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!)