This is the second in the Talents trilogy, and I would highly recommend that you read the first before reading this, the events from the first carry into this one and I think it would be difficult to follow. And the first one was really really good as well. Cairndale was heavily damaged at the end of the first book, Ordinary Monsters, it was a place where 'talents' could seek refuge and be part of a community of likewise individuals. Talents are, usually, children that can do something magical, like make themselves invisible, or gather dust and use it as a weapon. Marlowe is a young boy who ended up vanishing into an orsine, or a door into another world, his friends, Ribs, Komako, Oskar and Charlie are trying to get him back. They gather in Sicily, the books take place in Victorian Era (1800's) and the description of the place and people brings the era very vividly to life. It is thought that another orsine exists in Sicily and they intend to go into it and retrieve Marlowe, though they aren't sure if he's still alive. There are bad guys, namely drughers that can appear as a human then change into a many limbed monster that can rip you to pieces, the kids have numerous encounters with these bad guys, each time is more scary than the last. Charlie had lost his talent, but while staying with a woman before going to Sicily, he accidently gets infected with the dust that had been in a deceased person. It gives him a talent though not the one he previously had, but one that does come in handy. There is a lot of activity in the story, to the underground world of London (I could almost smell this place the description was so vivid), to the Abbess, another bad person who is also wanting the dust from Charlie for her own purposes. Overall a hugely enjoyable novel and I can't wait for the third. Thanks to #Netgalley and #Flatiron books for the ARC.

I loved the book. This series is amazing and I loved every second of it.

It is perfect for the autumn and really knows how to set the mood. Getting the ARC made me finally pick up the first book in the series and I could not have been more grateful. Now I just have to wait for the third one...

Thank you for sending me a copy!

I really like the world that Miro has created here. His characters are interesting, the theme of found and chosen family, a layered plot, and the atmospheric experience that is heightened by the dark and sinister forces that are cosing in on our favourites. This is a chunky read, but the twists and the world and the characters that Miro writes kept me turning the pages. We are rooting for the good guys but we also want to learn the backstory of the villains. What is motivating their actions and can our little family prevail? Be prepared for loss and some body horror, but also keep an eye out for the tender moments between our favourites. We all need someone in our corner and the family we choose to make can give us hope in dark times.

Author J.M.Miro expands the world of the Talents by introducing more characters, taking us to the Land of the Dead, and deepening the history of the Talents.

The first previous book of “The Talents” series ended in tragedy with various Talents harmed or dead, Marlowe vanished into the land of the dead, and the Charlie, Komako, Alice, Miss Davenshaw, Lymenion, Oskar leaving Cairndale behind them to find a safe haven where they could regroup and determine how to retrieve Marlowe.

Alice and bbb go to France looking for another orsine, while Charlie, who has lost his talent as a result of events in book one, investigates when a body full of corrupted dust is found at Cairndale. He comes into conflict with a stranger, a Talent, Jeta Wajs, who is there for the same reason. Jeta can sense bones, and manipulate them; she injures Charlie and he ends up infected with the corrupted dust.

Charlie seeks help from Caroline Ficke, and the two, along with several glyphs, head to London.

Jeta heads back to London empty-handed, to her boss, crime gang leader Cracker Jack. He’s protected her from his Talent-hating minions, but he’s not impressed with her, as the Abbess, a mysterious, powerful figure, wants the dust, and he can’t deliver.

Nefarious people are hellbent on acquiring the dust, while back at the estate, Komako and Miss Davenshaw are increasingly alarmed, as something is outside the gates, leaving eviscerated bodies nightly. The two rightly fear that someone, likely a drughr, will attack them, and begin training everyone to fight.

Meanwhile, Marlowe is alone and scared in the Land of the Dead, and has only Charlie’s word that he’ll come for him to keep him from panic. He suddenly meets a familiar, and now weirdly not totally unwelcome figure, who does their best to protect Marlowe, while educating him about the history of the Talents, and what Marlowe’s role is amidst this large conflict with its roots in the past.

Miro keeps his focus mostly on these characters this time:
-dear, sweet Charlie, hellbent on finding Marlowe,
-Marlowe, as he makes his way through a nightmarish landscape,
-Jeta Wajs, whose eerie hand graces the cover of the book, and who has been manipulated and hurt by most of the people in her life,
-Miss Ficke, who has protected the former Cairndale Talents, the glyphs, whose bodies appear the least human, and
-Komako, wrestling with her power and responsibilities.

