Luce only wanted to be an artist, but her brother Lito is in open rebellion against the Icarii for the sake of the long-abused Asters so when she has a chance to strike a blow for justice she takes it. Meanwhile, Lito’s former partner Hiro, trapped in a body they loathe, stalks one of the semi-mythical Synthetics. And Astrid has advanced from sex slave to First Sister, but she aims to become head of her whole order and tear its corruption out with her bare hands. Space opera at its finest, both grand in scale and intimate in its emotional clout.

Second Rebel picks up immediately after the events of First Sister and refines the style of the previous story, Adding in new viewpoints to the storytelling of Lito and First Sister (newly named Astrid), the story expands to capture the complexities of what's happening in the galaxy after the climatic events on Ceres in the last novel. I thoroughly enjoyed the unexpected twists of the story and experiencing the struggles with the characters as they puzzle out how to make their solar system a better place for all it's inhabitants. Definitely recommended and I can't wait for the last book in the trilogy!

I wasn't sure I would love the second rebel as much as I did the first sister, but I was all in. From the very first line I was hooked. Amazing character development in the plot moved so swiftly that I almost forgot that I was actually reading a book.

That ending!! wow wow wow. Though it took me a bit to get into the book, the pay off was amazing and I cannot wait for the third one in this series.

What is it with awesome covers lately? I love love love this one. Once I checked out the description and realized it was the second book in a trilogy, I ran out and bought a copy of the First Sister. Looking back, I think you could read this one alone, but the first book does a good job of laying down the backstory that makes the second one great.

Second books in trilogies can sometimes be flat with very little going on. That is so not the case with this book. I couldn't believe how much more I connected with these characters this time around. I found myself holding my breath at times and I definitely cried a time or two. I'll be over here not so patiently waiting for the third book.

I received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I received an ARC Kindle edition of this book from NetGalley.

The story itself was really good, but the first 70% of the book was slow paced. The pace picks up around the 70% mark and ends with punch! Can't wait for the next one.

"The Second Rebel" was a book that I 'wished' to get as an ARC, not expecting to be able to read it before publication. THANK YOU Netgalley and Gallery Books for an advanced reader's copy of this book. I have enjoyed coming back to this world that Linden A. Lewis has created.

I would not recommend reading this book without reading "The First Sister." This book is a continuation of that one, and while reading this book without the previous one will make some sense, you will lose a lot of the significance of events that occur.

One thing I appreciated about "The Second Rebel" is the slow growth of the world. I often find that book 2 in a series can make the mistake of exponentially growing the world- which is easy to do when your story takes place in space. The world in "The Second Rebel" grew at a pace that made it easy to follow along with the branching story lines.

I loved the growth of character with Astrid, the first sister. Her story is still important and relevant, even when she is not on center stage throughout the whole book. Lucinia sol Lucious gets a wonderful part in book two, as do the Asters in general.

The pacing during the first half of the book was a bit slow, but everything started to pick up for the second half, making this book definitely worth the read. Just gotta get through that first 35% or so ;).

Overall, if you liked the first book, then this book is a wonderful follow-up. I am eagerly awaiting book three, and hope that it is as well-planned and executed as this one was! "The Second Rebel" will be released on August 24th, 2021.

The beautiful cover of this book invites readers in to lose themselves once again in the fascinating world we were introduced to in The First Sister. There is a lot going on in this story. A lot of characters, a lot of action, a lot of points of view. At first I was worried there were too many POVs, but I soon realized they were necessary and easy to tell apart. For much of the book I wasn’t sure how much Astrid’s story was adding, but by the end the author proved just how clever they are. There is no sophomore slump in this series. Crisp writing, fast pacing, captivating characters and ingenious world building make this book a real winner.

My copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to the the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review it.

The Second Rebel made me fall in love with these characters even more. The complexity of the characters, plot, and world made for a very exciting second book. It did take me a second to get invested but once I did the story really takes off and I couldn’t put the book down. I can’t wait for the third book!

I loved The First Sister. When my wish was granted by the publisher for an ARC of The Second Rebel, I screamed with excitement. You follow the same characters (some new ones do appear and I'm excited to see where their stories go). I need the final installment ASAP! That cliffhanger ending!!

This book really ups the stakes from The First Sister, with more action, more plots, and a lot more pov characters to follow. Despite the cast of characters and locations expanding, the plot doesn't get needlessly complicated. Most of the motivations and plots carry over from The First Sister, though taking the majority of the action out into the wider solar system was a great idea from a worldbuilding standpoint. It was interesting that Astrid's part of the narrative, having been such a huge driving force of book one, really takes a back seat while the Aster vs. Icarii plot plays out. Though, it felt at times that Astrid's parts were really just there to set up the next book, and had little bearing on the narrative other than breaking up what was happening in the other povs which was jarring at times. Despite some issues, I'm looking forward to seeing how things come together in the next book.

Thank you Skybound / Gallery books for the eARC for the honest opinion.

The Second Rebel takes off from where The First Sister ends. So yes, the first book needs to be read to follow the characters, situations and certain definitions. I liked Astrid in the first book, so seeing more of her being rebellious, taking down the religious coven and managing along the side interferences was so cool to read. A truly entertaining space opera. There weren’t any plot holes, but I had to go back to The First Sister notes to refer certain things.

Its was fun. Captivating and transporting. But did I like it more than the first book? this second instalment definitely has better depth to the characters and better story flow, but I guess the first book had a more stronger impression factor. I still want to read how the third book is going to be. Any SciFi / Fantasy fan would love this series.

Totally recommend. 4.25/5

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this arc.

I didn’t love this book as much as I loved the first. I wanted more of Astrid. She was always the one I liked the most in “First Sister”. I also loved how they communicated in the first since they couldn’t talk. Obviously we found out that was a lie, so there was more talking in this book. It definitely wasn’t bad, but it didn’t add that extra something the other form of communication did. I never cared too much about Leto or his chapters. Hiro’s got more interesting when Mara entered the picture. I found myself really enjoying Luce. Especially with her heartbreaking end. This book took a lot of unexpected turns, and I really enjoyed it. I’m looking forward to the next one.

Great follow up to part one. Introduces some new characters and develops characters from book one that I really enjoyed getting to know better. Fantastic LGTBQ+ representation with nonbinary and asexual characters represented in a realistic light. Loved seeing the plot develop more from the conclusion of book two and LOVED getting to see the synthetics in action. Mara is my new FAVE!

My year of excellent second books continues. I'd enjoyed The First Sister, although it snuck up on me., I was probably more than a third of the way through before I gave in and just allowed myself to enjoy the intertwining stories of Hiro, Lito, and the First Sister, and by the end was swept up into the thrilling (and cliffhanger-y) conclusion. The Second Rebel caught me up in the story much more quickly (I'd missed these characters) and rolled into the action nicely. We follow a new character, Lito's sister Luce, as well-and she might be my favorite.

Lewis does a marvelous job world-building, so that the reader is never quite aware of how much has been built until vast space politics are suddenly buffeting you on every side and you wind up staying up until 1:00am just to find out what happens next.

Perhaps if I'd read the first book in this series I'd have been able to figure out what was going on here, but for new readers to the series, the author provides little guidance on characters, their relationships with one another, the setting, or what's going on. It became a slog to read.