Let me start by saying I loved the first novel in this series so freaking much. It was punchy and intriguing and blew me away with its premise of witches who could send their consciousness through time. Alas, Flights of Marigolds fails to live up to the hype that my own brain threw at me as I requested this one from Netgalley last year. It has literally taken me 12 months to read this novel so it might be an indication of what’s to come.

Where the previous novel was relatively fast paced and intriguing, this one is so slow in getting to any degree of point. A large proportion of the first 1/3 to 1/2 is occupied discussing Janat's addiction to her own potions. Had it been woven throughout the narrative in a way that the entire story didn't gravitate around it being the major plot point, I feel I probably would have enjoyed it more. Instead, I frequently wanted to put it down because this is touted as a magical fantasy, not an emotion laden contemporary.

I also took issue with the timing throughout the novel. Being the tale of three sisters (Meg, Janat and Rennika), one would expect all three to be present. Instead Rennika doesn’t make an appearance until around the half way point – being my fave due to the sass and snark she gives in Bursts, it was a serious let down for me. This is not to say that series of novels shouldn't take part from multiple main protags POV throughout. Zoraida Cordova expertly weaves a tale of sisters with her Brooklyn Brujas novels without it being disjointed; Seanan McGuire does it insanely well in her Wayward Children novellas. Here it just doesn't seem to put the pieces together in a way that keeps the story flowing.

Overall, this was definitely a let down for me. The pace was off, the characters shallow, and the whole narrative was grating on my patience. While it wasn't for me, I feel those who love the pace of Tessa Gratton or Phillipa Gregory would probably love it and its pace

If you read book one you know you are in for a detailed story so take a seat and get comfortable. It is worth every page and was a great follow-up.

When I requested this book, I didn't realize it was the second of a series. I found it difficult to follow. Perhaps if I read the first book, I would have enjoyed this one more.

I received an ARC from Netgalley. I am leaving my honest review.

When I initially requested Flights of Marigold on NetGalley I was unaware it was the second novel in a series. That put me at a disadvantage as this story is quite complex and I feel like I'm missing portions of context that would've been in the first book Bursts of Fire. I have found my footing for the most part about a third of the way in but the points of view shifting suddenly between characters doesn't help me out much. Shangril itself is well described and it sounds like a beautiful place - other than the seedier parts the sisters must unfortunately frequent. The magiel magic and potion making is rather interesting and so is the byproduct of using that magic. Going backward and forward through time would be so many feelings and the magiel has no control over what they will see.

The sisters, for the most part, exhibit fairly well the birth order traits siblings love to toss around. Meg was thrust into a motherly role at 17 which is a fairly mature age but it was at the start of a war that resulted in the destruction of a way of life, religion, the birth of persecution, and slavery of the magiel race. It was a little hard to connect with Janat - her demeanor swung around so wildly but... BUT she IS an addict and the book contains an unexpected twist regarding even that towards the end of the book that I wasn't expecting. Rennika was spared from the majority of hardship since she was the youngest, was not with her sisters through most of her life, and thanks to their mother - does not exhibit the same shimmering skin that betrays magiels. I found the royals a little petty and underwhelming - same for the characters we meet in the resistance. They all seem more or less content to squabble amongst each other than actually accomplishing anything. The one royal that seems to be a little more cunning and decisive with action was Hada and I'm interested to see where her role in the series goes.

I did not expect the twist regarding the functionality of the amber prayer stone.

I was actually touched and surprised about the information included in the appendix which covered mental health and anti-discrimination resources. This book has its fair share of touchy subjects the main ones being: abuse - physical, sexual, and substance, addiction, persecution, xenophobia, and self-harm. Although Flights of Marigold does well without reading Bursts of Fire I think I would be more invested in the plots if I had read the first book. I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy slow-building epic fantasies, magic and political maneuvering and topics. I would like to thank Laksa Media Group and NetGalley for the opportunity to read Flights of Marigold.

I should preface this review by stating that I didn’t realize that this book was the second in a series, as this wasn’t super clear, so I did find it a little confusing at times — though still easy enough to follow. This hasn’t impacting my review!

Things I Liked:
♥ The characterization in this book was excellent and the relationships were wonderful and complex. Janet and Meg are such strong characters and I really enjoyed learning about them. Strong women really do make a book for me and they were no exception.
♥ The world-building was incredible! This book was super atmospheric and I really felt like I was in the story. Susan Forest’s writing style really lends itself to world-building, in my opinion, and I loved this aspect.
♥ I found the plot to be really engaging and intriguing. It was really complex but not so much so that I found it hard to follow!

