Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group | Roaring Brook Press for the digital ARC of “His Mortal Demise” by Vanessa Le.

I had received “The Last Bloodcarver” in a monthly book box, and was absolutely sucked into the book. Once I saw the second half of the duology was being released I knew I had to read it - it’s already on my list of books I will be buying.
The first book left off with such a cliffhanger, and the second picks up where it left off. Nhika is alive, and the question for her is ‘where is Kochin,’ but as the reader we know exactly where Kochin is - Once again I am seeing gorgeous, and descriptive world building right from the start. Looking at Kochin’s POV in Chapter 2 felt like I was walking alongside him and experiencing his return home with him.

I can see the necessity of the story being told through Kochin in the past POV, but the timeline/order in the story did throw me off a bit, and it felt a bit disjointed - even though the more I read I realized it was filling in a lot of the gaps that Nhika would have missed. Both perspectives did help with seeing the grief process from both sides, and coming to terms with what’s happened, and seeing the conflict in their world.

My only real complaint is that once the two timelines converged, the story was almost over, and the pacing sped up quite a bit.
Overall 4/5

3 stars

I was totally in love with the first book. So the start of this was rough for me. Our main characters aren’t together, and it flops back in forth in points of view and timelines. The prose in parts seemed more repetitive than I remembered the first being. Maybe it was the lack of mystery that let my attention waver? I think eventually it does pick up and come together. I could devour a whole book with them together and happy. It deals with themes relevant to our society in a way I think YA readers can grasp.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advanced copy to form opinions from.

"It's the gift of healing passed through my culture—our culture. My grandmother was a heartsooth. When the Daltans came, they destroyed the gift and anyone who might pass it on. They invented a new word for it, bloodcarving—that's the name Theumas uses too, isn't it? They pillaged graves because they believed our corpses might give them the same gift they despised about us. They've tainted the very memory of heartsoothing. It's your history, too. Don't you care to preserve it?"

brief spoiler right off the bat -
(the way this book opens up with Kochin LITERALLY traveling with Nhika’s DEAD BODY IN HIS BOAT????? LIKE JUST SAILING AROUND LIKE THERE’S NOTHING TO SEE HERE??? i’m weak.)
anyway... lmao.

His Mortal Demise opens up with two timelines: one that immediately follows Nhika’s passing and how Kochin decides to react afterwards, and then one that occurs six months later that follows Nhika waking up, with no idea how she got there or what happened in the time she was “dead”.

we quickly learn that shortly after Nhika died, war broke out and is still on-going in the present.

we then follow Nhika as she navigates a new war-torn world, while trying to understand what happened to Kochin, and we follow Kochin as he struggles to accept Nhika’s passing and goes on a journey to try and find a way to bring her back.

obviously by page 1 (so this isn’t a spoiler) we know he was successful in someway, but we don’t know HOW he managed to do it. I loved this aspect a lot, especially while working through the dual timelines as the book progressed. I had several theories on how Kochin did it (none of my theories were correct, which kind of made it more fun) and I think just being able to theorize and try to guess where the story is going can make it more enjoyable to read. it definitely adds an element of being immersed in the story and kind of feeling like you have a personal stake in what happens.

I thought this was a great ending to the duology, but do feel like the world building could have been more clear (I never managed to get a clear handle on what kind of time frame this world exists in, like in the sense of how much modern technology/medicine/etc do we have here). and the history of the war and the colonization of Yarong felt like it had the potential to be amazing to read about, so I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get to explore that history more, or even what became of Yarong after Kochin and Nhika’s story ends. the introduction of Lanalay made this even more disappointing because she had such a STRONG connection to what happened to Yarong. that said, I think if I take a step back and just appreciate the duology for what it is, I think I can picture Lanalay as a symbol of Yarong - she fought for her family and was able to take control of their history and (hopefully) prevent people from trying to abuse them in similar ways in the future. I’d like to imagine that by Kochin taking a stand as well, Yarong will make a comeback in the future of this world.

