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.

Well dang. I loved Silver over Nightfall and was excited to get into book two. I don’t know if it was that it was an ebook v audiobook experience that made this one less enjoyable but it just felt like the pacing was all over the place and plot didn’t feel as tight or compelling as the first.
Overall I was a bit bored and disappointed it didn’t live up to the first one.

Thanks to Netgalley and Saga Press for an eARC.

2.5 stars

I refuse to believe that this is the sequel to one of my favorite books of all time. Even months after reading this I can't process the dramatic drop in quality (both in the cover art and the content). This sequel did not deliver any of the development or character moments that I was hoping for. I think the book’s biggest flaw is its attempt to be plot-focused rather than character-focused. The strength of this series is the characters and their relationship. Rather than providing any meaningful development for Remy, Xiaodan, and Malekh, Court of Wanderers is a messy, rushed attempt at political world-building plagued by plot holes and inconsistencies.

The plot of Court of Wanderers lacks everything that made Silver Under Nightfall interesting. The monsters are barely present, the action scenes are dull and rare, and there is no drama or tension. The political fantasy plot was boring and honestly didn’t make any sense. There is an unreasonable amount of brand-new world-building for a second book. We are introduced to so many new concepts that feel tacked on to the world established in Silver Under Nightfall. They are inconsistent and boring and yet dominate the story. Entire plot threads are completely dropped, the logic behind decisions is often unclear, and characters from the first book are not consistent.

The change in Remy’s father from book one to book two actually pissed me off. It's not even a redemption arc. He just acts like a completely different person in this book. And it completely undermines the abuse and suffering Remy experienced at his hand.

There are moments in this book that remind me why I loved Silver Under Nightfall. These are almost entirely relationship moments between Remy, Xiaodan, and Malekh. Though I still loved their dynamic I am devastated by the lack of proper relationship development. The book relies on sex scenes to give the illusion of a strong relationship rather than putting any effort into growing their bond. I am particularly disappointed that we did not get more time with Malekh. One of my critiques of Silver Under Nightfall was the uneven emphasis on Xiaodan and Remy and sadly Court of Wanderers does nothing to fix this. This book actively robbed me of scenes that I was looking forward to.

I have tried for MONTHS to talk myself into enjoying this book but time has just made me realize how devastated I am. I would have waited years for a sequel worthy of Silver Under Nightfall and as far as I am concerned it is a standalone now.

Thank you NetGalley for the Arc of this book. This is however an honest review .
The beginning of this was good. I loved being back in this world and seeing characters I loved traveling and fighting battles I loved. However it slows down and gets very confusing about 30 % in and stays that way until about the 70% mark.
I had problems with the writing and world building in the middle that just let me feeling confused and disconnected from the story. After 70% things start moving again and making since but I honestly lost interest in the plot because of this. It was still very sexy and had lots of romantic moments ( this book is fade to black but you already know that if you read the first ) . Overall I found this to be a very disappointing sequel to the first, which I loved and gave 5 stars. I’m giving it a generous 3

I’ll start off by saying that while I enjoyed the first book, it wasn’t my absolute favorite thing. I was never so attached to the characters that their alteration would be offensive to me, the way some reviewers seemed to be. So perhaps that’s why I would rate this sequel at about the same level as the first book. But, I do understand and agree with the complaints that a number of characters seemed to have changed quite a bit without real development/explanation in a satisfying way. Remy’s quick shift from vampire hater and hunter to familiar and potential convert was predicable, given the nature of the main relationship. But the shift in his father?? I didn’t think it made a ton of sense and also really cheapened a lot of the plot of Silver Under Nightfall.

But, taking this book on its own, I thought we got a lot of interesting information about the politics of vampires (not all of which made sense) and a lot of background on Remy’s mother, which I enjoyed. In fact, I would have preferred to have gone quite a bit deeper into that. She had all this very justifiable rage over her home being invaded and destroyed and it sort of went… nowhere? Was even erased, it seemed. That was a disappointment for sure.

Pacing wise, the first half of the book felt very unbalanced in its treatment of the relationships vs the rest of the plot. At times this felt like a relationship counseling session on the titanic. all around a boat is sinking, people are screaming and dying, and things are on fire, and our MCs are just looking deeply into each other’s eyes and asking, “but where do YOU see this relationship in five years? I still have baggage and low self esteem from my childhood and I am afraid you’ll get tired of me” meanwhile the world is on fire and everyone may not survive long enough to have any of this even come up. like, maybe worry about if you will live another 5 years before we worry about whether a throuple can all get married to each other or…?

Once I hit around 50%, we shifted away from a lot of the throuple stuff and went almost completely into all action, all of the time, with a murder mystery, then so many battles, and a big conclusion. I actually think this book shone the most during the murder mystery portion; there was intrigue, clues, character development, and twists foreshadowed well in advance. It was fun and when it was resolved with way too much book left, I was wary. Ultimately the last 25% of the book went essentially the same as the last 25% of the first, with lots of action, bloody battle scenes, and emotional reaffirmations from our main throuple.

