Martin’s weirwood groves, and the lore surrounding the Godsflame made a few bits from book 1 make more sense. The revelations about Wikaan kindred added a distinct tang of grief to the fight against the Night Empress that I think made the story even richer.

Rin Chupeco does minor characters so well. Even characters we just get a little glimpse of feel so real. In particular I’m thinking of Lorien, Alegra, Riones, Isabella, and Trin, but this is true of pretty much all of them.

I won’t say much about this for fear of spoiling anything, but Remy’s relationship with his parents was my favorite part of this series. Both Ligaya and Edgar Pendergast are complicated, flawed people and they both failed Remy as parents despite loving him deeply. For circumstances both within and beyond their control, they would never be the happy family unit that Remy wanted so badly, and the tiniest glimpses we got of that made it even more painful that it could never truly happen.

TLDR: Court of Wanderers broadens the world of Silver Under Nightfall and expands upon themes of belonging, kinship, choice, and inheritance in the violent, volatile world its characters inhabit. If you enjoyed the political and worldbuilding aspects of Silver Under Nightfall, I think you will like its sequel even more!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!

I really enjoyed Silver Under Nightfall, so my hopes were high for Court of Wanderers! Overall it was very similarly paced and structured as book one, but can definitely say I liked the first one more.

I liked how Remy’s relationship with Xiaodan and Malekh grew and didn’t find anything odd with their “puppy” treatment given the context,

—-lots of spoilers!—-

However, the end felt very anticlimactic. I couldn’t tell what was going on or where the characters were or even who the characters were. The betrayal of the Antecedents fell flat, the Godsflame didn’t turn out to be as important as we thought it would and the Night King/Night Empress switching minds back and forth really threw me. And then suddenly we’re on a beach? Making dinner?

Overall, kind of disappointed. I still think this series is great and that poly relationships should definitely have a space in books and could absolutely be written about more.

Thank you Net galley for this E-ARC. the first book was amazing but sadly this book was not what I was expecting. I was glad to see all my favorite characters again, yet it felt like they were written so differently in this book which really pulled me out of the story. I am super sad this was not what I wanted it to be but I look forward to reading Rin's other work!

An excellent sequel! The first book in the series had me wanting to know more about the world that the author was building, and this sequel did not disappoint in delivering that.

I was interested to see how Mx. Chupeco would wrap this, and frankly, this is a great way to do it. We have a triad finding their footing and their security with each other, while also dealing with the whole threat from last book and vampire courts. The vibes are great, and it’s good to see this wrapped in a way that Mx. Chupeco could continue if they so choose, but leaves things well enough for now. Definitely pick this up when it comes out in April!

Court of Wanderers picks up where Silver Under Nightfall ends. Reading them back to back was a great choice, as it made falling back into this world effortless. I'm not going to recap, as to avoid spoilers, but this book is made up of attempts to heal and solve problems with all of it being incredibly difficult.

Remy, Malekh, and Xiaodan are all dealing with their own internal turmoil over the events of book one. They also now are struggling to deal with all of the new challenges being thrown at them. Throughout this book their relationship continues to grow and develop. I love watching Remy settle into his relationship with them and be able to understand their emotions and decisions. They are all so cute and I adore them! Definitely one of my favorite polyam reps in books that I've ever read.

Remy getting to develop his relationship with his father and mother was another great element. I appreciate when there are lots of different relationships represented. In this one both romantic and familial are highlighted.

Throughout there is plenty of action and the plot moves pretty quickly, but still leaves time for slow, tender moments as well. I thought the balance was great. The end ripped my heart out, but I feel like it was the right decision.

Overall, a fabulous sequel! I am so glad I got to delve deeper into this universe and these characters. Highly recommend to any romantasy fans.

Silver Under Nightfall was a great read when released, so I've looked forward to the sequel. Sold as queer, bloody Gothic epic fantasy series, vampires, political intrigue.... Yep. Must read. As always, Rin delivers.

