***Thank you to Saga Press for providing a copy of Court of Wanderers via NetGalley. My review contains my honest thoughts about my reading experience.***

I think a lot of people who enjoyed the monster hunter vibes of Silver Under Nightfall will be extremely disappointed with Court of Wanderers. There wasn't nearly as much action in this book, and the mutated creatures that featured prominently in the first story did not have as much of a role to play in this one. Instead, the emphasis was on vampire court politics and the mysteries behind the return of the First Court. I enjoyed those aspects of the book, though, at least until we got the answers. It was all unnecessarily complex, and the slow pace throughout really took some work to muddle through.

That being said, I enjoyed the additions to the world-building in Court of Wanderers. I loved the history of the vampire courts and all of their political squabbling. The lack of depth to the courts was one of my main misgivings about the first book, and it was definitely remedied here. I also enjoyed how much perspective the additional information gave about the events of the first story. So much of the vampire lore was tangled up in Remy's history in ways I didn't expect. I just wish it had come together in a way that wasn't so convoluted. I'm not sure if the lack of clarity was a product of bad writing, plot holes, or both.

Other than all the cool lore, my favorite thing about Court of Wanderers was the characters and their relationships. Remy's arc of learning to accept being loved was given more depth, and the polyamorous trio were fantastic together. It was such a caring, loving relationship, and I adored all the scenes with them together. The tense dynamic from the first book blossomed into a truly beautiful and reciprocal relationship. Remy also had a bit of an identity crisis and had to make big decisions about his future. He learned a lot about his heritage and even had a reckoning with his father. The other characters didn't have quite as much depth, but I still enjoyed them, too.

All in all, Court of Wanderers was a very different book from its predecessor. In some ways that was good, and in others it was not. The slow pace, decrease in action, and borderline incomprehensible resolution of the plot will likely put some people off. I was totally there for the vampire politics and the great polyamorous rep, though, and did enjoy those aspects of the book. I would love to get more stories in this world, and I will definitely be re-reading this duology to see if I can make a bit more sense of all the twists and how everything fits together. Therefore, I give Court of Wanderers a rating of 3.25 out of 5 stars.

I’m being generous with 3.25 stars to be honest. It pains me to say that because I loved Silver Under Nightfall so much and I’ve told so many people to read it! and I still will…but as a stand-alone

The first half of this sequel wasn’t too bad, I was enjoying the banter between Remy and Malekh a lot. It was a tad spicier (still relatively closed door or just not graphic) but we do head into kink territory! The throuple relationship truly is the one saving grace in this book. However there wasn’t a ton more development persay, and there definitely wasn’t the same tension here from the first book.

I had such a hard time following this plot. There were a lot of new characters from different vampire courts introduced, but none of them felt distinct from each other so I couldn’t keep track of who was who and where their political loyalties were. It felt like there were multiple kind of plot twists (for lack of a better word) happening and the plot got really convoluted. I love political fantasies, but this was poorly done because it moved very slow and felt like a really different world almost from the first book. Idk there was a lot of new world building which seems strange for the second book in a duology.

The action scenes, which were so fun to read in the first book, in this were sparse and very quick. Every conflict seemed to be resolved too easily (this was a bit of my critique in the first book as well, but was exacerbated here). Monsters like weren’t the focus anymore??

It also definitely could’ve been at least 100 pages shorter.

Graphic: Blood and Violence
Moderate: Child death, Dementia, Genocide, War, Sexual content, Colonisation, and Death
Minor: Abandonment, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship (discussed from a side characters past)

Overly excited to see this e-arc show up on my kindle! Although half way through the hype sorta died down for me.
The majority of the plot lines felt out of place for me, there was almost zero build up or set up from book one so these scenes felt completely odd to me. I loved the character dynamics of the relationship between Remy, Malekh, and Xiaodan. I do love a good smutty scene, for some reason, the pacing of those scenes were too much and added no value to the plot.
Scenes that should have seamlessly advanced the plot instead felt out of place, failing to captivate me as book 1 did.
Despite these shortcomings, there was one aspect of the book that managed to shine: the dynamic relationships between Remy, Malekh, and Xiaodan. This trio's interactions are no exception. Remy, You deserve everything!
Overall this was a fairly decent ending to the duology. I will miss these characters.