Other things I was disappointed in: the lack of consequences or exploration of the ethics of the mutations. It really felt like the characters went, well those were gross but useful, and shrugged. The horror of the mutations was such an interesting addition to the first book! Why are they just shrugging them away? Also, the lack of resolution regarding Remy’s decision to become a vampire. I assume that he will do so one day, but how that impacts his inheritance is confusing, and I assume he’s going to become the type his mother was? I have a lot more interest in that aspect of the plot than the repeated rehashing of who kidnapped his mother (I didn’t particularly care if she cheated on her husband and didn’t need her to be rehabbed so thoroughly there).

So. that’s a lot of disappointment and negative thoughts, but my overall experience wasn’t actually all that negative. I think the writing style is very similar to silver under nightfall (obviously), the pacing felt fairly similar, maybe even a little faster here, and a lot of things were brought up that I was interested in. I guess I just wish it has been more consistent with the first book and provided more depth to some of the plot points.

Thank you to NetGalley for this e-arc. I want to preface this review to say I didn't hate this book, but I don't know what happened between book 1 and this one. It lost all its magic. I was so bored for 70% of this book, because absolutely nothing was happening. There was too much focus on the big meeting at the allpriory and not enough action. I really had to force myself to read. Once we finally hit a stride at around 70% the book got interesting for me. I really enjoyed Edgar Pendergast in this book. He was the most interesting character in the second half. I feel like it could have ended after the first betrayal reveal and the scenes with Edgar, Remy. and Ligaya on the beach didn't really add anything.
Regardless this book was fine. I just wish it would have had the same spark as the first.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this ARC.

Silver Under Nightfall was one of my favorite reads of the new year, and I was so excited to get more gothic vampire horror with Remy, Xiaodan, and Malek. The biggest theme that resonated with me in this sequel is the ability to depart from what is expected of you and remake yourself at any time. Several vampires have overcome traumatic pasts and rebuilt themselves into formidable opponents in battle and politics, and Remington follows his heart and truth, demanding visibility and respect, even when it disappoints his father. The plot of this sequel involved a lot more world-building and court politics than the first, liberally interspersed with monster slaying horror gore and the hottest sweetest threesome relationship development. That being said, I am a gay deviant at my core and I wish there was more sex! The author teased a lot of kinks without resolution and I'd die for an erotica spinoff. The political plot dragged for me at times, because I'm much more invested in the individual characters and relationships.

I was very fortunate to receive an ARC of this book, and what a ride it was from start to finish.

Silver Under Nightfall was a book I read and loved, so to read Court of Wanderers before it came out was a blessing given the cliffhanger. There were things that I liked and things that I thought could have been better about the books.

I liked that there was a clear storyline that flowed from the end of the first book into the second book. Everything started out pretty solid, but there were definitely moments where I felt a bit lost in some of the action events. Part of me feels like this series could have been split into a trilogy. Some of the revealed information felt a bit hurried at times; however, I thought the mystery of everything was done well. It was an interesting chain of events to see where things started and how all of the events and information unraveled.

One thing that I did like was the growth of Remy and Zidan's relationship throughout this book. In the first one, it was obvious that Zidan was much more introverted than Xiaodan, so to see the dynamic between them flourish was so rewarding. I also think this series as a whole does a good job of showing a healthy relationship between three people because they can be their own people while carrying on relationships with each other.

Again, I did enjoy this book and I thought the ending was a great way to conclude the series. My only qualms are I just felt like I was lost at times because things were moving a bit fast or just confusing. I loved the romance and the story! It feels bittersweet for the story to be over, but I'm definitely glad I read this series!

Imgur link goes to Instagram post scheduled for April 3rd
Blog post goes live April 2nd
Will be discussed in March Reads pt 2 on Youtube

**TL;DR:** A pretty good wrap-up to a duology, but with some real unnecessary sexual content.

Overall I really enjoyed Court of Wanderers. This is the final book in the Reaper duology and wraps up Remy, Xiodan, and Malekh’s story. This follows Silver Under Nightfall pretty much immediately as Remy and Malekh take Xiodan to the safety of Malekh’s court headquarters and from there the three work to bring the courts together and to save everyone from the Night Empress.

We’ll talk about the things I really enjoyed first. Unlike a lot of people I do like the poly relationship here. Remy is dense, yes, but as far as a team goes I like them. They were fairly believable in their flaws and how they worked together. I also actually loved how Remy’s family was settled, no spoilers there but I enjoyed that neat tie up. The twist was good, I didn’t see that one coming or to that extent. I also enjoyed the different courts and their leaders.