I looooooooooove how this ended! Thank you Rin for now cliffhangers 😂 I think this one is even better than book 1! The moments with Remy’s mom and dad had me tearing up 🥹🥹

I really wanted to love this, because the first book was a four star for me. I just could not get into this. I was really hoping to love. I am going to soft DNF at the moment, and come back and update at a later date. I would really like to give this book a second chance.
2 star for now

Silver Under Nightfall was one of my top reads of 2023, and I do think Court of Wanderers suffered from a sophomore slump. It did not live up to the perfect pacing, tension, and intrigue of the first book. I think it was slow at times, and even though I still love the relationship, I did not connect with the story as much as book one. Still a good book, but a tiny bit of a letdown.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

4.5

There is simply life before these characters, and after. I know I will forever judge relationships based on how they compare to the dynamic of these three. Also, why are there so few throuples in trad publishing? More, I say! More!

I thought I would have disliked the pacing and court politics of this book, as well as the fact much of it was spent in a singular location, but I didn't really feel that way. And yet something felt... off. It's hard to pin down exactly what it was. Perhaps the ending? It did feel rushed, given the slower pace of everything else. I'm torn between not wanting to drag things on and explain everyone's future steps and also wanting all the details of the courts' futures, Remy's decision(s), etc. It was vague with enough implication to be the end of the series but also open enough to leave room for a third book/novella. Part of me liked the ambiguity, the other part is greedy and wants more.

Overall, this book does an excellent job of balancing humor and tension with heavy topics (e.g. self-worth, loss of a parent, grief, survivor's guilt, etc.), which is a quick way to my heart.

I’m disappointed. I really really struggled with this book. I absolutely adored Sliver Under Nightfall. It was so perfectly balanced. It was in my top 10 for 2023. But this..I am so disappointed.

Court of Wanderers did not keep me engaged. I could see the vision and the intent, but the execution was terrible. The middle of the book just dragged on. I did not expect SO much world building in a sequel…in a duology.

There were times where the book felt rushed. Then it slowed WAY down for what reason? SO much dialogue and felt it lacked character building. I still just feel disappointed and like I could easily forget this book.

This ended up being a DNF @ 60% for me. I appreciate the chance to review the ARC. Thank you NetGalley & Saga Press

The first book in this series was amazing and this second book was no different, I was over the moon once I got accepted for this arc.

Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book pre-release. Court of Wanderer's was a great follow up to Silver Under Nightfall, I really loved every aspect of the sequel. The slang was toned down a bit so I could enjoy the dialogue more, and the characters gave me a bit more to be invested in. I love this modern take on vampires, it remains fresh & kept me invested. 3.75/5 Stars. A more formal review will be available on my IG/TikTok and Goodreads.

From dialogue, the characters, to fight scenes, to love scenes, this book scratched all the right parts of my brain. I had high expectations after loving the first book, and this book far exceeded all expectations. It is a beautifully crafted continuation, and look into this lovable trios life. This story develops on a very deep level that leaves you thinking about it for hours. It was both simultaneously a quick read, but one that I ingested, fully, scared the even missing a drop of it. I greatly appreciate Simon & Schuster for giving me an advance reader copy.

Not as good as the first book (though I should have refreshed myself on that one).

The plot was just boring imo and bc of my qualms with the stuff below, I just felt very meh about the whole thing. There just didn’t feel like there were any stakes to the story.

I finally realized what bothered me about this series: there is no internal thoughts or monologues. These things are vital in developing character depth. The very little internal thoughts that Remy was even given was almost reserved to showcase how horny he was.
The writing is purely dialogue and narrating actions happening on page. We’re always told what other characters are feeling or what their personality is instead of using descriptions to actually DESCRIBE that emotion.

For example, there were a couple of times Remy would state personality traits of Lady Song or the emotion on her face, instead of maybe saying “her brows turned down and her lips pinched” for example to maybe showcase her displeasure.

If each character can blandly be summed up in 2 descriptions then I think that shows a lack of depth.

Remy: talkative and horny
Xiaodan: kind and horny
Malek: responsible and horny

…,and that’s basically it. See what I mean?

Also, not sure how you can make a vampire throuple plot boring but it was. No tension or cute relationship development happening. It was stagnant which should never be happening to anyone since characters and people are constantly growing and changing. Due to this the throuple just became really boring and I lost interest in them quickly.

I have no idea if there will be more in this series. It seems like the ending had solid closure.

Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the ARC

I absolutely loved Silver Under Nightfall and so when I saw Court of Wanderers available on NetGalley, I slammed that request button. Overall, the book was really good. The plot was well structured and kept me guessing, even if it did sag at some points. Part of that might have been reading it as an ebook. I tend to read fantasy (basically anything besides romance) as physical books which I swear I feel makes them go faster.

Remy is a great main character. He merges the worlds of vampire and human, which puts him at an ideal point for the story and world. While it doesn't detract from the story to only be from his POV, I will say I would have liked to see Xiaodan and Zidan as POV character too. I just think they're neat. It's been long enough since I read book one that I can't remember how the romance scenes were done. That said, with the rise of the romantasy genre, I was somewhat surprised to see the romance scenes were generally fade-to-black or lightly described. Part of it is the nature of the triad relationship that lends to the belief that the book will be, for lack of a better word, spicier. Personally, I prefer a heavier lean on the romance, and if that's your jam as well, just be prepared for that to be less of the case here.

Chupeco set up so many plot threads that I seriously wondered if they would be able to tie them all up in one book, but they did so well. I had all sorts of questions going in and they were basically all answered (at least, as answered as the characters could within the constraints of the world). All in all, the duology gets a thumbs up from me and I will definitely be recommending it to fantasy readers at work.

** This is a translated version of the original review, which was posted in Spanish**

Score: 3.4 Stars.

First of all, I want to thank Saga Press for the advanced copy of this novel.

Silver Under Nightfall was a book that surprised me in 2022. It is not very common to find a fantasy story with vampires, so I enjoyed each of its pages. On this occasion, A Court Of Wanderers does a good job as a sequel, expanding further the world and story created by Rin Chupeco.

All the elements I loved in the first book have been maintained in this sequel, which has reminded me of how much fun I had with “Silver Under Nightfall.” The characters continue to be one of the strongest factors in the novel, and the relationship between them is increasingly interesting. The team made up of Remy, Xiaodan and Malek, in addition to being curious, is very entertaining.

Furthermore, I enjoyed how we learn the deepest details of the vampire courts, all through the eyes of Remy who, as a human being and a vampire hunter, was completely ignorant on the subject. You really notice the work that Chupeco has put into building a world with a solid structure, avoiding details to hang unfinished.

I feel that the pace of this novel was much slower than the previous one. This made it a little difficult for me to move forward with it. Still, it is a very enjoyable story.

Anyway, I am happy to be able to continue with this series, Rin Chupeco is an author whose works have caught my attention, so I will probably be reading another of her books this year. I recommend “A Court of Wanderers” to fantasy readers who are looking for a story that involves vampires, a vampire hunter, a shady romance, and lots of action.

The second part of this duology felt like an improvement to me in some ways and a letdown in others. I certainly appreciated the author toning down that obnoxious made-up slang dialect that plagued the first book. And the concept of the vampire courts actually playing a role in this book grabbed my attention.

Unfortunately this book suffers from most of the same problems as the first one. It's a mess, frankly, in terms of plotting and character development and world development... and well, just everything. The lack of consistency from scene to scene is jarring. A particular example occurs just as Remy, Xiaodan, and Malekh are arriving at the temple. The only way to get inside is to dive under the lake and swim too far for a human to make it. Only vampires can swim fast enough to not drown. So, naturally, Malekh escorts Remy – drags? swims? - to the courts. Later people will simply come and go as they please. The vampires will offer the use of this temple to Remy's father and his army and there will be no mention of the logistics of this whatsoever. Both books are frequently hampered by this type of nonsense.

There were so many pieces of this story I wanted to know more about. I wanted to know more about a lot of things in the first book, but this one really felt like it added five new questions for any question it answered. It underutilized the creative ideas, such as the dream connection Remy had with his mother, which wasn't fully explored in favor of Malekh treating Remy like a baby some more.

I found the first half of the book much more compelling than the conclusion. All things considered, I still found this one a bit more enjoyable than the first book.

I wanted to love this book so much after Silver Under Nightfall was a 5 star read for me. However, I felt like a lot of what I loved from the first book didn’t carry over. The angst and chemistry between the characters felt like a complete 180, and the plot wasn’t exciting or attention gripping as it had been in the first book.