***Thank you to Random House Canada for providing an advanced copy of the book via NetGalley. My review contains my honest thoughts about my reading experience.***

***BEWARE! THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERY INFORMATION ABOUT BOOK ONE, AS WELL AS SOME VAGUE SPOILERS FOR THIS BOOK. READ ON AT YOUR OWN PERIL.***

Ugh. I really expected to love The Lure of Their Graves, but I just didn’t. There were so many things that did not work for me in this sequel. The entire story just felt a bit pointless. I came away from it wishing The Sins on Their Bones had been a standalone.

The plot of The Lure of Their Graves was just not it. The first quarter of the book was nothing but repetitive whining about Dimitri needing to find a spouse that wasn’t Vasily. It was so slow. I usually like angst, but the dialogue and internal thoughts just felt copied and pasted from chapter to chapter. I found myself rolling my eyes a lot rather than empathizing with the characters. The rest of the book did pick up the pace, but then it felt like it couldn’t decide what it wanted to be. Dimitri courting his suitors and the return of Alexey were both interesting plots, but they distracted from each other too much. Don’t get me started on the quick resolutions to each of the problems… It was so abrupt that I was annoyed that I’d spent an entire book watching the characters dance around things that had such simple solutions.

Despite my annoyance with the plot of The Lure of Their Graves, I did enjoy a lot of character moments. Vasily and Dimitri were truly great together, minus all the trauma. lol. They shared a deep connection, and I felt it in the writing. When the angst was good, it was GOOD. Those moments were just overshadowed by all of the repetition in the writing. The new characters were really great, too. Dimitri’s suitors were all unique with personalities that leapt off the page, and I wish the book had focused more on them. I think this story would have worked better for me if Alexey had stayed dead and the plot had focused on the political intrigue of rebuilding Novo-Svitsevo and its alliances. Oh well.

That being said, I did appreciate the imagery of Alexey continuing to have a hold on Dimitri even after he was supposedly gone. Dimitri obviously still had a lot of healing to do after the events of the first book. I liked the idea of his traumatic past still having a hold on him and requiring inner work to break that hold. I just wish it had been done without bringing back Alexey and his schemes to release a bunch of demons. It felt like too much of a distraction from the emotional core of the story and Dimitri’s healing journey.

Overall, The Lure of Their Graves just didn’t really work for me. While I loved the characters and seeing more of their relationships, the plot felt a bit aimless as if the author had too many ideas that had to be crammed into this one book. The imagery of Dimitri’s healing journey was really beautiful, though. So, the reading experience was quite the mixed bag. Therefore, I rate this book 3.25 out of 5 stars.

I was so eager to go back to this universe, and this second book lived up to the hype of the first one. We go back to our badly broken yet so endearing MCs, with very tense and heavy plot points. Just like in The Sins in Their Bones, I loved how much empatise was on their internal struggle, their grief, their anxiety. It’s very much a duology focused more on the inward.
I loved how much strategy and plotting comes into play at the beginning of the book, everything is minutely calculated (with how they present themselves at the summit, what kind of message they have to convey, how to show strength, etc.). Some of my favorite parts were when we could feel how deeply they all care about each other, even if it’s through their worst moments of their lives, their bond is extraordinarily strong and fierce.

The book paints a detailed picture for us of how devastated all of our main protagonists are whilst time is running out for them, it manages the feat of being fast paced in term of timeline and agonizingly slow in term of heartbreak.
The multiple POVs worked really well once again, I loved going from Dimitri’s POV to Alexey’s and seeing how they were connected. We have this impending sense of doom that the protagonists don’t necessarily see, and we want to scream at them to look out and be careful!
I cried way more than I care to admit, and I actually had to stop reading in the last 10% to take a break to calm down.

All in all, I greatly enjoyed this duology. It’s filled with so much heartbreak, abuse, and grief, but at the same time it’s a story about love, family, and strength. It was surprisingly gory at times, which really helped to understand the extent of the pain they were put through.
I also want to mention how much I enjoyed reading about a queer normative society. I’m going to be on the lookout for whatever Laura has next in store for us.
I hope those books will be translated in french soon so that I can recommend them to a wider audience.

While this book is a bit more character driven, and a lot of background is needed, I still found this book drawing me in and keeping me on the edge of my seat. Just like in book one, the queer and Jewish normative world took my breath away. And the mental health representation was amazing. I loved this book.

2 stars and my thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the eARC.

