congratulations! semifinalist in goodreads' best YA fantasy & science fiction category 2016! 
 "Force won't work," Harper murmurs. "You need to outwit them. You need secrets." 
 "Secrets are a snake's way of doing business." 
 "And snakes survive." 
 i didn't love this as much as An Ember in the Ashes, but it's a seriously fun book regardless. the problem is that the first one was so strong, it's a tough act to follow. this one is certainly not lacking in action or worldbuilding or interesting characters - there's plenty for them to do, and the stakes are sky-high, but it just didn't seem as well-constructed as An Ember in the Ashes. there's a rushed quality to the plotting here - many instances where it comes across like a breathless, "we need to do this oh now we are doing it, good!" which is great for the book's pacing - this is a fast, fast read - but it feels like too much was glossed-over and sacrificed to that pacing. 
 but whatever - it's a minor quibble that irritated me when i was reading it, but when i think back on all the stuff that happened in this book, my irritation is totally squashed by my much stronger feelings of having read something fun and dark and fierce. 
 all the great characters are back - laia, elias, the commandant, marcus, keenan, and helene. heleeeeeeene. who is here given all the space she needs to be the powerful, complicated, thoughtful, badass, pragmatic creature we got glimpses of in the first book. here, in her new role as blood shrike - the sword that does the ruthless emperor's will, she really shines. 
 speaking of shining - the scene revealing the origin of this book's name?? CHILLS! 
 helene is my new favorite character in all things. 
 I'm Blood Shrike. It is time to show my strength. 
 as far as the other characters go - tahir does a great job clipping elias' wings a bit here. it's almost unfair to have a character who is unmatched in fighting prowess - it takes the elements of danger and tension away from any action scenes. but she came up with a really great, fair way to level the playing field in order to increase the peril of our characters, and the things that change for elias over the course of the book (no spoilers here!) are both dramatically interesting and textually appropriate. not what i would have guessed, but very satisfying. 
 and laia - i dunno, she's not my favorite heroine of all time. there's a lot i respect about her character, but i like my heroines to have a little more of an edge to them, and laia's just a bit too squeaky for me, and her very formal avoidance of contractions grates on me a bit. don't get me wrong, i feel for her when bad things happen, and that closing scene was affecting, but what can i say - i'm team helene and i'm a one-woman gal. 
 all the magical bits from An Ember in the Ashes - the parts that i was so frustrated about not getting explanations for when i learned it was conceived as a standalone, are fully defined here, and they add an extra layer of intrigue to what was already a pretty kickass world. 
 it's a rough ride - there's a lot of blood, a lot of horrific casualties of revolution and ambition, a lot of sacrifice for the good of the empire: 
 The Empire must come first - above your desires, your friendships, your wants. 
 it's all wonderful, horrific, consequence-bleeding stuff. and there had better be a third book coming, because i want some vengeance - righteous, splattery vengeance. 
 gimmie. 
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 oh, YAY! i was deemed cool enough to snag an arc of this after all! and while i was not in the top-tier of cool kids who got the accompanying power bracelet: 
 if you have a glue gun, a toilet paper roll and some glitter, that's easy enough to remedy. behold! 
 who's cool NOW? oh, still not me? oh well, at least i SPARKLE! 
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 thanks to no one for giving me a heads-up that this existed will be existing. now it's nearly too late to buy party tooters.