I'm so glad that LaFevers has decided to revisit the world of her My Fair Assassin trilogy. Courting Darkness is just as fast-paced and exciting as the original books. Narration in this book is divided between Sybella (my favorite character from the original trilogy) and a new character Genevieve. Overall, this is a superb historical, fantasy with strong heroines that completely fit with the #MeToo movement in their fierce independence and refusal to be contained by the men of their era.

What do you mean I have to wait until 2020 to get the sequel?!

“Courting Darkness” dives deep into the manipulative world that is the French Court as Sybella finds herself cornered by old foes and desperately seeks out two of her convent sisters who were placed in the hands of the King, but with so much time passing between their departure and the events of the war between Brittany and France she learns that it might not be as easy as she hoped. Genevieve has spent her life waiting for the moment she can make her father and convent proud but when met with silence she worries that she’s been forgotten and with the arrangements in her household becoming dangerous she sets off to find her place in the world and embrace her gifts as Deaths assassin.

This book is very different than the previous trilogy which is to be expected as we see the characters try to pull themselves together after the events that ended the series. We also shift point of view between Sybella and Genevieve who keep circling each other yet never met.

In Sybella’s arc she is as wonderful as I remember, side note definitely brush up on the series before starting this duology because I found I had forgotten some of the major players. She is brave and strong while also very vulnerable sharing soft moments with her blood sisters and Beast as she tries to come up with a plan to keep them out of harms way.

Genevieve however is on a very different journey and I really enjoyed seeing her work to get out of her situation though unlike the previous story set up or plot formula she does not have a strong romance like the other girls. Don’t get me wrong there’s definitely something there but over the course of the book you see it rise and fall in active relevance.

There’s also a strange consequence of the sacrifice that was in the conclusion of book 3 that makes the fantasy assassin aspect of this book somewhat lacking that was replaced by the scheming politics of France that I didn’t really care for but we’ll see how it goes with the series conclusion even though it is forever away.

Sybella will always get 5 stars even if it’s an entire book about her throwing knives, Genevieve however gets a soft 3 with this being an overall nice extension of a series that I loved so much with the returning characters being very near and dear to my heart and I’m hoping that before this is over Genevieve will have a solid place there as well.

**special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review!**