Thank you NetGalley and Saga Press for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

When I tell you this was one of my most anticipated reads of 2024, I am not exaggerating! Silver Under Nightfall was one of my favorite reads of 2023 and when Court of Wanders was delivered to my mailbox, I’m pretty sure I squealed! It has everything you could ever want in a fantasy novel - epic battles, dangerous adventures, VAMPIRES, doom worthy mysteries, heartfelt emotion, lovable characters, mayhem, PIGEONS, comedic relief, romance….oh and did I mention VAMPIRIC PIGEONS!!! As someone who is obsessed with both pigeons and vampire books - this duology is a must read!!

🫶 Found Family
🧛🏻‍♂️ Vampires
🧬 Mutating Genes
🖤 Polyamorous Romance
🗺️ Adventure
🔍 Mystery
❤️‍🩹 Emotional
📜 Politics
⚔️ Action
💀 Gothic Epic Fantasy

I absolutely loved this just as much as the first and cannot wait to see what Rin Chupeco will come up with next!

Thank you so much to Saga Press for the advanced copy!

3/5

Thank you so much to Saga Press and Netgalley for providing me with the eARC. All opinions are honest and my own.

This is the sequel to Silver Under Nightfall and one of my most anticipated reads of this year. I was absolutely ecstatic when I was approved for the ARC. Unfortunately this just didn’t pack the punch that its prequel had.

This book is rather heavy on the Court politics, which is quite the deviation from its predecessor. While some of the action retained the dynamic imagery and scene writing that I loved about the first book, most of the action scenes felt messy. The politics also felt messy, not inherently because of the writing, but because of the lack of set-up from the first book. It honestly felt like I was reading a different duology sometimes. The worldbuilding just doesn’t quite match. Or there was just too much worldbuilding in this book for a world that was largely built already.

The relationship between Remy, Malekh, and Xiaodan was one of the best parts of Silver Under Nightfall, driving the story with their interplay. However, it feels like that tension and complexity was lost in this book, replaced by ill-timed sex scenes (not poorly written, just out of place and overdone). The excitement from the first book had also disappeared into thin air by this point, and new characters were introduced as an afterthought.

Despite its flaws, I did enjoy diving back into this world and seeing their evolving relationship dynamic. And while the politics felt messy, it wasn’t confusing. I truly loved the prequel (gave it 5 stars), and just really wanted to love this one too.

Honestly, I'd recommend treating Silver Under Nightfall as a standalone. Or maybe treat this one as a standalone since comparison seems to be the root of all disappointment.

Rin Chupeco is one of my favorite authors! The way they weave this romance, the intricate world building and political intrigue, and the funny banter is hilarious. Absolutely adored this one !!!

This book was definitely one of my most anticipated books of 2024 and I am more than thankful to have gotten an ARC of this book. Truthfully it held true to many of the aspects that made Silver Under Nightfall so good including the inclusion of polyamorous relations, action, 3 dimensional characters, and the use of politics as a means to drive the story forward. And at moments it had me feeling all sorts of emotions ranging from sadness to pure joy at just what transpired in the story. As what can I say Xiaodan, Malekh, and Remy are just so entertaining to watch as they go on their adventures. Truly the only thing I can knock this work for is that I felt that the godflame was kind of a ass pull at times and wish it was done better. I don't know it kinda just left a sour taste but it did also add to the shock value of the story so this conniption might just be a me thing who knows.

I liked the action. I liked the family interaction for Remy. His parents were not all bad. Still do not care for the thrumple.

3.5 rounded up to 4. While not having quite the same bite as its predecessor, Court of Wanderers was a decent close to this Castlevania-inspired duology.

I never wanted this book to end!

I loved returning to Remy, Xiaodan, and Malekh. I just love the relationship they have and I'm so happy for the polyamorous representation that this duololgy has!

Their relationship aside, I really enjoyed the story that was building up around them. We get to see more court politics and more information is revealed about Remy and his mother. There is mystery and all the dark gothic almost horror vibes as Remy, Xiaodan, and Malekh try to end the brewing war and bring peace between the Kindred and humans.

I thought everything was really well done and it is a solid ending to the story, though I wouldn't be mad if there was more! We got to see a lot of characters develop and grow. The world building was well done and I found myself sucked back into the story as if I had never left in the first place. This duology has definitely made it into my top vampire books and I will be forcing everyone to read it.