Things I Disliked:
♡ The pacing was a little slow for my taste.
♡ At times, I felt like the use of addiction wasn’t as sensitive as it could have been, but this wasn’t the entire book!

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and may well pick it up again if I decide to go back and read the first book.

Thankyou to Laksa Media Groups and NetGalley for providing me with this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, I was unaware on starting this book that it is the 2nd in the Addicted to Heaven series, and this impacted on my ability to fully engage with and understand the story fully.

However, despite this Flights of Marigokd is a solid 2nd book and takes the reader to the world of the Seven Kingdoms. In this kingdom rebellion is brewing as magiels (Magic Users) are persecuted. The Magiel sisters Janat and Meg Falconer work with the Uprising, led by the King-in-Exile Dwyn Gramaret, but they are forced to leave because of Janat’s increasing addiction to magic.

Meg escapes to Pagoras with Janat to help Hanat recover, but this is interrupted by their mission to find the Amber Prayer Stone. The Amber Prayer Stone is a powerful magical artefact previously thought lost. Their search takes them to Highglen, home to their estranged sister, Rennika Falconer, a powerful magiel.

From here the search continues with adventures and evasions and the reader is taken further into the world and left wanting the next book in the series.

Despite not having read the 1st book, the character development within a strong fantasy world is skilful, the handling of addiction and family loyalty is empathetic, and the sisters bring a well executed emotional dynamic to the story. I will be revising my error and returning to read from the start of the series in the future.

If you loved the sisters and the 1st book in this series, you will definitely want to dive in and if you haven’t I recommend you take it from the start.

Though I loved the first book, I have to say this one was a bit of a letdown. I still think the worldbuilding is great, and I love the magic system, but ultimately, the first half of this book was just too slow. Meg’s waffling on what she wants to do just gets old. It’s not until halfway through the book that it really begins to pick up and a plot becomes apparent. Then it gets interesting, and while the first half did set it up, I think the plot could have been introduced a lot sooner to make it more interesting.

I do still love the dynamic between the sisters, their love is very real and told very true to the way it is with sisters. Forest has a knack for writing very human characters and it’s always nice to see, even if they are a little frustrating. Add in some pretty decent twists, and yeah, I’m definitely on the hook for the next book. Looking forward to it!

I suppose the big thing I think this book suffers from is second book syndrome. Anyway, I’d still recommend to epic fantasy readers, but it was a bit of a let down for me.

** This review will be posted on my blog, The Library Cryptid, on August 11 at 7am EST. At that time I will also post an abbreviated version on Goodreads. The link provided will work once the review is posted. **

Flights of Marigold is the second book in the Addicted to Heaven series by Susan Forest, and hits the shelves today, August 11. I’m very appreciative to Netgalley and Laksa Media Groups for the opportunity to read and review this eARC, and you can also read my review of the first book, Bursts of Fire (https://librarycryptid.wordpress.com/2020/07/03/review-bursts-of-fire-by-susan-forest/). To recap my review of Book 1: the characters were compelling and the story had a lot of potential, but the pacing and plot issues made it a struggle to get through, and I was hoping that these issues would be fixed in the next installment.

And in good news, they were! For the most part, anyway. Rather than trying to cram two years of events into one book, in order to cover all of the back story, Flights of Marigold takes place over an abbreviated time span of a few months. Janat is struggling more with her addiction to glim, causing her to abuse alcohol and potions, and Meg realizes that they need to leave the uprisers in order to care for her. Janat wants to stay with their sister, Rennika, and when Meg hears a rumor that the true Amber might be there, instead of smashed by King Huwen, she agrees. If she can recover the Amber prayer stone, she can travel to Heaven and the gods can grant her prayers, as well as provide prayer stones for the people so that when they die, they can go to Heaven.

There were still a few plot issues. For the first 50% of the book, it didn’t feel like I had a lot of direction—the inciting incident led them to travel to Highglen, but once they had achieved that, it didn’t feel like the plot was working up to anything. This resolves in the second half when our characters finally get a deadline and a goal, but it was difficult to drag myself through the middle sections without that direction. Additionally, there isn’t a big bad guy, or a main villain. Meg, Janat, and Rennika have small enemies—Meg is worried that the uprisers are angry and after them, magiels are discriminated against and thrown into prison, there’s a pub owner Janat owes money to—but none of them are large looming threats, so the plot doesn’t feel urgent.

