Thank you so much Forever and Netgalley!

This book! This book was amazing, definitely one of my top books of the year! It is gritty, heartwarming and filled with so much yearning. I perish from the yearning!! 

Tori Bovalino is such a genius for crafting this queer normative world filled with a fascinating magic system, and it has female knights! To me, female knights are a draw all on their own! The pacing was so perfectly timed between intimate moments, political intrigue, character growth and brutal battles. Tori made me feel like I was already a part of this world and I loved the lore behind Locke! 

The magic system was so fascinating! Wells are like magical batteries. They are paired with mages who can perform magic by pulling from the Wells store of magic to do devastating magic of all kinds. And yet Wells are considered lower than mages and their opinions aren’t really taken into account, but the respect that Kier has for Grey was magical, he is a walking green flag! 

This is more of a plot-driven novel but the romance was so present and warm that I had to gush about it! Kier and Grey grew up together and are so devoted to each other’s well-being. The amount of yearning between these two was epic, and I couldn’t get enough of it. Their story is one of love, sacrifice and understanding. 

This world is raw and brutal. There is so much hate and violence passing between the nations, as they each try to gain more power. The battle scenes were rich in detail and so worrying at times. You really get to feel how much pressure everyone is under trying to get through it! But the love Grey’s little found family have for each other is so wonderful. They do everything they can to protect each other and build each other up, even if that includes pointing out each other’s shortcomings. I would do anything to sit at the fire with them and eat one of Eron’s meals. 

I could keep gushing forever. I had such a hard time limiting my words in this review. Just know, Tori Bovalino is an amazing writer who will destroy you and then heal you. Pick this book up right now!

Hands down (haha), one of my favorite books of the year and it really made me grapple with the fact that I might not hate childhood-friends-to-lovers the way that I have always claimed too.

The Second Death of Locke follows two soldiers, Grey and Kier, on a quest to bring a prisoner to their kingdom’s high lord. The prisoner is supposedly the long lost heir to Locke, the lost kingdom that is the source of their people’s weakening magical abilities- only Grey and Kier know that this girl isn’t who she’s claimed to be.

The magic system in this story is so interesting and you really can’t ask for a better setup for yearning than childhood friends in a codependent magical relationship. Essentially, there are mages, who can use magic, and wells, who the magic can be drawn from. Because magic has been weakening since the destruction of Locke, mages and wells are no longer allowed to be bound together, which would strengthen their power but prevent them from being able to partner with anyone else.

Both Grey and Kier are absolute idiots (affectionately) and I would die for them just as much as they would die for each other. I also loved the found family aspect of both their actual family and their quest team, and how seamlessly the world was queer-normative.

I absolutely adored everything about this book. I already loved the author but this is definitely my favorite of theirs so far. Everyone should go pick this one up- and it’s the perfect addition to anyone having a year of lady knights!

Thank you NetGalley and Forever for the ARC- all thoughts my own!

This is one of the most beautiful books I’ve read this year. Deeply atmospheric, filled with characters you can’t help but fall in love with and a rich and intricate fantasy world, The Second Death of Locke needs to be on every fantasy fan’s radar. 2025 has been an amazing year so far for the fantasy genre, but this one is my favorite new release I’ve read so far. Every aspect of the story is excellent, and I think everyone needs to read it. I loved this story so much I feel like I can’t even describe it; but if you are a fan of beautiful, heart-wrenching relationships, unique and well fleshed-out magic systems, and gorgeous writing, please read this book. Just be prepared to fall in love with these characters and become so deeply immersed in the story, you’ll never want to leave. And fair warning- you will probably cry (positive).

I would recommend The Second Death of Locke to readers who love well-written relationships full of yearning and emotion; fans of high-stakes, intricately plotted fantasy; and really, to anyone who loves to read.

Thank you to NetGalley & Grand Central Publishing for the arc! All thoughts & opinions in the review are my own.

Pristine. It's been a long time since I've read a story with such romantic LONGING in it, and Bovalino hit it firmly on the head. There's also a solid political story and some very lovely found family vibes. It has ALSO been a long time since I was SO WORRIED about the outcome for the characters that I had to actually flip to the end of the book and check if it was all going to be okay before proceeding, so the stakes and tension are done excellently, as well.

This had big vibes of The Queens of Innis Lear to me. The stories themselves are very different from each other (Queens is a straight-up Shakespeare retelling and this is not) but the feel of the two stories are in the same bucket.

Overall I LOVED this, a rarity these days. I am so excited to see Bovalino enter the adult fantasy space, and can't wait to see what is next in this series.