I also liked that the villain in this book wasn’t a stereotypical black-and-white villain. there were more layers to him and Kochin saw that, even though he had every right to refuse to see it.

plot: ★★★★★
I really enjoyed the dual timeline aspect of the plot. the story opens simulaneously immediately following The Last Bloodcarver and six months after those events. I loved the mystery of trying to understand what happened alongside Nhika in the “present” time, while also getting to see how Kochin made plans to try and bring Nhika back. seeing the chapters progress in the timeline closer and closer to merging together was probably what kept me reading past my bedtime. every time I got to a new chapter and saw we were a little closer, I felt like I had to keep reading because I wanted to know what happened soooo bad.

writing: ★★★☆☆
I mentioned this in my review of The Last Bloodcarver, but I noticed it more in His Mortal Demise: WHAT kind of world are we existing in here??? the visuals and the description of SOME of the technology make me picture a much older, more rural, area. but now we have Iron Man style robots to send to war??????? what is happening lmao

don’t get me wrong, it’s cool and all, but it’s jarring to have a picture in mind, and then feel like I need to turn it on its head to try and rework it to fit the story. idk, I guess I just wish we would have gotten a few paragraphs at any point that explained what technological advances we’ve seen to paint a better picture of how advanced the world might be and/or if it’s a matter of equity/disparity like it IS super high-tech society, but those in lower classes never get to see it? kind of like a Star Wars type of universe?

but the way the author portrays war time and the more gruesome side of medicine was REALLY well done. I am not a squeamish person, but I was grimacing a couple times.

pacing: ★★★★★
the dual timelines make the story go by very quickly. the beginning is a bit quieter, but it doesn’t feel like it’s slow, because you’re dropped right in the middle of the mystery. Nhika wondering how she got here, and Kochin wondering what to do after Nhika’s death.

romance: ★★★★☆ (3.5 rounded up)
Nhika and Kochin worked out soooo much better together in this book than they did in the first one. I just think they weren’t given enough time in The Last Bloodcarver to really connect and get to know each other beyond their shared history. this did make it a little weird in His Mortal Demise because it made it seem like we shifted into “insta-love” territory, but it didn’t feel like that for very long (partially because Kochin would talk to Nhika in his head, which feels like cheating in terms of relationship building, but whatever).

Nhika and Kochin’s romance had a major “tragic love affair” mood to it. I felt like I was constantly waiting for something to go wrong. while it makes for a bit of a tense reading experience, it also made me root for them harder than I would have if I hadn’t been scared for them.

characters: ★★★★☆
I loved Kochin’s interactions with the fake Nhika he imagined, but it made me sad that it was imaginary. it made me wish we got more banter between them during The Last Bloodcarver. I think if we had had those moments before, these reminiscing moments would feel more heartfelt/impactful.

I really liked the Congmi family’s interactions with Nhika as well. they took more of a backseat in this book, but you could still see them caring for her and wanting what’s best for her. especially Trin. I felt this way when I read the first book as well, but I desperately wished we got more time with Nhika and Trin interacting. they have such a fun brother/sister relationship. I would have loved to see more of them, especially seeing them get to lean on each other more and be more vulnerable together. even without all that, we still got some cute moments of them teasing each other and looking out for each other, so I am thankful for that at least.

and I mentioned this already, but the introduction of Lanalay felt... oddly placed. I’m choosing to see her as a metaphor for the country of Yarong as a whole. she felt almost like a ghost or a spirit rather than an actual character. like her entire purpose in the book (to put it vaguely) was to get the papers about her grandmother. when you look at it like that, she didn’t mean much directly for the plot, but if you pull back and look at the reason why she’s stealing the papers and what that means for the Yarongese and all heartsoothes, the existence of her character makes a lot more sense.

over-all: ★★★★☆
I thought this was a great ending to the duology. part of me wants to say I wish it had been a trilogy so that we could have gotten more character interactions and more of the world building/history of the world, but I worry that a trilogy would have started to feel too drawn out, so I’m happy with the two books.

I knew from the reviews that this was going to be a good read and it did not disappoint. While it started off a bit slow it pulls you in with the mystery of what exactly happened to Nokia and where is the man who saved her life. I enjoyed the dual timelines and felt it added to the tension and curiosity of the story. The ending was a bit too neat for my taste as was the way the opp was handled but all in all it was a satisfying read. I was able to read it without reading the first book but I’m sure the first will make the second an even better experience.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc

I don't know how it was done, but this book was better than the first! I fell in love with The Last Bloodcarver, the rich world and the characters were so appealing to me. I didn't know how the sequel could possibly follow it. Not only did it follow, it completely exceeded all of my expectations. The dual pov and timelines were so incredibly complex in how they related back to each other, and Le did such an amazing job of revealing information at just the right time to achieve maximum emotional and psychological damage. And I loved every minute of it. Nihka and Kochin mean everything to me, I loved seeing just how far they would go for each other. I feel conflicted about the books being a duology - on one hand, I just want more of them! On the other hand, leave them alone and let them live their happy ending in peace! This book absolutely destroyed me and put me back together, I cried no less than three times and was pacing the room for hours while reading.
Truly an incredible fantasy duology that I will keep coming back to.

