"'I'm taking his soul.'
It was the sexiest thing he'd ever heard."

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars, rounded up to 5

I absolutely adored Dark Apprentice and I've been waiting for Dark Mind to come out since basically the day it was announced. Val Neil is apparently nothing if not consistent because I loved Dark Mind as well.

Since this is a sequel and I don't want to risk spoilers, I've included some random thoughts below.

- I re-read Dark Apprentice before starting Dark Mind, but there is a handy-dandy "Obligatory Reminders" section in case you don't have that kind of time.
- Dark Mind takes place about a year after Dark Apprentice.
- Medea is still very much a bad bish and Nikolai is still one of my favorite literary psychopaths. (I wonder what it says about me that I have a list...)
- Nikolai's character growth from the first book through this one is incredible. Medea also shows growth, though perhaps a bit less than Nikolai. Then again, Medea is old AF, so it's probably not surprising that her character develops more slowly. It's possible her autism plays into this also, but I don't know enough about autism to confidently assert that.
- I could honestly read about Nikolai thirsting after Medea for a frankly irresponsible amount of time.
- As with the first book, Dark Mind is very much a slow burn. While there's definitely action, a lot of time is spent sitting with the characters. I personally loved this and, if you picked up this sequel then you likely didn't mind the pacing of the first book either. That said, if you had an issue with the pacing of book one, you'll likely have the same issue here.
- I absolutely love the relationship between Nikolai and Medea. If they do end up getting together in a romantic capacity I'm sure I'd be all about it, but I'd honestly read an entire series just recounting their friend escapades. (Not that Nikolai, being Nikolai, will ever stop thirsting or that I will ever stop wanting to read his ho-bag POV.)
- It took me a while to start caring about the new characters, especially when their plotline diverged from Nikolai and Medea's, but by the end, I'd come to care about them as well. Josh, in particular, is pretty easy to root for.
- We stan an author who understands the magic power of Truth or Dare.
- I get the feeling Grace might grow into an antagonist and I would be all for that.
- I normally don't see the point in Author's Notes, but I do recommend reading this one. I suspect that Neil and I have slightly different political opinions but she clearly put a huge amount of care into the subjects she tackled, which is obvious in the text, but the Note provides more detail. Even if you don't care about her research or the writing process, you should at least check out "Medea's Expressions (According to Nikolai)."

Neil has a newsletter where she offers bonus content, so you can bet your ass I'll be checking that out. And then I guess I'll just go cry in a corner until book three comes out...

I received an ARC of this novel, so I purchased the first in the series and finished these both in about 2.5 days. I have to say that this second part of the series is my favorite, purely because the relationship changes between Medea and Nikolai. Not to dive into spoiler territory, but we do get to see their relationship expand from distrustful strangers and the author does a great job of making that change gradual instead of going from hostile strangers to best friends in a chapter, which seems to be the running theme that some authors fall in to these days. I love how the author shows that people aren’t just one thing or another and can be either wonderful or terrible and still have so many other facets to them that form these really complex individuals. I do have to admit that I was a little bored when following the other characters in this book, but it definitely picked up at the end and I’m curious to see where at least some of them go. I think the ending was a little abrupt, but it doesn’t take away from the overall too much.
Medea needs a hug in every sense of the word, but please don’t. It would make her highly uncomfortable.

OMG this is absolutely amazing.

I have to say that this author is steadily becoming a favorite of mine. I LOVED the first book and the second did not disappoint at all!!

The characters are well written with a lot of depth and personality and I love their interactions with one another. I also love the story as well

If you havent read this series, you need to

I will be keeping an eye out for new books from Val Neil