There was a lot to love about Court of Wanderers: Malekh, Xiaodan, Remy, and Elke, primarily. I loved their interactions and their banter, I loved that Malekh and Xiaodan continue to simp for Remy.

What I didn’t love, besides the absolutely terrible cover, was the lack of tension. Huge pivotal fights were resolved in a couple of pages. If a problem was introduced, I didn’t have any sense of worry for my faves, because there was immediately a solution and there were rarely any long lasting consequences.

I went into this forearmed with the knowledge that a lot of my favorite reviewers were disappointed in this as a sequel. And I think that helped me enjoy it more, because I went in with low expectations, so I was pleasantly surprised by the parts that I really did enjoy.

Overall, I didn’t hate it. I think it was trying to cram too much plot and gotcha reveals into it to live up to the excellence of Silver Under Nightfall. I would have loved to see more moments like Remy training the fourth court kids and less about oh the mutant vampires attacked again but we managed to stop it in three pages!

Overall this is 3.25/5 stars for me. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This book was such a dissapointment following Silver Under Nightfall. I was excited to get back into the story of Remy, Xiaodan, Malek, and Elka. Instead it was a book that used sex again and again with no real purpose to the plot. The first book had complexities to the relationship between these three, now it was oh this small plot thing happened....sex scene....a little more plot....sex

While the book had some length, only half had any real substance. The action sequences that filled the pages of the first fell flat in this one.

The characters all fell flat for me or acted so out of character, specifically Remy's father... was it even the same person?!

If you're looking for a great follow up to the Reaper Series this is not what you want....it's better left where it was...

I'm finding it difficult to put into words the disappointment I feel in this sequel. I loved the first book when I stumbled upon it on TikTok! And while there were some good parts of this book, nothing that I fell in love with in the first book was present in this one. I thought we'd get more of Malekh in this book, he seemed largely absent? I still love Rin Chupeco, and will be a fan for life! But this was a miss for me unfortunately.

While I did not enjoy this book as much as the first in the series there were some parts I ended up enjoying. The writing and story on this one did not seem to be at the same level. The first half of the book was slower than expected considering how much the plot had ramped up at the end of Silver Under Nightfall. I wanted to continue to ride that wave, but instead the characters did a whole lot of waiting around while very little that mattered to the greater story happened. If they had used this time to further deepen the relationship between the characters it would have been worth it, but unfortunately that didn’t really happen either.
Once I got through all that though, the back half of the book was a much more interesting read for me. The story fell back into some of the things that were fun and enjoyable about the plot in the first one. And I did like the twist at the end.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. As a 2nd half to this duology it may not have been the strongest. But overall I had a alright time with this book. It just did not have the magic that the first one gave me. If you really loved the first book, you should absolutely still give this book a try! If nothing else, than to see the characters you loved through to the end.

As a fervent admirer of Rin Chupeco's captivating, "Silver Under Nightfall," I entered the eagerly anticipated conclusion to the Reaper duology, "Court of Wanderers," with high hopes and bated breath. However, my enthusiasm quickly waned as I encountered a narrative fraught with pacing issues, a disproportionate focus on plot and politics, and an abundance of inconsistencies that detracted from the overall enjoyment of the story.

One of the most glaring flaws of "Court of Wanderers" lies in its pacing, which felt like a tedious slog from start to finish. Whereas the first book masterfully balanced action and intrigue, the sequel struggles to maintain momentum, leaving readers longing for the sense of urgency and excitement that propelled the series forward.

Moreover, the narrative's preoccupation with plot and politics comes at the expense of character development, a key strength of its predecessor. The richly drawn characters that once leapt off the page with vibrancy and depth now feel overshadowed by the intricacies of the overarching plot, which sometimes left our main trio relegated to the sidelines of their own story.

Adding to the disappointment are the numerous inconsistencies scattered throughout the narrative, which serve to further undermine the reader's immersion in the world of the Reaper duology. These inconsistencies create a sense of discordance that disrupts the flow of the story, making it difficult to fully invest in the unfolding events.