The biggest issue I had was the sexual content. It was completely unneeded. I say that as someone who LOVES romance, and doesn’t mind sex in my books at all. The sex scenes were fade to black in that they were happening but no in depth details were revealed as they happened. Instead the characters talked about politics while having sex??? And there is a scene where sex is publicly performed for political reasons which felt like nothing more than a ‘tantalize’ moment but it was cold as a cold fish and ultimately felt unneeded. I can’t decide if it was included to be ‘spicy’ or too be sex positive, and either way I feel like it was clumsy and detracted from the story overall. The pacing, because of this being such a weirdly large part of the story, is off in the middle.

If you enjoyed Silver Under Nightfall this does wrap the story up. I enjoyed seeing that, but there are some issues, as noted. But if you want to see a satisfying conclusion it is worth following through.

4 out of 5 Creepy Healing Trees

i really hate to write a review like this but... i just feel so disappointed :(

i LOVED silver under nightfall - it is probably one of my favorite books of all time and i was so excited for this sequel. but maybe too excited? this is a serious case of second book syndrome

the tone of this book is completely different from SUN and unfortunately, not really in a good way. i don't mind political fantasy but i feel it didn't really work in this books favor and i feel like it came out of nowhere. while SUN did include some politics in the world building, it also focused a lot more on character building and establishing relationships while i feel that CoW did the exact opposite. the characters that i grew to love fondly in SUN felt drastically different to me and there was no further character building in this novel.

i love some good political drama in fantasy books but in this book i don't think it worked and that's mainly because of the pacing. the politics dragged on and on for the majority of the novel with a sprinkle of "who done it" mystery and then the last 20% felt incredibly rushed and i just wasn't interested anymore. i almost DNFed this because i was bored.

reading this felt NOTHING like reading the first book and i almost wish i had never picked this up.

A worthy sequel and finale to this fantastic and amazing duology. It was wonderful to revisit these characters and learn more about them. The world building continued quite deftly and brought new characters and situations which enriched this story. It is exciting, fast-paced and sexy.

I devoured this book, just couldn't stop reading, even though I didn't want it to end. Had almost a heart attack because of one of the twists towards the end. Loved the dynamics among the trio, and all the scheming and plotting, and the battles, the whole story.

First and foremost, I would like to thank Netgalley and Saga Press for this arc! My opinions are my own.

After my fantastic experience with reading/listening to Silver Under Nightfall, I was thrilled to go directly into the second and final book of this duology.

I’m afraid that I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the previous novel. I wonder if I would have enjoyed it more if I had listened to the audiobook as I did with the last book, but I don’t think that would be the case. The story felt unorganized in many ways. The pace of the book is extremely slow. It took me way longer than it should have to get through it. I found myself reading an ebook page and immediately wanting to put it down. Even though I enjoyed the political intrigue in the first book, this book almost had too much of it. I honestly zoned out since I couldn’t keep up with who wanted what or hated who. I also found the Night Empress storyline to be confusing.
I still love the characters. I enjoyed seeing Lord Pendergast in a different light this time around. I loved Remy’s dream sequences with him being able to speak to a certain character (don’t want to spoil it). I just wish we could have gotten more development and depth to the story.

Overall, it’s not a bad read and I can see many people being happy with it. I personally just think that the first book was hard to live up to.
3.25 stars

I have very confused and mixed feelings about this second book in this series. I still liked the characters, especially Remy, and the storylines that continued from the first book were nicely tied up by the end, but for most of the story I just felt confused as to what was going on, especially with the vampire politics and some of the battle scenes.

I still really liked Remy, he is still the sweet and kind young man that I remember from the first book, and he seems to be finding himself and his place in the world in this story. I loved his relationship with Xiaodan and Malek. They are all very kind and caring people who love each other. Remy becomes more and more sure of that as the book goes on, even when things are a bit dark for all of them. His relationship with his father, also has some resolution which was nice to see.

My main issue with the book was all of the political intrigue with the vampires. I often felt confused and lost during those chapters. I also had a really hard time keeping track of who was who among the vampires. I think part of this was just that I had forgotten so much from the first book that I just felt it a struggle to keep up. There was one critical point in the story when Remy says something to the effect of, wait what just happened? What is going on? and I was saying to myself, yes, I feel the same way. It did eventually become clearer in that scene but I still felt lost the rest of the time.

The pacing and the writing were also a bit of an issue. The pacing was very slow in bits and there were a lot of chapters where it felt like nothing happened at all. I usually love Ms. Chupeco’s writing, but this book often felt muddled and not well edited. The action sequences and fight scenes were especially hard to follow. But there were also some sections and interactions between characters that were wonderfully written and beautiful and made my heart ache. I don’t like being overly critical of an ARC, as I always hope that some of these issues are fixed before the final publication, but this was a bit underwhelming on the whole.

If you liked the first book then you should give this one a chance. The story is wrapped up nicely even with all of the confusion. I really wished I had reread the first book before tackling this one, I think it might have helped with some of the issues I had. Either that, or perhaps a guide to the characters and the courts they belonged to would be helpful. But, in the end, I am glad that I read this and I did like it, even though it left me feeling a bit muddled.