Rory Thorne must use the fairy blessings gifted to her to change the multiverse in the second book in this space opera duology.

After avoiding an arranged marriage, thwarting a coup, and inadvertently kick-starting a revolution, Rory Thorne is no longer a princess, but a space pirate.

Her new life is interrupted when Rory and her crew–former royal bodyguards, Thorsdottir and Zhang, and co-conspirator Jaed–encounter an abandoned ship registered under a false name, seemingly fallen victim to attack. As they investigate, they find evidence of vicious technology and arithmancy, alien and far beyond known capabilities.

The only answer to all the destruction is the mysterious, and unexpected, cargo: a rose plant. One that reveals themself to be sentient–and designed as a massive biological weapon. Rose seeks to escape their intended fate, and Rory and her friends must act fast when the attackers return with their superior weaponry.

As the situation gains the attention of an increasing number of alien races, Rory finds herself acting as negotiator and diplomat, in order to save Rose and her friends–and avert an unprecedented war.

I won’t lie — I was a little disappointed in this book. I listened to the audio book immediately after finishing the first book in the series, so I expected it to be similar. It was and it wasn’t.

For starters, the first book starts with Rory’s birth, though it focuses on her 16th year. There was a lot of back story to set up the main confrontation, but it mostly worked. The story itself took place over several weeks.

This book really happens in a couple of days; it often shows the same situation from three different points-of-view. That wasn’t so bad the first time, but it really slowed down the story. I wanted to see more things happen. Instead, I got the same thing from different perspectives.

**SPOILER ALERT**

Book ends with a pretty big hint that there’s going to be romance in book two. There isn’t, but it’s not until the middle of the book that the reader knows for sure that Jaed and Rory are not and will never be an item. That was a bit of a let down.

Overall, I love the author’s voice and there are some VERY funny moments in the book, but there’s so much unnecessary detail that the story dragged for me. I could have done with about 50% of the history of the different species and battle descriptions and would have loved to see more character interaction.

I had higher hopes for this book. I’m still glad I read it, but probably won’t read it again.

PG-13 for violence and swearing (sad to see the f-bomb used since it was avoided in the first book). Get your copy here!