I really enjoyed Silver Under Nightfall, it was the perfect autumn read I had. When I knew the sequel was coming I practically jumped over the moon with joy. I was beyond ready to continue poly vampires and gruesome battles.

I really wish I had enjoyed this sequel more than I did. It felt longer than it truly was and I was having trouble more than once really getting into the story. It felt like random thoughts that were all pushed together to create a story and felt nothing like the first book. The characters personalities were pretty much the same which I enjoyed but the overall plot and storyline didn’t make sense all the time.

The political aspect didn’t bother me, I’m a political girly pop to my core I love a good political spectacle. I was completely fine having the focus more on what the world was like and its politics. My issue was it didnt feel cohesive and like I stated before so many things felt random. There were several scenes that could’ve easily been cut from the book and it would’ve made no impact on the story or on the characters.

Overall, still a remi apologist and queer vampires have my heart. Wish things had been different on my journey while reading this but I hope others enjoy it.

For starters, I want to preface this review by saying Silver Under Nightfall was an incredible book. Just because I have more complicated feelings for the finale does not take away from how much I adored the first.

If you’re going into this book for the main couple, then I’d recommend you read this sequel. For everything else, I’d l recommend not to continue because it’s disappointing.

There’s a lot of sudden character personality shifts, and they seem to be more of a convenient change rather than actual character development, Remy’s dad being the biggest example. He is honestly a completely different parent in this sequel than SUN; it’s jarring. You could even say this for the main couple occasionally, but I love them so much that I choose to personally ignore that critique cause I did want to enjoy this finale as much as I could. They are the reason this rating is as high as it is, but I may lower it in the future as I mull over the ending.

I wish this duology was a trilogy because too much happened in this book in a short period of time. I didn’t even realize this was the finale until those final 40ish pages when all of the plots were coming together. I don’t think readers have enough time with the Night Empress’ backstory nor the world building (vampire world) as a whole. I felt like I was given crumbs when all I wanted was the whole cake.

Overall, the story feels rushed in a multitude of ways, so I was disappointed. The best part of this duology (besides the trio 🤭) was realizing I’m a BIG fan of Rin’s writing; I can’t wait to finally read my copy of The Bone Witch and read the rest of their backlog!

Thank you to @sagapressbooks for the gifted copies!

Thank you to Saga Press and NetGalley for the review copy!

Unfortunately I didn’t like this book as much as Silver Under Nightfall. I still loved the characters but the pacing was a mess. There were way too many sex scenes and they felt very disruptive to the plot, so I never felt fully engaged in the story being told. Also, the last ~30% had a lot of reveals and twists that felt unearned.

Remi continued to be a very compelling main character to follow, I loved exploring all of his relationships and friendships, that was definitely the strongest part of this book for me. I even think I would read another book following him in the future if that ever happened.

Overall, this feels pretty middle of the road. There were things I loved but they were massively overshadowed by the things that I didn't.

2.5/5 ⭐️

I feel bad putting this in the 2 ⭐️ ranking, but I just cannot recommend this book to anyone. I enjoyed the first book in this series, (I didn't love it, like I know a lot of other people have) but this sequel was just not good.

There's just no tension, at all - there's a lack of tension in the developing relationship between Remy, Malekh, and Xiaodan and there was nothing really driving the plot forward. The action was lacking and the few moments we had of it were poorly written. The majority of this book was just court politics, which I normally find interesting in fantasy books, but it was so incredibly boring and never really mattered. The ending was a hot mess and felt rushed, which is wild considering how slow most of the book felt.

There was one character in particular who had a complete 180 and was just a completely different person in this. I thought there was going to be set-up for a redemption arc, but there was nothing, very confusing.

Thank you to NetGalley, Rin Chupeco and Saga Press for my access to this.

Silver Under Nightfall was a surprise delight for me– an absolutely over-the-top Castlevania with more romance and some queer rep. Court of Wanderers picks up immediately where Silver Under Nightfall ends.

Most reviews I’ve seen say this book pales in comparison to the first. While I agree, I think this still has merit and I still enjoyed it. First, I’m a vampire aficionado and adored how we get a little bit more of Malaysian vampire lore here. Second, the first 30% of the book or so is a kind of low stakes slice-of-life except set in a vampire castle– so charming! Finally, it wraps up in a satisfying way. I agree the political drama is overwrought and the pacing is very off, but I still thought it was fun.

I was provided and ARC of this book via Netgalley, however I opted to listen to the final publication version of the audiobook. As always all opinions are my own.

