Nhika, our FMC, waking up into a shattered world had me hooked from the first moment, and Kochin, our MMC, spending months risking everything with his heartsooth magic kept me rooting for him the whole time. The dual timelines jump between his desperate quest and her fight to piece together what happened, and those twists had my heart racing. Watching their paths collide felt epic and emotional, with just the right blend of pain, hope, and reunion to make it all pay off.

I didn’t find this sequel particularly remarkable. I think I read it since the first one left off on such a cliffhanger that I felt obliged to find out what happened next. I think it did tie up loose ends and it did give closure. But… I don’t know if this duo-logy was meant for me; I don’t do blood and bloody things. But if you’re into medical stuff and healing… this is for you!

After the cliffhanger of the last book, I was eagerly awaiting the sequel. This story is told from two points of view, and on different timelines. It was interesting to catch up on where familiar characters have landed, and finally learning what happened after the last chapter of The Last Bloodcarver. I love the detail that is put into the descriptions in these stories! The story is set in the middle of a war, making it an important time for people with the gift. The navigation of the politics, and events that unfolded kept my attention to the end.

Beautiful companion to the first book. I loved the first book so much and I was so incredibly happy to hear more about Kochin in this book. My favorite thing about this duology is Vanessa Le's stunning ability to have two characters with such incredibly similar experiences be so deeply different in a way that makes complete sense for each character. This is so deeply true of diaspora experience and it's so comforting to have the ability to read a story like this in fiction, where the characters are also explicitly diasporic. Overall, incredible read as expected. I can't wait for more from Vanessa Le!!

Solid end to Nhika's story! Definitely worth reading for fans who loved the Last Bloodcarver but were gutted by the ending.

The sequel and ending for "The Last Bloodcarver", Vanessa Le brings us back to the SFF city of Theumas to continue the story of Nhika and Kochi after the heartstopping finale of the first book.

I'm incredibly happy to have read this duology and the ending did not disappoint!

Returning to the SFF world of Theumas was a delight, especially with the big changes that transpired during the timeskip. Unlike the first book, here we have a dual narration and because of the ending of TLB, the stakes were high no only for plot reasons, but for the author herself. The dual narration is between two timelines for the majority of the book, so I was very impressed on how Vanessa Le was able to jump through the hoops of having the present events while keeping the mystery of how we arrived there with the past events. Since this is a debut duology for her, I applaud her!

The worldbuilding was expanded here, not to ridiculous extents, but enough to continue the story, make believable events within it, and saciating my curiosity. I had many questions after the ending of TLB and I'm happy with the answers I got. Known characters, aside from Kochi and Nhika, received more development and even some less known or new got some unexpected love and I was loving it! One worldbuilding aspect that was kept kind of in the background during TLB was reintroduced in full force and it surprised me how much it affected the story, since usually when we deal with romantasies, they tend to stay as a setting.

Vanessa Le's writing is great and I'm excited to read her words in whatever new story she'll present us in the future. There are full passages that feel very lyrical without becoming a lot of nonsense to just be pretty, and I commend her for that.

I think this is one great YA duology that I can safely recommend to anyone who loves diverse SFF.

Currently SCREAMING. The dual pov and the move between the past and the present was *chef's kiss* because it shows how this lush world devolved into war and how desperate Kochin was to bring Nhika back. The themes of colonization and war were woven seamlessly into the plot and never truly felt preachy. This was my first duology by Vanessa Le and I definitely will be reading more.

This was an incredible conclusion to the first novel. I don't know why some of the reviews are so harsh. I particularly enjoyed the dual POV. I liked being able to see Kochin's thought process and hsi side of the story in this. The converging plot lines was also really cool. I knew he couldn't be dead but it was still thrilling to see how everything happened and watch Nhika learn for herself too. Either way I really enjoyed this book and I look forward to more from this author.

This was a pretty good read, it took a little longer than I originally expected but I still enjoyed the plot and the flow of the book. The characters were well written and believable.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Young Listeners | Roaring Brook Press for this ARC Copy!

After the cliffhanger that was the last book, I was so excited to get my hands on this book. I was really curious about where the story could possibly go with that last ending. The dual timelines were really well done, and it was easy to discern which timeline we were following. The romance was not my favorite part of the book, but I still found it sweet, and I was still rooting for the characters the whole time. Such a well done conclusion to this series, I just wish there was more in this beautifully crafted world.

I really liked how this duology ended.

This book is dual PoV, following Kochin and Nhika in different times. Nhika follows the present timeline and Kochin is in the past slowly working towards the present. I loved having the dual PoV, they are so distintic and bring new information that further the plot and the world.

We get to know other characters throughout the story way better and what I think is extremely interesting is that every character is really complex. We don't have someone that is evil just for the sake of being evil, everyone is doing what they think is right sometimes regardless of the evil they are leaving behind. No one is completely good. They are all fleshed out like real people, even our main characters are not exempt from evil doing to achieve their goals and the "villains" also think they have goals to help their people.

I really liked following Kochin's story. He starts so focused on the goal he has and how awful he feels about himself. His character growth and where his story takes him is my favorite part of the book. I also like Nhika's but my favorite was Kochin's. Especially because with Kochin, we got to see even more about the magic system that is really interesting. How the author mixed magic with medicine was really unique and reall well thought out. Kochin also brought the tie in to Vietnam's history that was really interesting.

The only thing that still stands up to me is the dialogue; it still feels too juvenile especially in contrast with the gore, violence, and war that are the main storylines. I loved the ending though.

Thank you Netgalley, author, and publisher for the ARC.