I do think that Forest intended to make Janat’s addiction the big bad, because it’s clear that this book is primarily about addiction and how addiction affects addicts and their loved ones. However, I’m not sure how effective this villain was in Flights of Marigold. Janat is addicted to glim, which can no longer be made because no magiel has the spell to create it, and she turns to other potions and alcohol in order to feed her addiction. In addition, there is another ailment, Boneblood, that is introduced later in the book, which raises two separate issues. Firstly, it is sometimes referred to as Boneblood, and sometimes referred to as Bloodbone, a simple editing mistake* that is really frustrating when you use the search function to go back and figure out how it works, which is the second issue. It’s not super clear what it is or what it does, except that it’s some kind of drug that a person rubs onto open wounds and gets deathly addicted to.

I just feel like the addictions were spread too thin. When it was just the potions and alcohol, it was understandable—Janat is trying anything to get her close to glim, which no longer exists. However, the introduction to Boneblood just adds another confusion into the mix and I feel like it was unnecessary, and although it is more effective, since it puts Janat’s life in danger, other potions could have produced the same effect and the Boneblood just added too much detail to the story.

Also with relation to Janat’s addiction, it doesn’t feel urgent enough to serve as the story’s main antagonist. Until she gets access to Boneblood, her life doesn’t seem to be immediately in danger, and we see her addiction as more of a nuisance to Meg. By the time the Boneblood appears to act as a real villain, we are at the end of the story and the final showdown when the sisters break into the castle, so we don’t need it as an antagonist, and it just feels like Forest is setting us up for Book 3. But if Boneblood is the main issue in Book 3, what was the main issue in this book? Nothing, really.

I also feel like Forest is spreading herself thin by including so many points of view. In this book, we get POVs from Meg, Janat, Rennika, King Huwen, Gweddian, Raef Gramaret, and Raoul. The extra POVs are interesting, but it’s like they’re included because Forest can’t tell the entire story from only the sisters’ point of view. Huwen’s chapters were completely unnecessary, as were Raef’s, and I think Forest would have benefited by limiting herself to just Meg’s and Gweddian’s POVs in this book. Although I think she did the multiple POVs well in Bursts of Fire, she abandoned interesting storylines that came up in those POVs in Flights of Marigold. For example, although Prince Eamon was a really interesting character in the first book, his plot was dropped in Flights of Marigold and we don’t see him at all, rather than fully fleshing out all of the different storylines à la Game of Thrones.

There was also a very minor plot point that almost brought this book down to a two star read for me. Towards the beginning of the book, Meg reveals that she once had a relationship with one of the uprisers named Tonore, who later became the lover of another male upriser, implying that he is bisexual. Now, this is not what I had an issue with. What I take issue with is what Meg reveals later in the book—that Tonore had cheated on her with his male lover. Quote:

“ Catching him with Vonte. That had broken her. Tonore could love women, but it turned out, he loved men more.

It was so heartbreaking for me to read such a damaging stereotype against bisexual people. Both gay and straight people often discriminate against bisexual people, assuming that they are too promiscuous for relationships and will always cheat and leave their partner for another gender. To see this reflected on page when it was completely unnecessary for the author to write the character in this way and for this to be the only LGBT representation in the entire book was horrible. Sometimes no representation at all is better than hurtful representation.

Although I didn’t end up taking off a star for this issue, it did mean the end of this series for me. Flights of Marigold did live up to a lot of the potential that Bursts of Fire had, and I think that Forest is definitely improving and I’m sure that the series is on an upward trend. However, this biphobia—as well as the lack of diversity in the series, and the coopting of an East Asian setting even though the characters seem very white, which I talked about in my Bursts of Fire review—means that this series really isn’t worth it to me, which is a shame because I still think the magic system is one of the most interesting that I’ve come across. I wish the best of luck to Susan Forest, and hope that she’ll be able to improve these aspects in her writing.

This book had better flow than the first one. There was more that happened and the focus wasn’t as scattered, which I really appreciated. We catch up with the sisters about ten years in the future. The war still rages on everyone is exhausted. Rennika has been building her life away from it all, hoping to be a master dyer as well as to be a wife and mother. Meg continues to care for Janat and try and keep her out of trouble. Janat has slid into full blown addiction after being fed glim by Wenid.
Here we see the three sisters reunited and their worlds come crashing together as they all struggle with what they want and what the world needs them to be. There are some pretty intense moments as well as heartbreaking ones. The secrets that come tumbling out at the end made me like the book more. I’m hoping the next book answers all the questions milling around in my mind and gives the three sisters what they’ve been working so hard for. They deserve it after all they’ve been through.

I didn't realize when I requested this that it was the second in a series. I have not read the first, and I struggled with this one, so this may not be an entirely fair review. I found the way the author used the notion of addiction a bit heavy-handed, and none of the characters really came to life for me. It felt like a "concept" novel, more than a good story.