This picks up where book one leaves off, Remy and his vampire companions Malekh and Xioadan are pitted against the Night Empress and are working to broker peace between the vampires and the human realms. Strange abominations are still plaguing the realm, and the trio must ally with the other vampire courts to defeat the Night Empress and her growing contingent. Remy's romantic relationship continues to deepen with the vampire pair as learns more about the vampire court and their customs. He also learns more about his mother and how his parents met.

There was alot going on in this book. I loved Silver Under Nightfall, but this fell a bit short. As with book 1 it was far too long, but unlike book 1 it lacked the engaging pacing and action to keep the reader interested. This keeps up with the court politics, but it was lacking the character development I was expecting from Remy and his partners. It mainly focused on the physical aspects of their relationship, which is fine, but I wanted to see more of their emotional connection develop on the page. I was expecting a bit more of a complex plot with the various court leaders, the Night Empress, and the human contingent. Things kind of resolve conveniently without the action we saw in the first book. There are too many characters to keep track of, and I feel that took away from the tension and suspense we felt in book 1.

Court of Wanderers by Rin Chupecho is a great read and a wonderful sequel to the first book in the Reaper series Silver Under Nightfall. A fantasy full of romance, deception, and the ups and downs of family, this book offers all the action and spice needed for a great read. I really like Chupecho’s positive representation of a poly relationship through the main characters. Remy Zidan, and Lady Song continue the fight against the Night Empress; working with Remy’s father to unite the interests of vampires and humans against this deadly foe, who turns out to be more than expected. Fantastic read and great duology, I highly recommend!

I always have such a great time reading Chupeco’s books, I love their writing style and action packed stories. Silver Under Nightfall is one of my top reads for this year, I’m seriously obsessed with it. I was hoping Court of Wanderers would be just as incredible, but unfortunately it didn’t reach the same level as the first installment. However, I did really enjoy Court of Wanderers and the conclusion to Remy’s story! I love the action sequences and the vibes were immaculate. I appreciated the continued character development for Remy, Xiaodan, and Zidan - as well as adding in more info and scenes with the side characters. I can’t wait to see what Chupeco comes out with next!

Thank you to NetGalley, Saga Press, and the author for the early copy!

I was really looking forward to reading this one, because I read the first book a couple years ago and loved it.

If you are looking for a book with a MMF throuple with two vampires and a vampire reaper, check out this series!

Even though it has been two years since I read the first book, it was easy to remember where the story ended with that book and pick up at the beginning of this book.

The first half or so of this book seemed to drag a bit, which was a bit disappointing, but the action really picked up in the second half.

This one is still good and enjoyable, but it seemed to lack some of the spark and excitement the first book had. That doesn’t seem to be uncommon with books that are part of a series, in my experience.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy of the book.

3.75 stars rounded to 4

I liked this book enough, but not as much as I enjoyed silver under nightfall. The tone just felt different and It almost felt like an entirely different series. The character development wasn’t anywhere near the first book. It just felt lacking, and I can’t put my finger on why. The polyamory rep was a nice change of pace from a lot of other books. But overall I think what I was expecting in the storyline itself was something entirely different and maybe that’s on me.

I got an ARC of this book.

I loved the first book. Then the publisher emailed me about the second. I was beside myself excited. I definitely freaked out and told everyone I knew that I had gotten the sequel of the queer polyam vampire wildness. No one was prepared for me to read the sequel, especially not my daughter.

My daughter has a wonderful/terrible sense of timing. Every single time there was a sex scene, she walked in. Every. Single. Time. There was a lot more sex in this one, but it was not overly graphic. I wish it was a bit more graphic, because hot damn. This triad is HOT. I need to know every detail. It is pretty rare when I want more details in sex scenes. But I NEED to know exactly how Malehk bottoms. I want to know exactly how Xiaodan tops. GIVE ME THE DETAILS.

This book was wild. There was so much happening. The world of the vampires was really fleshed out. There was less human political intrigue, which is a big bonus. Vampires have more drama and grudges. It felt like the natural evolution of this story. It really just grew and became even more fascinating. It felt like the perfect addition to the world. There was a higher focus on the interpersonal intrigue than in building up the world. So it felt like more happened, but it also felt a little bit less shocking.

I don’t even really know where to start with why I liked this book. It was perfect. It had so many intense characters. It really showed the growth of Remy. Remy feels more like an adult in this one. He was actually engaging in the world instead of raging against it. He was an equal to the vampires in his contributions. It just felt like the best character growth for him. There was still some rage, but it felt more like he was picking his battles and setting boundaries instead of being a mess.