Dimitri Abramovich may have won back the throne of Novo-Svitsevo, but even after defeating his former husband, the usurper Alexey Balakin, he seems no closer to securing lasting peace for his people. Enemies are closing in on all sides, and pressure is mounting for Dimitri to play the one card he has left in a bid for stability—offering his hand in marriage for a second time. But Dimitri is still healing from the tragedies of the war, his return to the throne, and Alexey's years of torment. Vasily Sokolov is the only person with whom he feels safe, and giving up the comfort of their budding relationship feels unfathomable, even if it's the only way to sever the alliances being formed among the countries surrounding Novo-Svitsevo.

I'm DNFing after about 30% because I just can't get over how slowly this book is moving. I'll try it again when I don't have other pressing book reviews waiting on me. I get that this was about abuse and coming back from horrific instances of it, but not once did I feel like Dimitri had a grasp on himself enough to come back even the slightest. There is no blueprint for how abuse recovery goes, so I'm not going to fault that characterization. But god. He's supposed to be the hero and the one we're rooting for and I just couldn't find it in me to do so.

Also, I get that it's a story of recovery and learning to love afterwards, but using erotic art in promo for this book feels kinda icky.

Okay so The Lure of Their Graves was heartbreaking. If you love a book with high emotional angst this is for you! My heart was in my stomach the whole book. Why? Because The Lure of Their Graves is like watching a heartbreak accident in slow motion. For Dimitri he is facing this schism of his own personal love and desires clash with his responsibilities as a leader. And shouldn't he do everything he possibly can for his country? For his duty? We watch Dimitri fracture himself into pieces for what he think he should do and the burden of power and the crown.

I’ll try to keep this spoiler free as possible since this was the sequel to The Sins on Their Bones (which I can’t recommend enough). The Lure of Their Graves picks up shortly after Sins and throws some unexpected challenges for our main characters. Lure felt a lot more character driven than Sins was, but I was all for it, because I loved getting to better know the other members of Dima’s court. There was a bit more political maneuvering in this book as well and I loved seeing this world expanded. We meet four major characters, three of whom I was prepared to hate, because they were set to get between Vasya and Dima. But of course, Laura made me love them and I would be all for another book focused on their adventures.

For those who have already read Sins, go into Lure expecting to feel a rollercoaster of emotions with our fav characters being put through the wringer again, but for the suffering to ultimately pay off! Trust me guys, there are some epic moments in this book, both in terms of villains getting what is coming to them as well as some dramatic romantic gestures.

As riveting, tragic and wonderful as the first book. I alredy loved the sins on their bones and I loved the lure of their graves just as much. The focus is more on the relationships than the action and we get a beautiful ending for our favorite tzar.

I had first read the 1st book of this duology when it came out as an ALC so when this book first started, I felt I needed to go back and reread the first again to really refresh my memory and appreciate everything that happened in it. It was maybe not necessary but it made my enjoyment of the second 100% deeper to go directly from 1 to 2.

I found that this second book was similar in tone but where the first was darker and more high stakes this one was more emotionally fraught? Alexey was the main antagonist of the first book but this second book’s antagonist is more nebulous than “an evil they have to research and prepare to defeat”. The challenge here is that Dimitri has returned to his position as Tzar and after a period of time where they let him recover from the traumas of the previous book, he is going to need to face the reality that what he wants may not be the best thing for the country. Namely: his relationship with Vasily. It’s ironic that there is far more of a sense of hopelessness here in the second book after Dimitri has returned to his throne and things have more or less gone back to normal.

Vasily is my favorite character and I was not disappointed by how much of him we get here. Also the Emotions!!! This book hurts so good haha. I was very happy with where things went in the end, though I do feel like there was one climax that felt a little rushed and could have been a bit more fleshed out, and there are some side characters introduced that did not really meet their full potential but were more obviously used for plot points. I would have liked to see a little more of them to add some more depth to their characters. OVERALL though A+ this series is definitely one of my recent favorites, would definitely recommend for our collection.

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for the e-ARC to read and review!

4.5
There are many reasons I love this duology, one of the main ones being that it takes place in a world that's fully Jewish. I also love LGBTQ+ representation. The story is so beautiful, and Dimitri and Vasily have my whole heart. This conclusion was both heartbreaking and stunning, and I couldn't believe it was over. I love the found family vibes, along with the role that each of the characters plays in the kingdom. I did think it took a little bit to get into the story, but watching the two MMCs grow together was lovely. I was also on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen with Alexey and that part of the story. I was pretty satisfied with the ending, and I think Laura wrapped up the story so well. These books are so good, and I'm so excited to see Jewish representation in fantasy books. Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for the ARC to read and review!

