LitPick Review
Book 2 in The Council Trilogy follows the aftermath of the bombing in San Francisco that turned Olivia's life upside down. After learning there's a whole Other world beyond humans including fairies, vampires, witches, and time walkers, she's also learned she has special powers of her own but not yet how much she has and what she can wield. After running away from surprises in Paris, she finds herself in grief when someone close to her is murdered. Olivia has to make decisions on how to avenge their death, as well as prevent the potential overthrow of several governments with a continual build up between Olivia and her now enemy, Nikola, a thousand-year-old vampire who has dark and evil plans of how he would like to manipulate the world. Her powers increase daily as she trains with her vampire lover's brother, and she finds herself in a position of having to make a choice on who she truly loves. Distractions are at every turn, whether from magic or by men. Follow her story in learning more about herself, her Gifts, and how to handle them, as well as how to handle herself.
Opinion:
Book 2 was a great succession to the first book in the series. I'd read the first book before this one and was excited that I'd get to read The Gift so quickly after finishing The Others (Book 1). I think the author has made it where you could easily read The Gift on its own, but reading The Others would really enhance the storyline and understanding the other characters like William and Josef.
The plot twist of who Olivia's father was in Book 1 really set up for a series of surprises in The Gift. Olivia's character really starts to develop in Book 2 after she learns of her heritage and what else she can do with her powers. I appreciated getting to watch her grow and become more and more her own person and not just tied down to the decisions that the men in her life were making for her. Olivia's relationship with Josef was an interesting development, and it definitely created a fun "who will she choose" arc to the series. To attempt to choose between two vampire "brothers" added extra connection to Olivia's character. I found myself wanting her to chose Josef over William as I didn't care how he handled their mating at the end of this book. Her grief was entirely relatable, and I could find myself making the same decisions as she did throughout the book.
The only negative I really had about the book was overall it was extremely fast-paced. It seemed like everything that happened was just constant day-to-day trauma, when it was written with a timeline of five to six months. It just seemed a little rushed in that timeline and that could be resolved simply by updating the reader on what month it was at the start of a new chapter.
I look forward to reading the third and last book to see how everything in Olivia's life is resolved, or isn't, when it is released.
