I received this book for free from Amy McNulty in exchange for an honest review.
There used to be a curse on Noll's village that only allowed each man to love one woman for his entire life, and each woman to have freedom of choice. But since this curse was broken, giving the men freedom to choose their loves also for the first time in a thousand years, unexpected havoc has ensued. The men are tired of serving the women, and many leave their wives and families, sending the village's former balance into disarray. Noll's love for the lord of the village, although slow to grow, has finally been realized - except now the lord is the one doing the rejecting. So Noll returns to her village and to the chaos of the men attempting to settle into new positions. If there was one good thing about the curse, however, it was that it kept everyone safe from violence. Now that it's broken, tempers are beginning to flare and dark plans are being formulated by men Noll thought she had known before. But Noll only ever knew the cursed men. These free men are different - and they may be dangerous.
After finishing Nobody's Goddess, I was very excited to continue on with this series. I am a sucker for a well-written romance, and I was hoping for a bit more of that after the ending of the first book. When I read the summary for this one, I was a bit disappointed, assuming that the events with the village men would be boring in comparison to Noll's time with the lord in his castle in the first book. I was, thankfully, wrong. Even when the activities Noll was doing were mundane, the conversations or motivations were interesting, and Amy McNeil ensured the lord never entirely left Noll's thoughts. This sequel was certainly different in terms of location and activities, but the tone of the writing and the feel of this universe remained true to that of Nobody's Goddess, which I appreciated. McNulty has a certain tone of writing which, while mature, is also realistic to Noll's age. It kept me wrapped up in the story, despite the plotline once again being nothing like I expected.
The men in this book bothered me. While I can understand their motivations, their actions, especially the more drastic ones toward the end of the book, really got me worked up. I suppose this proves the power of McNulty's writing, since I was emotionally invested, but it actually got to the point where I had to stop and fume for a moment before continuing to read. I'm not saying these scenes were over-the-top or excessive, because they were critical for the plot to continue developing, but they really bothered me. Seeing as how the curse (and its breaking) were Noll's doing and thus the resulting actions were (at least partially) her fault, I really hope she'll be able to do something in book three to get the village back under control.
Now, onto my favourite part of the series: the very slowly-developing, very broken semi-relationship between Noll and the lord, Ailill. Although there was minimal interaction between them in this novel, it was still for the most part more positive (and thus rewarding) than that of the first book, even if they had more one-on-one time in that one. However, we also learn that Ailill may be keeping more secrets, not only from the villagers, but from Noll as well. And then as the divide between the lord and the villagers becomes ever more clear, Noll will have to make her choice between them (unless she can somehow manage to reconcile everyone, which at this point seems unlikely). There was a real scare involving Ailill at the end of the book, which had me actually contemplating if I would want to read book three or not, but thankfully it was (somewhat) resolved, and I now definitely want to finish the trilogy.
Once again, this book was better than I had been expecting. It had several plot twists, which the first book also contained, that I didn't anticipate. This is a difficult thing to find because I've read so many books in YA fantasy that I can almost always see "shocking" turns of events coming, and I definitely can appreciate books that manage to surprise me. This book was a successful follow-up to Nobody's Goddess, and like the first book, deserves four stars. I would recommend this story to anyone who enjoys complicated romances, alternate histories, and some good old-fashioned curses and magic.
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