I received an e-ARC and am giving my honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this opportunity!

This was a very lovely, if not a bit stressful, ending to the duology. The focus on the healing was quite nice, especially after everything that was the first book haha. This was a very wonderful ending and I can't wait to see Samotin's next work. This world has been a groundbreaking one, and I can't imagine what they'll come up with next

Just like the first book, I loved Laura R. Samotin's The Lure of their Graves. I was immediately hooked, and I love the affection these characters have for each other. She does a great job of reaching in and wrapping her hands around your heart. I am really pleased with this series, and I hope we get more readers now that I can sell it as a complete duology.

Just like book 1, book 2 was a five star read.

A superb sequel which carries the intrigue, action and adventure of its predecessor to new heights. An immersive, full throttle tale that will have you on the edge of your seat.

There’s a lot I really appreciated about this book, even if it didn’t totally work for me overall. The way Samotin weaves Jewish mysticism, ritual, and folklore into the worldbuilding is genuinely one of the strongest aspects—it’s rich, layered, and feels deeply personal. I loved seeing a fantasy setting shaped so fully by that cultural lens, where magic, grief, faith, and ancestral memory are all tangled up together.

The queer romance, especially between Dimitri and Vasily, continues to be a standout—tender, complicated, and full of longing. I liked that the relationships didn’t feel rushed or overly neat. They’re allowed to be messy and real, and that emotional weight is definitely felt throughout.

That said, the pacing really dragged for me. The middle felt bogged down by political maneuvering that didn’t always feel urgent, and some storylines felt like they lost steam. I found myself drifting a bit and wishing the tension that was so present in the first book had carried over more strongly here.

Still, I admire what this duology set out to do. It’s bold, original, and full of heart—I just didn’t find myself as gripped this time around. Worth picking up if you’re into dark, culturally grounded fantasy with nuanced characters and queer love at its core.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me an e-ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.

I very rarely like a sequel more than the original, but for me, this blew The Sins on Their Bones out of the park! This was one of my most anticipated releases of the year, having read book one (also as an ARC) last year, and loved it! I love politics in my fantasy, so this was a treat!!

Disturbing, beautiful, emotionally devastating, and poignant, The Lure of Their Graves takes all of the best aspects of the previous installment, and takes it up a notch! The political drama, the body horror, the demons, and that beautiful found family dynamic were all present and beautifully done here.
The nuance and care given to topics including domestic violence, disability, mental health, demisexuality, and PTSD was exceptional. I was constantly astounded by the way such attention was given to Dimitri’s recovery from abuse, while also crafting a plot with a lot of drama, tension, and love.

The romance was gorgeous, sad, and heartbreaking. Many a time, I felt so sick to my stomach with concern over these characters, that I threw my kindle across the room and had to stop reading. This is still as dark as the first installment, but possibly in different ways. The side characters felt more fleshed out than in the first book, and I found myself falling in love with every character, with one notable exception ahahaha. I saw so much of myself in Dimitri, and seeing him heal feels as though it has helped me too.

the happy ending being in the last possible second had me so stressed out- vasily truly is the ultimate love endgame I love vasily and dima so much 💖 this is a love story I will come back to again and again just for the feeling of sweet relief of story after all the angst and tragedy which was so visceral.

This book is so gorgeous, and I walked away with a huge crush on pretty much every character, and a new appreciation for even more magic, yearning, and beauty than the first, which is saying something, because I absolutely loved the first book. Laura R. Samotin is so incredibly talented, I would follow her and her books to the end of the earth, and I think about this book all the time. An autobuy author and a 10/5 star book!

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the copy of this arc in exchange for my review.

3.5/5

This was a pretty dang good sequel and a pretty satisfying conclusion to this story.

Definitely look up trigger warnings for this series, it touches on some pretty serious topics. I think it touches on those topics in a very important way, showing us how wrong they are and explaining/showing why they are wrong and how one can heal and move on from them. But I still definitely think someone looking to read this series should look up trigger warnings.

I really like that this story has aspects of Jewish folklore, as a Jewish person, I very rarely see that. And I thought it was fun. My Hebrew school was really put to the test with this one.

I did find that the pacing could get a bit weird and dragging at times (I also felt that with the previous book), and that made some moments flatter than they could've been otherwise. But that could totally be a personal issue, I know I'm very particular about pacing and writing style.