There is never a dull moment in this well-paced door stopper. People are traveling after clues, having violent encounters, and gradually converging on a particular location, the second orsine. At the same time, Marlowe is not sitting on his hands, and despite all he learns, remains the kind, stalwart person he was in book one, but does mature, as he comes to better understand what he is.

Jeta cuts a tragic figure, used by everyone, and rarely seen for who she is beyond her frightening ability. Her confrontations with Charlie show her the possibility of a different path, and even friendship, something novel and unexpected in a life of violence and loneliness.

Miss Ficke proves to be much tougher than everyone around her expected, including me, and finds important and usefi; information that proves incredibly helpful in their mission to rescue Marlowe.

And Komako exemplifies the turmoil of someone who was harmed, and is full of fury consequently, but is also somewhat ambivalent about the power she and others have.

Over both of these long books, I’ve come to care deeply about Charlie and Marlowe, and Miro has given me more characters to care for: Jeta, and Miss Ficke. And the history between the drughr and the Talents is also fleshed out, and much darker and horrible than I expected.

And though there is a little peace achieved by the former Cairndale inmates by the end of this novel, the epilogue leaves us with new Talents, and hints at the complex conflict to come. I, for one, am looking forward to it.

I both listened to and read my way through this story, and narrator Ben Onwukwe does a fantastic job of inhabiting all the characters, and infusing humour, dread, horror or happiness, as needed, to the text to make the listening experience great.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Penguin Random House Canada for this ARC in exchange for my review.

TL;DR Review: Addictive and enthralling, but not for the faint of heart. Deeper, darker, and twistier—an excellent second installment in this gothic historical fantasy trilogy.

Book Review: Bringer of Dust (The Talents Trilogy #2) by JM Miro
September 17, 2024 by Andy Peloquin Leave a Comment (Edit)

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Rating: 8/10

TL;DR Review: Addictive and enthralling, but not for the faint of heart. Deeper, darker, and twistier—an excellent second installment in this gothic historical fantasy trilogy.

Synopsis:

In this highly anticipated second book in the Talents Trilogy, the world of the dead is closer than you think.

Agrigento, Sicily, 1883. With the orsine destroyed, Cairndale lies in ruins, and Marlowe has vanished. His only hope of rescue lies in a fabled second orsine—long-hidden, thought lost—which might not even exist.

But when a body is discovered in the shadow of Cairndale, a body wreathed in the corrupted dust of the drughr, Charlie and the Talents realize there is even more at stake than they’d feared. For a new drughr has arisen, ferocious, horned, seemingly able to move in their world at will—and it is not alone. A malevolent figure, known only as the Abbess, desires the dust for her own ends. And deep in the world of the dead, a terrible evil stirs—an evil that the corrupted dust just might hold the secret to reviving or destroying forever.

So the dark journey begun in Ordinary Monsters surges forward, from the sinister underworld of the London exiles, to the mysteries of a sunlit villa in nineteenth-century Sicily, to the deep catacombs hidden under Paris. Against bone witches, mud glyphics, and a house of twilight that exists in a netherworld all its own, the Talents must work together—if they are to have any hope of staving off the world of the dead, and saving their long-lost friend.

Full Review:

JM Miro is back and in fine form in the second book of The Talents Trilogy!

Bringer of Dust picks up shortly after the traumatic and bloody ending of Ordinary Monsters. The children we fell in love with in the first book are continuing to explore the dark gothic world painted for us in these pages, this time heading through new and exotic locales—Spain, Italy, France, and more.

We’re shown where each of the characters from the last book are—hunting new talented children, searching for answers into the magical abilities that compel dark entities to hunt them, and trapped in a realm of horrors and undead spirits.

Then we’re introduced to new characters: a young Roma girl who can control bones, both living and dead; sadistic children raised to be killers to serve the mysterious Abbess; and an alchemist who is working to protect magic-twisted former students of the Cairndale Institute.

Once the pieces are all in place, we’re set off on a wild journey filled with horror, violence, bloodshed, and dark magic. Because there are always those who will do whatever it takes to gain power, no matter who they have to use, abuse, or torture to get it. And we’re shown all of that in vivid detail from the perspective of many different characters, each of which have suffered in their own way.

