These Divided Shores

OH MY GOD OH MY GODOH MY GOOOOOOOOOOD THAT WAS SO MUCH!!!!!!! Holy Shit ok!!!!! WOW!!!!! First off, that was a brutal but PHENOMENAL way to end this duology!!!!!! Second off, the way she wrote the characters trying to Deal with all of the trauma they endured? FANTASTIC!!!!! I love All of the main characters so so SO much!!!! God Everything about this was just SO GOOD!!!!! I have So Many FEELINGS and I am Drowning in them. Send help XD But seriously, I ADORE Sara Raasch's writing and all of the books by her that I've read!!!! This was just such a FANTASTIC duology and I LOVED it so much!!!!!!

Lu, Ben, and Vex's battle culminates in a revolution that sets about the fates of the island of Grace Loray and the country of Argrid. The book has 3 main point of views: Lu, who is struggling with her past as a child soldier; Ben, who is dealing with his father being absolutely nuts; and Vex, who has feelings of inadequacy to sort through. At the heart of it there's a lot of dealing with parental abandonment, self-doubt, coming of age, and just so much good stuff.

So, basically, I loved this book. Like, so, so much. Even more than the first book, and I thought THAT was going to be my book of 2020. It just starts off with the ball rolling. Lu and Ben are in this prison they can't figure out (walls shift and there's a haze in their minds) and Vex thinks Lu is dead. I don't know why I didn't expect that, but I didn't expect that at all and even though I knew Lu was okay, Vex's point of view was written in such a fantastic way that I really felt for him. But let me collect my thoughts here and get some kind of organization going on. Let's start with that I liked loved.

What I loved:
֎ Each character felt unique and fleshed out; even the secondary characters.
֎ The fact that characters make the wrong choice and there's real consequences for their actions. And also that the main character's personal flaws brought them into contradiction with one another. Great conflict.
֎ The romance! I thought the two main couples were dealt with really well. Just when I thought one certain couple was going to go down the cliched route of arguing over petty, easy to resolve things, they just...didn't. Nope, they talked through their stuff. It was sweet and I loved it. Gunnar's flirting was by-far the best.
֎ Vex and Ben's relationship!
֎ Ben's speech at the end.

What I didn't like:
֎ To be honest, there wasn't much that I didn't like. Some people were upset that this book is basically politics, but for me I thought it was interesting to see how dynamic the different groups were. And I didn't like certain characters, sure, but I don't think I was supposed to like them. I felt angry by their thoughts and actions so...I mean, that's still major kudos to the author.

Overall, this book just did it for me. It had action; poor choices with real consequences for the world/characters; growth; family bonding/loss; romance – the whole shebang! It was also well written. Ms. Raasch can weave a good story. I really look forward to reading other books by her.