ARC from NetGalley

3.5 stars

This is a well-written book that broaches the subject of addiction well. Janat is suffering from past trauma. She is so traumatized and addicted that she will use any substance she can get her hands on just to escape her own mind and fight off the withdrawal symptoms she experiences. Meg never gives up on her even though everyone around her tells her to. Janat wants so desperately to do right by her sisters. She wants to fight. She tries so hard and fails many times, which is simply the reality of addiction.

I went into this not having read the first book, and I wonder if the first book was more in depth about the magic system, because I felt that there was no real explanation here as to what a magiel is and what they do, how their magic works. There is a lot that can be inferred or assumed, but I would have preferred a bit more information.

This book is heavy on political maneuvering and addiction. There is something that Meg must find in order to help commune with the gods and get her people their death tokens so that they can go to heaven. It is never explained how the death tokens work or why they are necessary, but I assume that was touched on in the first book. She is a fierce woman who stands by her convictions and her sisters almost to a fault. She makes terrible choices a lot of the time. When it is imperative that the girls blend in, she breaks almost all the rules, constantly sleeps through her work and is completely blind to everything except for her addicted sister. It got kind of irritating to be honest. I kind of hoped that Janat would just keel over at some point, because while the addiction was portrayed well, it could have been done a tiny bit differently to help the reader sympathize with Janat. There isn't enough time spent explaining how much she is hurting and exactly what she is running from. She seems to be incredibly selfish and stupid a lot of the time. It can be hard to want someone like that to thrive.

I liked the ending. It was a cliffhanger done well. The kind that makes you want to read the next book, not the kind that makes you feel like you got shorted half the fries in your lunch, you know? A decent read!

Flights of Marigold (Addicted to Heaven Series) – Susan Forest

I was given an advanced copy of the this book by the publisher in order to provide a review.

“Flights of Marigold” is the second story in the series “Addicted to Heaven” series bu Susan Forest, the first being “Bursts of Fire” which I have not read.

“Flights of Marigold” follows the tales of three sisters who are the descended from a long ling of powerful magiels that can trace back their lineage to the one god.

After the destruction of their mother's prayer stone, the Amber stone, by High King Huwen; the sisters flee for their safety and to protect their identity. If their true identities were discovered they would be hunted down and forced to use their powers against the common people or worse, forced into High King Huwen's breeding program, so he can have powerful magiels loyal to him; magiels completely under his control.

For a few years the sisters are safe and relatively happy. Rennika works as an apprentice for a dyer, assuming the life of an adoptive daughter far from home. However, Meg and Janat have spent their years working with the uprisers, trying to help free the lands from High King Huwen and hoping to get the exiled King Dwyn. Meg starts to loose hope. Struggling to help Janat and whatever inner demons she is fighting, struggling to land a blow against High King Huwen. What hope do the uprisers have without a prayer stone, without the Amber stone. If they had that, Meg could pray to the one god and right all the wrongs that have been, unfortunately the Amber Stone was destroyed. Or was it.....

Rumours have been swirling that maybe the Amber wasn't destroyed after all. Now the sisters manage to reunite after all the years that passed and do all they can to find the Amber and bring hope to the uprisers, yet they have their own struggles and personal demons to overcome.

I found “Flights of Marigold” to have a good story it just lacked excitement for me and was struggle to get through some chapters. Maybe if I had read the first story it might have flowed a bit better for me. The story was enjoyable just needed to be faster paced and have a bit more action, just lulled in too many places. Though I have a feeling with the way this book ended, and without giving away any spoilers, the next book might have a bit more action and have a faster pace. Not a bad read if you want an easy read.

This book had better flow than the first one. There was more that happened and the focus wasn’t as scattered, which I really appreciated. We catch up with the sisters about ten years in the future. The war still rages on everyone is exhausted. Rennika has been building her life away from it all, hoping to be a master dyer as well as to be a wife and mother. Meg continues to care for Janat and try and keep her out of trouble. Janat has slid into full blown addiction after being fed glim by Wenid.
Here we see the three sisters reunited and their worlds come crashing together as they all struggle with what they want and what the world needs them to be. There are some pretty intense moments as well as heartbreaking ones. The secrets that come tumbling out at the end made me like the book more. I’m hoping the next book answers all the questions milling around in my mind and gives the three sisters what they’ve been working so hard for. They deserve it after all they’ve been through.

The plot of this book is very interesting, but it was hard for me to get into. I think there just wasn’t enough to connect me to the characters. The book is well-written, I just didn’t connect to them.