This was a stunning conclusion to The Last Bloodcarver duology. Kochin is determined to bring Nhika back to life by using his heartsoothing abilities. In another timeline, Nhika wakes up and is determined to find Kochin. I loved getting both Kochin and Nhika's POVs in this book, and felt like it really helped me understand Kochin's backstory a lot more. The POVs were told on different timelines which just made me root for the main characters to be back together. This book had plenty of suspense, some plot twists, and absolutely gorgeous writing. I listened to the audio while reading along and loved the duet narration. Jason Vu and VyVy Nguyen were both fantastic and brought the characters and their emotions to life in a really immersive manner.

Thank you to Macmillan Children's and Macmillan Audio for the advance copies!

📖ADVANCED READER COPY REVIEW📖

His Mortal Demise by Vanessa Le
HAPPY RELEASE DAY!

Thank you to Roaring Books Press and @lochnessly for a free advanced reader copy of this book.

💭BLURB💭

Freedom, peace, love.

After losing the one he loves, Kochin will do anything to bring her back.

After awakening, Nhika is trying to piece together exactly what he did, and where he is.

📖REVIEW📖

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I'm pretty emotional writing this review. The Last Bloodcarver was my very first ARC review that I did and I loved it. Now to be reading the conclusion of this story is an incredible opportunity. I feel so lucky to have it. It's coming full circle.

This book was the perfect conclusion. The dual timeline filling to gaps for the povs was such an amazing way to tell the story and everything these characters went through to find each other.

Vanessa Le writes beautifully, almost lyrically. The ache you feel for these characters, the joy they feel is your's because the writing is just that good. Just the right amount of dark and hopefully, this will keep you hooked from beginning to end.

First of all, the narrators did a great job bringing the two main characters to life. After the events that took place in the first book, we now find Kochin alone, completely devastated. He is willing to do anything to bring Nhika back, even if it means losing parts of himself. I liked that they were given dual POVs and were able to tell their memories of past events and what they were feeling at the time. We were able to follow Kochin on this journey and experience his state of mind as he fought to bring back Nhika. We also got to see Nhika's journey and how, after being disregarded for so long by others, she finally found a group of people who cared for her.

Thank you to Fierce Reads for the e-arc and Macmillan Audio for the ALC!

Immediately following the events of "The Last Bloodcarver", the second installment in the duology has our main heroine, Nhika, awakening after the catastrophic events that left just one of her kind alive, but it wasn't meant to her still breathing. Choosing to make a selfless sacrifice she had given her gift to the boy she loved and now he's nowhere to be found and the country is at war under a new commissioner who will go to tremendous lengths to win a victoryless war. Nhika must follow the clues left behind, searching for where Kochin may be, praying he's still alive and well against all odds.

I cannot express enough how much I loved this follow up. This duology itself is utterly breathtaking with its imagery and homage to Vietnam and with giving remnants of war and the message I took home from it I couldn't help but tear up with the heavier topics including displacement, the after effects of a taxing and violent war, and the mistreatment of a population and their land. Le writes with such grace and as a Vietnamese descendant myself, I am so happy to have this literature to be able to share with my future children to show just how resiliency is steadfast.

This duology deserves way more hype! It doesn’t rely on the recycled tropes that are currently saturating the genre - it’s fresh, engaging, and impossible to put down.

The romance? Amazing. The dual POVs between Kochin and Nhika add so much suspense, and I completely get the Divine Rivals comparison in this book (though I’d argue it’s more similar to Ruthless Vows!)

Kochin’s profound grief was the focus of this book, and it was so well-written. His longing, his guilt, his loneliness. He would do anything for Nhika, and you feel it on every page. Their banter is top-tier, and I adored how fiercely protective he is of her.

