This is the second in the Red Abbey Chronicles, following the wonderful [book:Maresi|28818217], but taking place long before Maresi's story.

This is a dark book. There is a lot of violence towards and mistreatment of women. The abuse is always brutally recounted from the point of view of the women, and is never intended to be anything other than repugnant.

This is the story of the women who endure the presence of an extremely revolting ass who lies, steals, betrays and destroys his way to power. The women are all powerful in different ways, and for a while their lives are in the hands of said revolting ass.

It was a difficult book to read, but I could not stop reading.

Naondel is the prequel companion to Maresi and tells the story of the First Sisters and how they came to the island of Menos. We first meet Kabira as a young girl. She has just been introduced to Iskan and has fallen under his spell. He is the son of the Vizier and very handsome and charming. He seduces Kabira and she shares with him her family’s secret spring Anji, who is a living force that influences those who drink her water. Iskan learns the ways of Anji and takes over the spring by killing Kabira’s family and marrying her. He becomes more and more brutal as Anji gives him more and more power.

The other sisters come into Iskan’s household as slaves and concubines. Garai knows about the sacred places of the world as her family has been caretakers for generations. Orseola is a dreamweaver with the power to shape and give dreams. Sulani was a warrior empowered with the spirit of the River until Iskan destroyed her place of power. Claras was a prostitute sold to Iskan. Estegi is a servant in Iskan’s household who takes care of the women. Iona is the youngest. She was a sacrifice to a monster who was taken by Iskan before her sacrifice could be made. Each is brutalized by Iskan in some way and that brings them together and eventually leads them to escape together and form the sisterhood.

This is definitely not a book for everyone. There is a lot of rape, it is not depicted graphically, but there is a lot of it. It is also a very dark and depressing book. The first 2/3 introduces each of the women and shows the depth of Iskan’s depravity and greed for power. There are no happy times and Iskan has no redeeming qualities. He is corrupt and evil by nature and the power of Anji makes him more so. The escape doesn’t really happen until the last few chapters when the women find their power and make their way to Menos. Despite this dark and depressing start to the book, I actually did enjoy it. I liked finding out how Menos was settled and how the Sisterhood started. I liked knowing about these characters and the hardships they had to go through in order to become who they were meant to be and to create the sanctuary they were meant to create.

If you liked Maresi, you will appreciate this back story. However, I don’t believe you have to read Maresi beforehand in order to appreciate the struggle of these women.

I received this book from the publisher and from Netgalley. It will be published in January 2018.