Liar's Moon by Elizabeth C Bunce
It's a small-ish detail but I like how they were able to use the same model for this cover as well, gives them a bit of continuity which is nice. I also love the color scheme used, the purple is nice and eye-catching and doesn't clash with any of the other colors and (speaking from experience) it must've taken a while to edit Digger's hair so that the purple background showed through.
Summary: After the tulmultous winter where she helped set in motion a rebellion against the king, Digger is back in familiar territory in the capital city wondering what she can, and should be doing, next. She's annoyed, although not completely surprised, to find herself thrown in jail one night but surprised by her cellmate, Lord Durrel Decath (whom she previously met at the beginning of Starcrossed and was instrumental in getting her out of the city). And now she gets to return the favor and get him out of jail by proving that he wasn't the one who murdered his wife. There is a game of politics afoot and Digger rightfully suspects that it runs deeper than it first seems but with so many complications will she ever figure out what is truly going on?
The Good: Hurray for politicking in YA and I'm quite glad I re-read Starcrossed before I read this book. While only some of the cast returns (more than I expected given that the story is set in a completely different location) a lot of the connections Digger formed in the first book do come back which made me happy, I've read a number of stories lately where each book takes place in a different place with very few reoccurring characters and I think it makes the stories feel too disconnected, which was not a problem here. Digger remains a fun character to read, she's clever and quick-witted and I'd much rather read a story where the lead knows more than I do (rather than the other way around) yet gets into trouble more than often enough to feel human. Finally, it's interesting to see how while there is magic in this series, and is directly connected to all the main conflicts, it's never used to solve problems but rather to flesh out the setting even more.
The Bad: While I can see where the story is going in terms of it's ultimate goal (dispose of the king, his laws, and put a nicer person on the throne) I do wonder how Digger is going to fit into all of it. I can think of a few ways but none of them would really work, it will be interesting to see how the story plays out. Also, there is a very late plot twist in the story which while it's interesting I'm a little worried about. It effectively gives a lot of the story a whole different meaning but just feels a little off, I also feel like it was just thrown in there simply to add in more conflict and I like plot twists to be a bit more substantial than that.
I really loved this book, just wish I hadn't read it so long ago that I could give it a better review (I've even been taking notes on all the stuff I've read to help with that problem) but regardless yes I'd recommend it to my friends and yes I plan on buying it sometime in the future which is really the best praise I can give it.