Beyond the romance, the found family and platonic relationships were arguably one of the best parts of this book. I especially loved Trin and Nhika’s friendship. Their dynamic was hilarious, and I loved seeing their slow shift from distrust to grudging respect to family. 🥹 Her sass and their banter was hilarious.

The magic system is also insanely cool and unique. Bloodcarvers (or heartsooths) can alter bodies with just a touch - mostly to heal, but also to harm. It’s biology-centric yet magical, which I think you’ll enjoy if you’re also a biology nerd!

Plot-wise, we hit the ground running after that book 1 cliffhanger. I won’t spoil, but it’s pretty fast-paced! I can totally see this being adapted into a TV series.

What also made this book shine was the moral complexity. There are no clear heroes or villains, just flawed people making choices. The author doesn’t spoon-feed you a stance, just lays out the questions and lets you wrestle with them yourself.

If you’re looking for a new duology to binge read, I highly recommend this!

This was so incredibly satisfying of an ending.

After the whirlwind of an ending from The Last Bloodcarver, this book picked up with some serious gaps, which were interesting and all filled in along the way.

Nhika gave her life for Kochin. Now she’s back, and we get to follow both her story of realizing what happened while she was dead (a little Avatar-esque) while also following Kochin’s story of what he had to sacrifice to bring her back. As the timelines jump around, we eventually see them converge into a single story.

I can already tell there will be criticism about how conveniently some of the conflict resolved, but that for me was exactly what I needed.

Both Nhika and Kochin grew so much! As did Mimi and Andao and Trin. Their growth was realistic and in some ways harsh as they faced the changing realities of their world.

Overall, this book exceeded my expectations and built on the wonder and magic of heartsoothing that made the first book so unique and intriguing.

Definitely refresh yourself on book 1 (at least the end) before diving into this one! It’ll help.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.

4.5 stars
I absolutely loved this duology from start to finish. Even in the midst of a reading slump, the first book was so fast paced that I read it in one sitting. I couldn’t get enough of the unique world, the incredible magic system, or the romance that really tugged on my heart strings in both books. I’m still confused how I don’t see The Last Bloodcarver talked about everywhere because this is exactly the kind of YA fantasy I’m always searching for. This Vietnam inspired world has a medical magic system with blood and heart magic and I was glued to the page every time the main character used her powers. It was such a cool concept for magic and I always appreciate something fresh and new with how much fantasy I read. This series also deals with grief in such a profound way and I just wanted to hug the main characters for all that they’ve went through. The romance was amazing, I was rooting for this couple so hard. I won’t give anything away but the cliffhanger at the end of the first book is absolutely brutal and I’m secretly glad I waited to read it until I had the second book in my hands so I could immediately find out what happens next. I really loved that there was dual narrative in this one to jump between timelines and events. His Mortal Demise was a great conclusion to this duology and I will be eagerly waiting to read whatever Vanessa Le writes next.

Was super excited to dive into His Mortal Demise, but unfortunately the story fell a bit flat for me :(

What are you willing to risk to bring back the one you love? In The Last Bloodcarver, we’re introduced to heartsooths, powerful beings capable of altering anatomy with a touch, except bringing the dead back to life. In His Mortal Demise, the MMC is willing to sacrifice everything, even his morality, to bring back the love of his life.

The beginning starts off at a slower pace, but it offers a much needed continuation from book one, providing important backstory for how events unfold. Much of the story revolves around MMC’s internal struggle with his morality. The book title couldn’t have been more fitting and the narrative makes you feel how emotional heavy it is on him.

A nice change from book one is that it’s told in dual POVs, with different timelines that eventually merge into one. I feel this added more depth to the story and every piece of the puzzle fell nicely into place.

Overall I LOVE this duology. There’s themes of colonialism, classism, power, love, grief. I read this duology back to back and it made the story that much better. Although book two isn’t as strong as the first, for me it was still very enjoyable.

Thank you Macmillan Children's Publishing Group and NetGalley for this ARC.

This is such an excellent YA fantasy duology with such a unique magic system of bloodcarvers/heartsooths, who can manipulate peoples bodies, usually to heal but also to harm.

This book picked right up where that massive cliffhanger left off. There was a lot of jumping between Kochin and his 6 months ago to present journey and Nhika in the present to slowly reveal what happened to get to present day, so I was on the edge of my seat the whole time waiting to find out what happened!

