I did it. I finally read Through High Waters, the sequel to After the Bees by Allison Paige. I kept putting this off, because I really loved the first book I this series, and was afraid the second book wouldn’t live up to it! 

This book starts out immediately where After the Bees left off.  Leah has died, but couldn’t pass on as Raum kept her tethered to her body.  As a quick recap, Raum is a demon that has forcibly bonded Leah to him, and she is essentially owned by him.

I think where this book differs quite a bit from the first, is now that our world is established, the author is not describing it as much in the world itself.  There are instances and moments where we get to see a setting, but it isn’t quite as vast.  However, there is one location, which is kind of a chapel that the author describes so well I got shudders while reading about it.  I also really loved Raum in the first book, even though I knew he was a villain, but in this book I am not entirely sure how I feel about him.   He seems to make a lot of choices that do not necessarily make sense for his character development.

In this book we go further with Raum and Leah, and Sebastian, who was a character from After the Bees.  Raum has actually taken over Sebastian’s body, BUT, Sebastian’s…. spirit?  is still alive and comes out occasionally.  Raum has taken them where an old friend of his, Orias, is currently a king, and that is where the majority of the book played out.

I did really enjoy the twists on religion that Allison used.  For instance (and this is a spoiler) Leah is the daughter of Solomon, and can actually control a demon if she has their real name.  It kind of started to finally make sense why Ruam was actually keeping her around, but at the same time, it didn’t.  I am still not sure if he actually likes her or not, or if the only reason he is keeping her around, is because of her power.

I don’t know that I can say a specific thing about this book that I didn’t like, I just know I didn’t like it.  It almost felt like a letdown in comparing it to After the Bees, and I don’t know if I would want to continue the series at this point.  I am invested in it, I would like to know where it goes, but I honestly don’t know if I liked this book or not.

Overall – this was not a bad book, but it did not reach the same level as After the Bees.  Unfortunately in a series it is kind of hard to not compare other books to the initial book, and compare the books to each other as they come out.  It felt like a lot of odd character choices were made for the characters that did not necessarily follow their development.  I don’t know exactly what I had hoped for this book, I just know it didn’t reach those hopes.

Through High Waters (Revelation Book 2) – Allison Paige

Cost* – eBook is $2.99.  The paperback is $16.99

*Cost is based upon what the book cost when book review is published