I got an ARC of this book.

It is so rare that a sequel lives up to the original. There are sometimes where they are pretty close, but the vibe is just off. Nothing can compare to the first one. This is one of the exceptions. This felt like it was exactly as amazing. It was a perfect continuation of the story.

I was so invested. I remember turning on the first audiobook on two times the speed at the ending, because I couldn’t wait to find out what happened. I didn’t even bother starting at a slower speed for this one. I listened at two times the speed the entire book. I needed every detail to be immediately downloaded to my brain. I needed to know what happened. The ending of one destroyed me. Two revived me.

Seeing the story unfold in current time and seeing the backstory rushing to meet current time kept the story fascinating and kept me hooked. I was terrified the whole book what would have happened to Kochin. It is clear that Kochin and Nhika are both alive at the start of the book, it is in the description (I checked). It was just unclear if they would both be alive by the meeting of the time periods. I couldn’t handle if anything happened to them. They were the snarky couple goals with intense trauma and baggage. I needed them to be ok.

The story and the plot was amazing. I am a huge fan. This duology is a perfect snow storm read. You can stay inside for a few days and read both back to back. Not letting the feelings fade. Not letting the tension ebb. It is worth reading these, no matter how far apart you do. They are fantastic.

I received an ARC copy from NetGalley and am leaving my review voluntarily.

It is truly surprising to me that His Mortal Demise has a higher rating on Goodreads than The Last Bloodcarver (#1 in the series). I had to DNF about 10 chapters in because it bored me to death. This is what the chapters were:

Walk here
Say some things
Drive my boat here
Garden
Say some things
Walk here
Leave there
Punch someone
Walk here
Say some things
Garden

And so on. I really tried to continue with the book because the first one was pretty good (read the review here), but I couldn’t force myself to. Every single time I picked up the book, I fell asleep. Literally. I’m sorry, but I couldn’t finish this one.

The last book in the duology it felt more heartsick and forlorn than the first one which felt powerful and full of amazing body horror descriptions, but I definitely know why this one took this turn. Then having the two perspectives based on the situations the characters are both in, gives a panoramic view to the readers with a clock ticking.

It's a vivid world steeped in Vietnamese culture and magic, it's still got the impending sense of the beginning of the story with Kochin and Nhika.

This book is a perfect continuation to The Last Bloodcarver and dives more into Kochin and his internal struggles with the events from the previous book. We get to see more of Kochin's character with his beliefs and interactions with the world around him in comparison to Nhika's point of view.

The descriptions of the heartsoothing abilities have always been my favorite! I absolutely love how the author uses her profession in Human Biology to help describe how heartsoothing affects the body, something that make these novels so unique.

Overall, this book is a great finale to The Last Bloodcarver duology. I will be keeping an eye out for more content from Vanessa Le!

Thank you to NetGalley and Roaring Brook Press for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!!

Nhika is dead. And yet, she awakes in a familiar home around familiar faces. How can she be dead but also be alive? And where is Kochin? After Nhika gave her last bits of life to Kochin, he was desperate to defy the laws of nature and the way of a heartsooth. Kochin stored Nhika in a life preserving casket as he desperately searches for a way to bring Nhika back from the dead. Months later Nhika has risen but now must follow the breadcrumbs left behind to find Kochin. We are tossed back and forth in time and POVs as this epic conclusion unfolds.

This book was so good. I loved the rich world building and story telling throughout. Watching Kochin change and grow was so difficult and yet so captivating. I truly enjoyed every minute of this. My only gripe is the timeline jumping. I know every chapter told us where we were in the story but I still had a little bit of a difficult time to follow. I feel a re-read is in order and will also give me more of an opportunity to fully enjoy the story! Overall, I give it 4/5 stars!!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC of this novel. 3.5/5 stars.

Please ignore 1) how long it took me to read this and 2) how long it's past publication. I really really really loved the first book in the duology, but this just felt...meh? I don't know if it's the lack of mysteriousness from the first one or the fact that our MCs are separated until well into 80% of the novel? It just....dragged. I loved the world in the first one and the hearth soothing and the science elements and the steam punk, but it just didn't have the same appeal with this one. I enjoyed the war/industry focus of this one, but like I said, it didn't compare to the 1st one.

His Mortal Demise is an excellent conclusion to Vanessa Le's Ya Duology that began with The Bloodcarver. After a cliffhanger ending in which Nhika sacrifices herself to save Kochin, only for Kochin to vow to resurrect her, this second volume opens six months later with Nnika doing exactly that, waking up.

This story is masterfully written and quite unique for the YA fantasy genre. Le does a great job of blending Vietnamese culture into an entirely new fantasy world with a magic system that is part tradition and part science. The book shifts chapter by chapter, rotating Nnika's point of view in the present with Kochin's POV over the previous six months. Therefore, while Nnika must deal with the reality of her second chance, we see this alongside Kochin's journey to make good on his promise, no matter what it may have cost him.

I didn't expect the novel to take on a far more sweeping plot of war, what drives us to war, and the cost of doing so in the midst of a story that centers one couple and their love for each other, but Le is also able to finesse this well. Kochin must confront the limits of what is willing to do with his power to save the girl he loves, and reckon with the collateral damage that could result. How far is too far that he will lose himself.

I loved both of these books! They are strong stories that deeply invest you in in the characters while asking much bigger questions that gets the reader to think. I highly recommend this for readers of all ages!

Full of twists, turns and lots of action this was a superb ending for this unique ya fantasy. It kinda felt like divine rivals, but much better.