I really enjoyed Our Deadly Designs. While the first book had the excitement of the deadly horse races, this one leaned into political intrigue, rebellion, and a search for a missing prince. I liked the addition of Damien’s POV, which added more dimension to the story, and the pacing kept me hooked with all the twists and action.

That said, some parts felt a little rushed, especially the lost prince storyline, and I missed seeing more of Reid’s perspective. Still, the themes of connection and trust were handled really well, and I loved how the characters grew through their struggles. The audiobook narrators were fantastic, which made the experience even better. Overall, this was a great ending to the duology!

This is the sequel to This Dark Descent which I thoroughly enjoyed! Unfortunately, this fell in line with most sequels as I personally didn't feel like it lived up to the first book.

Reasons...
1. The plot was not as exciting and intriguing as the race storyline in book 1.
2. Our characters are a great ensemble but they were all split up.
3. A few characters trajectories went in directions I felt meh about.

It was good. Not great.

4.25 ⭐️

This Dark Descent (1) and Our Deadly Designs (2)

1 sentence review: a thrilling, jewish folklore inspired fantasy that’s like One Dark Windows meets Hunger Games, but with horse racers!

This was so captivating and entertaining! Throughout the duo, we switch between the POV’s of Mikira, a horse rider, Arielle, an unlicensed enchanted with a dark secret, and Damien, a lord with major trust issues who’s seeking revenge. There were different voice actors for these different POV’s, which made this super enjoyable on audio!

The first book focuses more on the deadly horse race trials and the second book focuses on politics, corruption, rebellion, gods and monsters, and a hunt for a missing prince. Both books were so intriguing and full of action and twists!

There were a few romantic elements to this, but ultimately this is a fantasy and not a romantasy!

I would absolutely recommend the audiobook, BUT it’s always a little difficult for me to follow along with fantasy worlds solely on audio- so I paired this with the physical books so I could follow allow more easily!

Read This Duo if You Like:
🐎 Stories with trials
⚜️ Political intrigue and rebellion plots
🪽 Gods and monsters

Oh, this was such a fantastic read! I really fell in love with this series with the first book, I already knew that I enjoyed her writing (once I realized that this was the same author of The Storm Crow) and oh, the world and characters of this series were so superb!

The way things ended, with Mikira and Damien being on the outs, and Ari being possessed, probably by one of the Heretics, yeah, the gang is kinda broken up, which wasn't great for them, but was excellent conflict for us readers. Oh, and there was some romantic drama, because of the betrayals from the first book, so I really enjoyed all that, and all the representation that gave us, I was kinda expecting the one relationship!

The politics and magic of the world were in the forefront of the first book, but it was mainly focused on how it applied to what they were currently with, and just dropping tidbits of information. So having achieved their goals, the focus was broader in this book, and I loved learning more! We were briefly introduced to the rebellion in the first book, and all the reasons why it exists in the first place with the corruption of the current system, yeah, I was excited to see what they were going to do about it!

I really came to care for these characters, their situations kept changing, and the trouble just kept increasing. I had to know how they were going to get out of it all alive. That ending was absolutely spectacular, and I loved where it left them!

Loved reading this book and I can't wait to read more by Kalyn Josephson!

An excellent continuation of This Dark Decent. That cliffhanger had me on edge!
Our Deadly Designs picks up - and rushes forward - with the addition of Damien's POV! I actually enjoyed this one more than the first!
We get some great perspectives, experience the aftermath of the race and great twists!

Thank you to the author, publisher and Net Galley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! This book continues the saga with more twists and turns! An action packed sequel to This Dark Descent. This was a great conclusion to an interesting story.

An excellent ending to a fabulous, magical and heart-pounding duology. Where the first leaned into the adventure aspect with the horse racing, this dipped into the political machinations and rebellion that was previously hinted at. And I loved every minute! Damian is in his Peaky Blinders era more than ever (with an added POV from him), Mikira is finding new allies and struggling to trust old ones, and Ari is just trying to do her best yet again. My only complaint is I needed a POV from my boy Reid, but alas.

An epic conclusion to the This Dark Descent duology.

What I liked:

I really like this group of characters. Adding Damien's POV really added more layers and dimension.

The pacing is fantastic. I feel almost the entire book is action packed, and I did not want to stop listening.

3 separate narrators for 3 POVs. An audiobook is infinitely more entertaining for me if there are multiple narrators for a multi-POV book.

The ending came together really well. I'm excited to read more from this author.

I loved the first book and am so appreciative that I could have the opportunity to listen to the second early. I came for the races in the first book but stayed in the second for the characters. The story had an amazing ending, though it still left me wanting more. Phenomenal end to the duology and I will be purchasing it on Audible as soon as I'm able to. The narrators also did a great job and they all had me immersed and not wanting to do anything else.

This was a fantastic conclusion to the duology. I really like all the narrators, and it was fun to see the story from more than just the girls points of view. Although there was an introduction with a reminder of what has happened so far, I would not recommend skipping book 1.

I mean, it's not the perfect ending I wanted it to be, but I still enjoyed it! I'd still enthusiastically recommend this duology to anyone I can.

Josephson's characterization is still incredible. Not only do Mikira and Ari's POVs offer so much personality and depth in the world, but we got Damien this time, too! I really liked getting to know what was going on in his head, and it really fleshed him out. Additionally, I really loved the voicework of all the voice actors (Alex Wingfield, Laurel Lefkow, and Rebecca Norfolk); they performed their characters so well and brought so much life in their respective roles.