I can see so many other places this story can go. Doing a prequel about Xiaodan would be perfect or Remy’s mother. I just need more of these characters. I feel satisfied with how everything happened and where things ended, but I don’t want to let go.

Things I told my partners out of context:

Well, the MC just learned what a dildo and yogurt were.

Grumpy man says he is a switch, bet he is a power bottom.

THE SUN IS GONE.

The sun is back?

Does his mom see his sex dreams?

Vampire nuns!!!!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Court of Wanderers was able to achieve a better sense of self than it's prequel, Silver Under Nightfall. Remy goes through more growth this time around. I liked the plot line of this one a lot more than the first, and it was overall a satisfying conclusion to most of the lingering plot threads from the first book. However I put it at a 3 out of 5 because some characters are just totally different from book 1 to this one, especially Remy's dad. The relationship between Xiaodan/Remy/Malekh prioritizes the two straight pairings (Xiaodan/Malekh, Xiaodan/Remy), over Remy and Malekh. Remy gets to tell Xiaodan to her face that he loves her and she loves him back, but I don't really think there were equal moments of tenderness with Malekh. The whole threesome relationship is very uneven and I'm not a huge fan of that.

3.5/5 stars

This is the finale of the delightfully queer, gothic, epic fantasy filled with blood, intrigue, and complex relationships that started with Silver Under Nightfall.

Remy, the vampire hunter, along with his royal vampire companions, Lord Zidan Malekh and Lady Xiaodan Song, need to confront the formidable Night Empress and prevent her from shattering the fragile peace between humans and vampires.

Remy's character arc is front and center as he confronts his past and grapples with his issues with both of his parents. The dynamics between the trio of protagonists/lovers are a highlight of the story, with their complex relationships adding depth and emotion to the story. This is the aspect that we all loved in the first book. When their romance and their backstories are front and center, I really enjoyed this book.

While the world-building is somewhat intriguing, I had a whole lot of difficulties with the pacing and I would suggest that it struggles to maintain momentum. There is far less character growth and emotional depth. There was just SO. MUCH. LORE that didn't really seem to matter to the story.

I enjoyed this at times, but I was bored a whole lot of the time. This shines when the triad is interacting and there just wasn't enough of that to really make this stand out like the first book.

Thanks to the publisher, netgalley, and the author. This review is based on a complimentary pre-released copy and it is voluntary.

I’m not sure what happened between Silver under nightfall and this but it felt like this was rushed and just didn’t hold my interest. You almost have to question if this was actually written by the same author.

As someone who loved Rin's bone witch series, and the first book in this, I was SO disappointed in this book. It was not enjoyable, left me with so many unanswered questions, and went in very weird directions storyline and plot wise that I didn't think would happen based off of book 1. I will unfortunately not be recommending this to my audience.

Hmm. I'm not sure how to write this review. Did I enjoy Court of Wanderers? Yes. Was it as good as Silver Under Nightfall? No, not even close. The amount of environments, character changes, and overall plot development that is in Court of Wanderers makes it feel like this was originally planned to be a trilogy and for whatever reason got cut down to a duology. The book 100% needed more time to breathe. Either that, or a lot of editing is needed to cut down the focus.

Elements that were still fantastic? Remy/Xiodan/Malekh. I loved all of their interactions in book one and love them just as much in book two. I do wish there was more development between Malekh and Remy. I was expecting there to be with the way Xiodan talked about the two of them, but it fell flat (or too lusty).

Thank you Netgalley and Saga Press for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to NetGalley and Saga Press for the early copy in exchange for an honest review. Sadly, I dropped the book at 20% of the way through.

Yeah, uh, people weren't kidding about this being disappointing. My original complaint with the first book was how fast-paced it was and this goes even faster out of spite. It's not really that compelling to be yeeted at 50 mph with a million plot points thrown at you, in my opinion. Disappointing. :(

Oozing with tricky vampire court politics, complicated mommy and daddy issues, and lots of passionate queer love, Court of Wanderers is a bloody fun conclusion to Rin Chupeco’s dangerously addictive Reaper duology.

Court of Wanderers picks up right where Silver Under Nightfall left off, and Chupeco wastes no time catching you up on what happened before. I personally really enjoyed how smoothly the narrative continued on, though I’ll have to admit that I was quite glad to have re-read book 1 right before diving into this sequel, so all the details were fresh in my mind.

We reconnect with Remy, our favourite himbo vampire hunter who is not really shining in his vampire hunter duties anymore since he may or may not have fallen in love with two vampires. And if that wasn’t enough, he is now haunted by dreams of the dangerous Night Empress, who is quite possibly his own mother. If it wasn’t already clear, things are rather messy, and I ate it up.