I enjoyed Kochin’s story through the war and felt that this had more of a focus on him in this book vs Nhika, who more of the focus in the first book. I enjoyed getting to see his POV and his journey!

The romance was light be so sweet and I really enjoyed it.

I loved this duology and definitely recommend!

The minute I saw this was available as an ARC I had to request it! The Last Bloodcarver surprised me in the best way with how fresh and engaging it was. And Vanessa Le carries that same energy into book 2, keeping me on the edge of my seat wondering how it would all work out. Once again I loved the medical magic system, the Vietnam-inspired world building, and the premise of sacrifice and what good intentions can cost us.

How far would you go to bring back the love of your life from death? Picking up right where the first book left off, Kochin is a heartsooth with the ability to heal any wound except death... and its the only thing he wants to do after Nhika, his beloved, sacrifices herself for him. Kochin has kept her body in a life preserving casket and is determined to find a way to bring her back. There's nothing he wouldn't do to bring her back but the answers lie in the battlefield and when Nhika does wake up she discovers that Kochin is gone... now they'll both have to work out how he did it and how she will get him back before it's too late once again. This was a stunning and beautiful ending to a fantastic fantasy series. This is one of the most unique fantasy series I've read and I absolutely adored it. The medical fantasy element, the Vietnam inspired fantasy, it is so good. I highly recommend this for anyone who wants a unique fantasy read that will suck you in and keep you on the edge until the very last chapter! It was a gorgeous ending and I can't wait to read whatever Vanessa comes out with next!

Release Date: March 18, 2025

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group | Roaring Brook Press for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

A very satisfying conclusion, but one that hits a little less hard than the first book did.

As a massive fan of Book 1, requesting this ARC was an absolute no brainer. I loved every second of my time spent in this fantasy world (both in book 1 and book 2), but I did struggle with the lack of engaging dialogue between characters. Keeping in mind that I am not necessarily the targeted age demographic for YA reads, I think that this will not be a glaring issue for younger readers. Even for myself it wasn't a dealbreaker, just something I noted and thought "Oh, this isn't *that* engaging..." It didn't cause me to enjoy the book any less!

This story, in as few words as possible, encapsulates the absolute magic and mystery that are Vietnamese-inspired stories. Vietnam has some the richest, most unexplored stories out there, and I can't wait to see more authors gaining inspiration from Vanessa Le. I hope that she continues to write and create magical places and people inspired by both her own culture and other's.

As always, all my thanks to both the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read and review this ARC!

this was so, so good!! this duology absolutely needs more hype, because it's one of the most well-written, unique, fascinating series to be released in recent years. honestly everything about this is revolutionary - the magical system is a beautiful combo of dark and miraculous, the (vietnam inspired !!) worldbuilding is gorgeous and captivating, and i'm insanely obsessed with the characters. i bow down to this author - vanessa le, please keep writing more books!! also the covers?? stunning.

his mortal demise did not disappoint. a good portion of the book had us flipping back and forth between the two protagonists perspectives on different timelines, which frustrated me slightly because i just wanted them reunited, but it did really draw out the suspense and let me have access to both of their stunning povs. and i'm truly obsessed with all the heartsoothing - words cannot emphasise my adoration for the slightly macabre, slightly scientific, fully magical craft that vanessa le has created!

nhika was persistent, determined, and strong as always - i loved her constant headstrong attitude and deep loyalty for her loved ones, and i'm never not on nhika's side. kochin is my precious mixed boy - he learnt more about himself in this book, and i loved being alongside him while he came to terms with who he is. he had such a deep seated love for nhika that i truly adored - this may be YA, but they were so perfect together, and their relationship growth was immaculate.

the only reason this didn't get 5 stars is because i wanted a little more of our heroes together - book #1 truly did set the bar sky high in terms of relationship bonding + action + fascinating magic!! but this was still such a marvelous book, and i'm so thankful to the author and publisher for the arc copy.

His Mortal Demise continues to ask what we would do to bring back our loved ones. With this intriguing mix of magic and science, this duology continually has this idea of the responsibility of our creations. Taking on an even more Frankenstein vibe, His Mortal Demise asks us about the power of bringing back the dead. We can think we have the best intentions, but it often requires sacrifice. It's a power that could be used for nefarious purposes from the beginning. And what would we do to avoid the power getting into the wrong hands? And, are we the right ones?