The only thing is that Reid was pushed aside heavily throughout most of the book due to the focus primarily being on the romance (Or platonic partnership. Mikira is confirmed to be ace, though it's not directly stated in the story. Only heavily implied in the text) with Talyana. It sucks, because Reid and Mikira had such good chemistry in the last book. I only wish Josephson either made room for Reid's POV or had him reunite with Mikira sooner.

The story was strong for a solid 90%of the book, but I found myself disconnecting at the last 10% or so. Plus, the lost prince plotline got kind of confusing to me, especially when certain twists were made that I didn't really feel like they needed to me. Or maybe I just missed all the hints because I wasn't looking for them. Other than that, I still really loved the themes of war, democracy, and, the most apparent, working together / connection. All 3 of our main characters try so hard to do something on their own and believe they have do do it alone, but then they're shown it doesn't have to be that way. I dunno, I just think Josephson handled it really well through showing how the different ways people handle isolation in pursuit of fixing problems.

All in all, despite some minor problems, I still loved this series a lot. I think I'll think more back to the first one, but this book still has great moments and worldbuilding that builds on what I adored about its predecessor.

Solid story. The addition of Damien's POV helps with the complexity of the story line. It shows power grabs, manipulations, scheming, and figuring out a why thing are happening all at once. It's an unique story line with twists I didn't see coming. The 3 narrators did an amazing job and I absolutely enjoyed listening to them. They showed a great range of emotion and seemed to do their character justice. The world building and understanding the ongoing plot from book 1 unfolds and it was exciting to hear what came of that craziness. Overall this story is enjoyable with lots of details and twists and turns.
Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Young Listeners for this Audiobook early listening.

This series is so underrated - the characters are all complex and have such varied motivations and backgrounds, which makes for a great story. I wish we had seen more of Rezek, as I found him especially interesting and would have liked to learn more about him outside of Damien's perspective.
The plot progressed nicely, and the pacing was good. I do wish that the overarching plot wasn't so reliant on the lack of communication between the characters, but I did enjoy seeing the characters outside of each other's view. I also wish that Reid had been given a POV, as he was the only one of the main 4 characters that we never hear from.
The narrators did a fantastic job bringing the story to life and brought a lot of suspense and emotion to the story. I especially loved Arielle's narrator, as her voice perfectly encapsulated the story and fit the book really well.
The magic system was intricate and explained well, which I appreciated. The gritty setting reminded me of Ketterdam in a lot of ways.
If you like The Scorpio Races and Six of Crows, then you'll really enjoy this book! Thank you so much to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audio ARC!

This book was amazing! I read the first book and then jumped straight into this book. The first book spent more time on magic, world building and characters. This book seemed to be a bit more focused on the political aspect of a king taking the throne. My only complaint is that there wasn't as much time spent with the magical horses! I think that was my favorite aspect of the first book. I loved the idea of taking this "forbidden magic" to create creatures from clay. I look forward to reading more books from this series. The narrator for this audiobook was excellent! I'm not usually a huge fan of single narrators reading for all parts, but I give massive credit to the narrators who do it because it is not something I can even do when reading out loud to my own children! I very much enjoyed listening to this narrator tell this story.

Sometimes book one in a duology is better and sometimes book two is better. I am having a hard time figuring out which one I liked better, but that's not a bad thing. Book one was a tournament (which I love) and book two brings us back into the world I love with higher stakes, and more problems. I loved this unique story and am a bit sad that is ended. Will I be reading more by Kalyn Josephson in the future? Absolutely! I loved the characters, the plot, and the storylines! An absolutely fabulous conclusion to this story! I may have even shed a tear or two!

The hunt for the old king’s lost heir is on, and the first to find them wins the throne. A tale of dark secrets, power struggle and loyalty.

I love that this second book in the "Dark Descent" duology continues with a different narrator for each point of view. The cover is almost as stunning as the first one. Just like in the first book, we delve deeper into Jewish folklore, exploring themes we touched upon previously. The story addresses significant political themes, corruption, and classism, while also continuing to explore friendship and the importance of forgiveness. There’s a hint of romance as well.

I wanted to love this book since the first one was so compelling, and the character dynamics were both robust and intriguing. There was danger and intrigue in the first installment. While some of that is present here, the overall tone felt a bit off for me. The book is complex, and the characters are dynamic, particularly Ari, who plays a larger role this time. However, it just didn’t have the same magic that the first book had.

As a massive fan of Kalyn’s, I was so excited for this conclusion. And it didn’t disappoint. It’s full of scheming, rebellion, and political intrigue, all mixed in with a fantastic fantasy world. It’s a stunning conclusion.

I was so excited after book 1 to hopefully get more of a Reid romance because I was really looking forward to him getting more time to shine but this just wasn't it. His storyline was what kept me going and I'm sad he didn't get more romance.

I thought I would like this more than This Dark Descent because there isn’t a tournament in this one, but I think the author’s writing just isn’t for me. The plot drags on a bit and I’m just not very invested in the characters or their relationships.

That said, I think there are interesting themes in this about the nature of power, forgiveness, and government corruption, that you wouldn’t necessarily see in most YA novels about rebellion. I also really enjoyed the Jewish culture and folklore.

If you liked the first book, you’ll likely enjoy this, but if you were mixed on it, there isn’t much here that will change your feelings.

The audiobook narrators were talented and read well, though the narrators for Mikira and Ari were a little too similar, and both sounded a bit older for the characters.