This is definitely a darker fantasy world, showing us that whimsical and fantastical worlds can also be full of darkness and loss and sadness, but I think that's a nice change of pace. Not all fantasy novels have to be about magical quests, sometimes, a journey a character goes through is internal as well.

I think a lot of people will be very happy with this sequel!

Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review! My Goodreads review is up and my TikTok (Zoe_Lipman) review will be up at the end of the month with my monthly reading wrap-up.

Laura Samotin has truly excelled at her craft in this incredible sequel to her debut "The Sins on Their Bones." The stakes are higher, the drama is much more intense, and with some fascinating new characters thrown into an already tight playing field, seeing all the ends tie up as nicely as they did was a joy. This book made me laugh, and cry, and had me on the edge of my seat almost from the first page. Old characters were given new depth, new characters added new angles to the story, and all in all this was just a wonderful read from start to finish. And, no spoilers, but the ending was well-earned and lovingly crafted by an author who knows what her audience wants. I can't wait to see what Laura does next!

Laura Samotin continues to write beautifully about the trauma of her central characters. However, with there is a distance between reading about the overthrow of an explicitly bad ruler and reading about a someone who is both unable to bear the weight of his title or give it up. There is much talk of caring about the people, but no actual getting to know anyone below the level of merchant, and never any talk of changing the structures of power even as they obviously cause everyone involved immense pain. I don't necessarily need an anti-monarchy bent in my fantasy, often I think the sense of entrapment a crown offers is a useful metaphor, but in this case the balance felt off. I think that and the lack of forward drive made this less successful for me, but I remain excited to see what Samotin does next!

When I read the first entry in this duopoly, The Sins on Their Bones, I knew instantly that I would read anything that Laura R. Samotin wrote, and so far that feeling has not steered me wrong! I absolutely adored the first volume in the series, and I am pleased to say that The Lure of Their Graves has exceeded my high expectations from the first book.

One of the author’s greatest strengths is in creating rich, layered, and complex characters, the kind you do not always see in the romantasy genre. None of our viewpoint characters—Dimitri, Vasily, or Alexei—ever feels overly reliant on tropes, and each has a unique “voice” that comes across in their respective chapters. The emotional journeys of the first two POV characters in particular are in turns exhilarating and heartbreaking, but with a heartfelt conclusion that shows the author’s love for the characters she has brought to life on the page.

And boy, do the characters come alive on the page! You can feel the longing and the tension between Dima and Vasya (it’s a Russian-themed novel, so you quickly get used to the use of diminutives) as TLTG’s plot unfolds. The addition of three new possible suitors for the Tzar’s hand, and the ability to see each of them not only from Dima’s point of view but Vasya’s as well, is really appreciated and builds a strong narrative.

Speaking of the narrative, the plot of the second book itself was directly up my alley. While maintaining the high drama and spiciness of the first book, TLTG adds a new element: high-stakes political games. Much of the novel revolves around the Tzar’s need to take a spouse. As readers will recall from book one, Dimitri is written as bisexual in a queernormative world, and it is made clear that it would be perfectly acceptable to take a consort of either gender or someone who identifies as nonbinary; indeed, our three potential matches are male, female, and nonbinary, and each is written with a voice that reflects their unique perspectives and experiences (shout-out to Lukas Marks, who became my favorite from the first time he appeared on the page—no spoilers as to his arc, however!).

What I loved most about the book, and the duology as a whole, is that Laura Samotin has created a rich and vibrant world that is not only queernormative, but Jewish-normative. As someone who identifies strongly as Jewish, it was a much-needed balm to be able to dive into a world where Jewishness and Jewish culture are appreciated, and where the specter of antisemitism simply is not present. Some might call this escapism; I call it a beautiful vision of another world, where people are not judged by identity, but by how they act towards others. That theme was present in the first book, but I found it elegantly woven through the second book as well.

That being said, I do not believe you need to be grounded in Jewish culture to appreciate this duology. The author does an excellent job of explaining customs and traditions, and I do not think any reader would be left confused by terminology or practices that are mentioned in the book.

Overall, this has become one of my favorite series’, and while I know it is billed as a duology, I hope that there is room in the future for another entry. One thing I will say about those on the fence: there is a HEA in this book, but the journey to get there often leaves you in doubt as to whether the characters you grow to love will actually get to that point. In my view, it makes the payoff all the sweeter and all the more satisfying. It’s a 5/5, 100% recommend from me!

(Thank you to Random House Canada for the e-ARC of this book; I received it in exchange for an honest review and have received no other compensation from the author or publisher!)