We’re also given more insight into the magic—the “talents”—introduced in the first book, offered a greater understanding of how it works, what is limitations are, what the consequences and side effects may be, and the real danger that threatens all magic-users. We also get a great deal more lore and mythology of this fascinating magical world—as well as the twisted alternate realm of death—that keeps ratcheting up the stakes and creating a more epic adventure.

If Ordinary Monsters set the tone, Bringer of Dust keeps dialing it up to 11. This story goes darker, bloodier, creepier, and more emotionally devastating. The stakes are greater than ever, the struggle more impossible, and the inevitable losses so much harder to bear.

It’s a spellbinding read that will keep you turning the pages and unable to look away no matter how much you want to. Not for the faint of heart, for sure, but a story that will burn itself firmly in your mind and heart.

3.75⭐ rounded up to 4. I have mixed feelings about this one.

⚠️ Make sure to read the TWs. And if you’re particularly sensitive to violence toward children, consider skipping this series altogether. ⚠️

❤️ Epic worldbuilding and lore
❤️ Gloriously creepy atmosphere
❤️ Absolutely haunting scenes
❤️ Suspense and jaw-dropping plot twists
❤️ Badass female characters
❌ Too long
❌ Repetitions / spoonfeeding
❌ Scattered structure with too many plotlines
❌ Confusing and overwhelming at times
❌*All the* mid-chapter POV switching

Trigger warnings: violence and death, torture, murder, blood and gore, injury and injury detail, body horror, dismemberment, child abuse and death (many, on page), animal death, fire and fire injury, kidnapping and confinement, abandonment, self-harm, physical and emotional abuse, sexual assault (mentioned), etc.

Plot:
The Cairndale Institute is in ruins, the orsine is destroyed, students and professors are scattered, and Marlowe is stuck in the world of the dead. No one knows if he is even still alive. But danger still looms in the world of the living: new drughr have arisen, many people are willing to kill to get their hands on corrupted dust, and a terrible evil is close to awakening. The talents must try to bring back Marlowe while making sure the veil between the world of the dead and the world of the living doesn’t rip open.

This book is dark, creepy, and haunting (even more than book 1), with epic worldbuilding and captivating lore. I was happy to learn more about the talents’ origin, and to meet a new villain. This book was intriguing and nail-biting, but… but… it was just too scattered for my liking. My friend asked me to summarize it when I was about 75% in, and I *just couldn’t*. It felt like a lot happening... and not much at the same time. Some parts were amazing, nail-biting, jaw-dropping, or haunting. Others, long and confusing. Many characters just felt like they were carried by their plotline, and it took a while for everything to be tied together.

Characters:
There is a huge cast of characters, some of which are amazing, others a little flat and underdeveloped. It seems clearer who the MC is than in book 1, but there are still many other characters that get their time in the spotlight. However, I felt like some new characters (especially Jeta) took too much room; characters I loved from book 1 could have been further developed, but we barely saw them (looking at you, Alice and Ribs).

Writing:
My comments for book 1 still stand. I really enjoyed Miro’s rich and sharp prose. The atmosphere was gloriously creepy. However, the very frequent mid-chapter POV changes are still driving me nuts and made the book all the more overwhelming and confusing.

Bringer of Dust by J.M. Miro is the dark and engaging sequel to Ordinary Monsters, which picks up not long after where the first book left off. Miro takes everything he gave us in the first book and throws the door wide open, introducing lush lore and world building that has me eager for more. There are familiar faces and new ones, each with their own character arc in which they grapple with the events of the first book and must confront the fresh problems arising in the world around them. None of the characters feel cumbersome or overdone and each offers a unique perspective.

Bringer of Dust ends spectacularly. It had me on the edge of my seat, desperate for the conclusion of this exciting tale. The Talents trilogy is quickly becoming one of my favourites. It is so different from everything I am used to reading that I find it endlessly refreshing. I highly recommend this book and its predecessor to anyone looking for something different from the usual urban fantasy.

Thank you again to Penguin Random House and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to read and review this book via NetGalley.

This was a lot darker then I was expecting! I find that second books are either the better book in the series (catching fire, two towers, mistborn) or a major letdown after the first. I especially notice this way debut authors. I’m happy to say this is not the case with this one. I think the writing felt more polished, the world expanded and the plot made sense. I loved seeing more of europe and experiencing more of the dark fantasy.
Now unfortunately I need to wait at least a year for book 3 :(. I highly recommend this series.