For me, Court of Wanderers is an improvement over its predecessor, though at the same time I can acknowledge that the plot and pacing in book 1 were stronger. This sequel lacks the enticing mystery element that made Silver Under Nightfall so addictive, and instead focuses much more on Remy’s inner turmoil and all the messy emotions and confusing romantic feelings between these characters.

I personally really enjoyed this shift in the narrative because I am complete and utter trash for this little found family of chaos queers, but I can see how more plot-driven readers might be disappointed with Court of Wanderers. In many ways, this sequel almost tiptoes the line of cozy fantasy with all its slice of life elements, except throw in some bloody murders, dangerously seductive vampires, and horrific monstrous mutations. And weird as it may sound, that absolutely worked for me.

The character development in Court of Wanderers was simply exceptional, and I especially loved diving more into Remy’s mommy and daddy issues. Normally I am not a big fan of dream sequences in my fantasy, but I think Chupeco executed them to perfection here by having them carry so much emotional weight.

The dangerous dynamic between Remy and the Night Empress had me glued to the page, and I really enjoyed how the remaining mysteries of this story unravelled through these intense dream sequences. And near the end, there were some weirdly touching moments between Remy and his parents that honestly bled me dry in the best way possible; I was truly revelling in the emotional turmoil of it all.

Personally, I think Court of Wanderers could have been even stronger if it had committed to being a fully character-driven narrative. As it is, there are some slightly convoluted vampire court politics and rather rushed battles introduced in the later half of the story, which I honestly struggled to stay invested in.

That said, there was still more than enough quiet down time with these characters, and ultimately I was very satisfied with the amount of character and relationship building we got. With Remy now posing as the familiar of Lady Xiaodan and Lord Malekh, their beautiful queer romance really gets its time to shine. Most of the steamy scenes are still fade-to-black, which I appreciated, but all the amusing sexy innuendos and dangerous levels of seduction gave this story a smoking hot touch that could light even the coldest of hearts on fire.

Moreover, the closer look into the vampire courts really fleshed out Chupeco’s unique take on vampire lore, which I was very much intrigued by. While this story is filled with plenty of beloved vampire tropes, I personally loved how it stands out from the crowd through the authentic Filipino influences that are woven into the history and lore of this world; this story just feels comfortably familiar and refreshingly inventive in all the best ways.

All in all, I am left utterly satisfied with Court of Wanderers, and I think Chupeco absolutely nailed their vision for this duology brilliantly. Deliciously dark, chaotically queer, and dangerously seductive, the Reaper duology is a damnably fun high fantasy story that fans of Jenn Lyon’s A Chorus of Dragons series and Jay Kristoff’s Empire of the Vampire will love to sink their teeth into.

Thank you to NetGalley and Saga Press for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Court of Wanderers is the second novel in, Filipino author, Rin Chupeco's Castylvania inspired duology centering around Remy Pendergast, a vampire hunter, who falls in love with two royal vampires, Lord Zidan Malekh and Lady Xiaodan Song.

The trio is making their way to Fata Morgana, the center of Malehk's court aka the Court of Wanderers where they hope that gravely injured Xiaodan can be healed. Along the way Remy encounters his repugnant father who is the antithesis of his heroic and yet kind son. When the Night Empress begins to invade Remy's dreams he begins to wonder about her connection to his own mother and grows concerned about what he may have inherited in his own blood line from his mom.

Chupeco's words brings to life stunning visuals like haunting vampiric trees and Remy's eerie surreal dreams as well as epic vampire battles. This will appeal to those who like high fantasy action/adventure and court intrigue with an added spicy dash of polyamourous romance mixed in. Consent between the members of the throuple and the meaning of love both fleeting and eternal is explored.

After loving Silver Under Nightfall, I was fully expecting Court of Wanderers to live up to that as a sequel. Sadly, however, I found myself disappointed by it. Maybe it's a case of having read book 1 at the right time and that, in the 2 years since its release, I've changed that much as a reader. That, I think, can account for part of it. The other part was just the oddness of the pacing. For much of the book, Remy and his two love interests (whose names escape me momentarily) are entirely separate from the action that was established in the first book - namely defeating Remy's mother. They're just doing their own thing! Which would make sense if their own thing felt at all connected with that main plot (it does, eventually, reveal itself to be). Instead it's like two parallel plots running, before Remy and co are suddenly dumped into the other plot and we have to do a quick rundown of everything that's happened off page since they were last deciding to involve themselves. Basically, it just didn't feel integrated enough. As ever, though, all readers are different and what didn't work for me may well prove not an issue for others.