Flights of Marigold by Susan Forest was a great second book in the Addicted to Heaven series and I'm looking forward to reading the next book. I think I saw somewhere that this is set to be a series of seven books so keep that in mind. The books do need to be read in order for the story to make since.

At first I didn't realize Flights of Marigold was part of a series, I'm very glad I did and that I read the first book in the series, Bursts of Fire. I would have been very lost and the story would not have been as good if I had skipped the first book. Flights of Marigold starts about ten years after the Bursts of Fire ended. It took me a little to realize, and at first I was a little bit annoyed because I felt that there was a bit of suspense at the end of Bursts of Fire. Then I realized that having the jump in time was actually a good thing because we are seeing the adult versions of our characters. Meg, Janat, and Rennika are still running from the past, but they are no longer children. Rennika has gone back to Highglen and made a life for herself there as a non-magic wielder. Janat and Meg are still with the rebels although with Janat's addition it is hard for the sisters. Meg is frustrated because Janat seems to purposely sabotage and Janat is upset because Meg won't give her space. As the three sisters come back together we see how their relationships have grown and changed over the years. I liked that we got to see where they were years later.

We also see the changes that have occurred in the Delarcan Royal Family. High King Huwen has taken the unified countries under the One God and tried to keep the rebels from taking back their land. With the prayer stones destroyed and the last one held by Huwen's brother the people do not have access to death tokens or requests to the gods. This leads to more unrest in the country.

Bursts of Fire set up the story and was a very good novel, but I think Flights of Marigold really gets into the what comes after that is missing in so many stories, and I like that we are seeing that. The Addicted to Heaven series creates a fantasy world that deals with so many problems that our world deals with: addiction, race, and social status. It feels like a real world because the characters are struggling, doing the best they can, but that doesn't always lead to the results they expect or want.

This book does feel like just a part of a story and not a full story so be warned that while there is an ending it doesn't feel like the end of the story you will still want to know more about the characters and the world.

Meg, Janat and Rennika are magiels that have escaped being hunted. Now the sisters have to survive the new world.

I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

It starts with Meg, who is doing her part for the rebellion, healing their fighters, and trying to knock sense into their squabbling leaders. She soon realises that this isn't best place for her magic-addicted sister, Janat.
Together, they leave the rebels, trying to find a new path, wanting to heal, and find honest work.

When they eventually reunite with Rennika, they inevitably get drawn back into the politics and drama.

Bursts of Fire (Addicted to Heaven #1) was one of my favourite books last year. It has an interesting magic system, where the backlash of using magic is the magiel slips through their own timeline.
Each kingdom has a prayer stone, where the royal magiel transcends to heaven, to deliver prayers for the kingdom, and return with death tokens for their people. People who die without death tokens are doomed to roam the world as ghosts for eternity.
This system still exists in the sequel, although it is somewhat battered after the war.

I didn't fall in love with this story. It felt like the stereotypical mid-series-book, where the characters are dealing with the fall-out of the first book, and have no real agency.
For 60% of the book, they are running from the fight, having had enough of the rebellion. They have to avoid the rebels, and the High King's army. They also have to figure out how to live in a world that treats them like scum, because of the magic visible in their skin. Meg and Janat take on basic, menial work, for room and board, merely existing.
Yes, they have to take care of Janat's addiction - and I thought this was a very real and frustrating depiction - but I just couldn't connect.

Rennika doesn't even show up until the second half of the book. I liked this youngest sister, who was building up to something awesome in the first book. In this second installment, all of her drive has been replaced by the security of having a job as a master dyer.
She has turned her back on everything, including her magic.

I think with all the sisters saying 'screw this' to the bigger picture, and getting on with dull life stuff, it was really hard to be engaged.

The narration is also shared by several of the 'enemies', including the High King, his ambitious sister, and even more ambitious regent.
The Princess is easily the most cunning in the group; but overall I thought their political clashes were more petty squabbles than actual intrigue.

I'm still interested to see where this series leads, it was just a shame about this installment.

The magic system in this book is one of the more interesting ones I’ve come across. Magiels and their shimmering skin and the time cost of the magic offer an interesting view on the costs the magical characters have to weigh to use their magic.

While a solidly written book with an interesting magic system, it wasn’t enough for me. It isn’t like it’s badly written, I just wasn’t pulled in. I didn’t care enough for the characters to want to watch them get to safety, and for one to struggle with her own inner demons and the problems it caused for others.

The parts that were meant to be exciting and full of action were also boring to me. I just found myself not caring about the outcomes. It’s a solidly written book and a decent enough read. But I won’t be reaching for it again.

This is an interesting fantasty tale, with a dependency perspective. I enjoyed the book and thought the plot was good. I would read Forest again.