I absolutely adored The Sin Soldiers when it came out in 2019. It was fast paced, well written and told a story that I hadn’t heard before. In The Crystal War, this story is continued but unfortunately isn’t as punchy as its predecessor.

I really enjoyed catching up on my fave characters, Finn and Charlie. The continuation of their story was generally well paced (once you get past the first 30%(ish) and made me remember just why I love them. Side note - why you do that to my babies Tracy? The things that you did to a certain someone, I shall never forgive you.

When it came to the plight of Kai and Tessa, I previously was quite fond of these two but now I feel like they are just very meh in the grand scheme of things. Tessa had such potential, she was made out to be a diabolical genius since she left the facility by her prior captors. Instead she plods around being all talk and no action - I wanted her to be positively undeniable in line with her expected progress, but instead she just walks around making empty threats.

Overall, I found this one to be a let down after following on from a novel that was so engaging. Better luck with the novel that finishes it all off, maybe

i really enjoyed reading this book, it was a worthy sequel in the series. The characters were great and I really enjoyed the plot. It made me want a third book in the series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Parliament House Press for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

This story starts off five weeks after the end of the first one and it quickly re-capped what had previously happened which I was entirely thankful for that because I'm really bad at remembering what happens in books after a while. I'm so happy to be back in this interesting and unique world that Tracy Auerbach has created.

With the first book I struggled to feel emotionally connected to the characters but this was not the case with this book. My heart broke for Finn and for Charlie, I honestly just wanted to hold them and never let them go! I also really liked the development of Aric who we didn't get to see too much of in the first book.

Whilst I liked what Tracy Auerbach had done with Tessa's character I found her POV to be a little bit boring and ended up skimming some of it. She was one of my favourites from the first book and I felt detached from her character and her development.

This was a solid second book with a plot line that had me hooked and left me unable to put it down (I ended up reading this in one night). The world and the compound system are so well thought through and so different to most books that I've read. One of my favourite things about this book is the different POV's, I feel like it helps expand the world building and lets you see inside each characters motives and thoughts.

Overall this was a very enjoyable read for me and I cannot wait for the next book in the series!

The 'Fragments' series captivated me from the beginning. Though I found this to be a very dark science fiction dystopia, I found myself continuing to read because I became so invested in the characters, what they were going through, and kept wanting to find out what happened next. Whereas 'The Sin Soldiers' follows 4 main narrating characters, Kai and the 3 soldiers she befriends, 'The Crystal War' includes these 4 and more narrators, allowing readers to become invested in even more of the main characters. Author Tracy Auerbach is a skilled writer not only for her world building and character development, but also because it is easy to determine who is narrating, each and every time.

Looking forward to reading this trilogy's conclusion, hopefully the wait won't be too long! Start reading ‘The Sin Soldiers’ now in preparation for ‘The Crystal War’ on April 17, 2020.

I voluntarily read a Review Copy of this book. All opinions stated are solely my own and no one else’s.