Give Way To Night

 

Give Way To Night (Aven Book 2)- Cass Morris

DAW Publishing

Release Date: December 29, 2020

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Latona of the Vitelliae, mage of Spirit and Fire, is eager to wield her newfound empowerment on behalf of the citizens of Aven--but societal forces conspire to keep her from exercising her gifts, even when the resurgence of a banished cult plots the city's ruin. To combat this threat, Latona must ally with Fracture mage Vibia, the distrustful sister of Sempronius Tarren.

While Latona struggles to defend their home, Sempronius leads soldiers through wartorn provinces to lift the siege of Toletum, where Latona's brother Gaius is hemmed in by supernatural forces. Sempronius must contend not only with the war-king Ekialde and his sorcerers, but with the machinations of political rivals and the temptations of his own soul, ever-susceptible to the darker side of ambition.

Though separated by many miles soon after their love affair began, Latona and Sempronius are united by passion as they strive to protect Aven and build its glorious future.

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In Give Way To Night, book two of Cass Morris' fantastic Aven Cycle series, Morris weaves together the continuing trials of Latona, Sempronius, and their families. In Aven, Morris' fantasy version of ancient Rome, Latona is beginning to step out of the shadows and assert her identity, developing her magical abilities and confidence. On the other side of the continent her brother Gaius is trying to withstand a siege by the war-king Ekialde, who is using dark magics to destroy those who stand against him.  Attempting to rescue Gaius, Sempronius is leading three legions of troops to lift the siege and runs into the dark magic himself.  Coincidentally (or not), Latona is discovering similar dark magic in Aven, and she and her allies are the only ones willing to root it out.

Latona continues as the main character in Night, and she is in some ways more sure of herself while in other ways more conflicted than before.  Thanks to Sempronius' support she now believes in her talents, and is willing to not only continue experimenting with her abilities but using them.  She has a sense of duty that rivals any soldier, but sees her duty as standing for the citizens who need assistance through magic.  Interestingly, although we got rid of the Dictator Ocella in the beginning of the first book, his shadow continues to be felt throughout this book.  The reader gets more of an idea of what happened to individual citizens, like Latona, here. I appreciated how some characters like Vibia, who thought she knew Latona because of rumors, discover how wrong they were and who the person behind the rumors truly is. Night is full of strong female characters who are continuing to discover and use their strength here: Vibia, Aula, and Alhena all get more page time and are wonderful to get to know further.

If you haven't read Cass Morris' first book, From Unseen Fire, you are missing out on a fantastic new voice in the fantasy realm. Give Way To Night proves that she intends to continue writing intricate plots, with layers upon layers of political, personal, and magical threads woven together into a brilliant whole.  Her world building skills only develop further here, with detailed descriptions that make the reader feel as if they are marching with Sempronius' armies, or walking Aven's streets with Aula and Latona.  Morris has clearly done a lot of careful research to bring ancient Rome to life and clearly thought carefully about what she wants to change for her own world, and the end result is nothing short of spectacular.

While a reader could pick up Give Way To Night without having read From Unseen Fire, it would definitely be helpful to have read Fire first to get to know some of the characters and their conflicts from the beginning.  Readers should also be warned that Night ends on a cliff hanger, leaving us more desperate than usual to read the next book and discover how Morris will get her characters through the problems she's gotten them into. 

Unlike many sequels, Give Way to Night stands equal to From Unseen Fire and will charm fantasy lovers completely.