While it does retain some of the strengths of its predecessor, namely Chupeco's witty banter between characters and intricate world-building, it ultimately falls short in its execution. For fans of the Reaper duology, "Court of Wanderers" may prove to be a bittersweet conclusion, but I will never stop recommending Silver Under Nightfall to my fellow readers.

A huge thank you to Saga Press and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

2 stars.

Thank you to Rin Chupeco and Saga Press for an ARC in exchange for my full, honest review!

Man, this was a bummer. I read Silver Under Nightfall at the end of last year and really enjoyed it, particularly the characters and writing. Here, the characters feel a lot less interesting and central to the narrative and there's just too much new information and too many new characters for the second book in a duology.

I didn't really enjoy the action scenes in the first book because I don't enjoy action in general but here it didn't even seem like there was a point to the fighting. Half the book is just various new characters, all political figures, bickering over tables only to come to the expected conclusion after info-dumping for a few pages. The sex in the first book was a little copious but it was fun and created tension in the relationship between Malakh, Xiodan, and Remy because it's difficult to figure out where the lust ends and the love begins. Here, it felt like sex was inserted into scenes specifically to keep the reader from getting bored of the endless winding political conversations. The three literally have a long discussion of politics while fucking, but the sex elements felt like they were just added afterwards to make the scene less boring.

There are some nice moments between characters but largely they seem to be going over the same points again and again. I was excited when Elke entered again but she's lost so much of her bite. The twists in the book lost so much impact because they relied on you being able to keep up with the convoluted family trees and political affiliations of every single character.

I wanted to like this, but I think the first book is better off as a standalone. There are unanswered questions, of course, because this was always meant to be a series, but you aren't really missing out on a lot of enjoyment or satisfaction from the second book. I always say give it a try, but if you don't like the first 50 pages, you won't like the rest of it.

Happy reading!

After raving about Silver Under Nightfall to everyone I know, I'm a bit more reticent to do so for Court of Wanderers. I'm not sure why this book veered course so drastically in certain characters and their development. Namely, Remy's father?? He's a completely different person and we are given no reason for why this sudden shift in...everything!
It took me a lot longer to get sucked into the sequel, probably because a lot of this book focused on court politics. I wonder if this duology had been split into a trilogy all of the action and details could have been properly spaced out. Plus, it would have allowed for more believable character development.
Overall, a semi-disappointing sequel to one of my favorite vampire books.

This was a good series and it does feel like it ends with this book though the world could be gone back to for a future story. The character development was good and the setting well described. I wasn’t expecting a threesome romance to be the center of the story from the description of book one but it worked well in the story. If you’re a fan of vampire stories this is a good one!

I loved being back with these characters so much! Silver Under Nightfall was amazing and totally surprised me. Court of Wanderers was my most anticipated book of 2024. And sadly it didn't live up to all the hype I had for it in my head. I still enjoyed it a lot but the plot felt muddled for most of the story. I'm still giving the story an overall 4 stars because I love these characters so much. If we get future installments or spinoffs or anything, I hope they are more along the lines of SUN instead of COW.

Whew, that was a wild ride. Thank you to Saga Press for an e-ARC!

I read book one maybe a week ago and was instantly pulled into the world and wanted to fight anyone who stood in Remy's way. I still felt this way during the second book, but so much was happening that I sometimes felt lost in the action. I wish the duology was stretched out to a trilogy so we could explore their relationship more (maybe a chapter of them all out on a date), maybe a more explicit behind the door scene of them (mainly so we could just more interaction beyond being told that they loved on another), some POVs and just overall more time to flesh out the world and other characters. Without those pieces, it feels somewhat underdeveloped. Because of that, I'd give the series overall a 3.5.

I expected Court of Wanderers to be darker, especially with Remy entering the lion's den, but everything felt subdued and not as serious, even with the murders occurring. I never truly felt afraid for him, more that he needed a vacay...stat.

The parts that I really enjoyed during this book were:
- Remy getting to spend time with his dad & mom (although...did Remy technically forgive him for stealing his blood/whoring him out?!)
- Zidan opening up to Remy more (I loved their banter and that they could handle each others roughness)
- Remy constantly getting saved but not really being a damsel since he kicks ass (also they respected him more for it)

I really enjoyed many elements of this duology and am sad to be done reading, but it didn't live up to the energy that the first installment evoked. I am interested in the authors previous work and hope to see more from them soon.