Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Release Date: March 14th, 2017
320 Pages
Synopsis: England 1883. Still recovering from a devastating loss, Evelyn is determined to use her powers to save other gifted people from those who would harm them. But when her rescue of a young telekinetic girl goes terribly wrong, Evelyn finds herself indebted to a secret society devoted to recruiting and protecting people like Evelyn and her friends.
As she follows the Society’s orders, healing the sick and embarking on perilous recruitment missions, Evelyn sees her problems disappear. Her reputation is repaired, her friends are provided for, and her parents are newly wealthy. She reunites with the dashing Mr. Kent and recovers the reclusive Mr. Braddock ( who has much less to brood over now that the Society can help him to control his power). But Evelyn can’t help fearing the Society is more sinister than it appears…
I think you could probably pick up These Ruthless Deeds, without having read the previous book, These Vicious Lies, but I don’t recommend it because you’ll lose quite a bit of the original context. The story is set in Victorian London, where certain people have evolved and now have powers. It’s very similar to the X-Men. This is a case where I enjoyed the sequel even more than the original book. Actually, I think this is probably going to be one of my favorite YA trilogies. It picks up almost immediately where the first book left off. Evelyn is still dealing with her powers of healing as well as her grief over losing her younger sister Rose. She and her friends are trying to rescue a young gifted girl from a mental institution when they come under attack and wind up being rescued by the Society of Aberrations who was previously mentioned as a nefarious group who were possibly using gifted people for unknown yet sinister reasons. Despite having doubts, Evelyn and her comrades start working with the Society to recruit more “aberrations” in order to protect and save the world. Unfortunately they soon discover that there is something to the rumors concerning the Society and its mysterious leader. These Ruthless Deeds is even more action-packed than its predecessor, with amazing fight scenes. Evelyn continues to be a kick-ass heroine, without losing her compassion for others. There is a love quadrangle/square which (and I feel like such a hypocrite given the amount of time I usually rant about these) I actually like in this book. I love all the characters involved so I think that’s why this doesn’t push my buttons. While there’s still some humorous moments as there were in the first book, this story is much darker, and the surprising ending is positively brutal. These Ruthless Deeds is really just an exceptional sequel in every way. An exciting storyline which successfully develops the mythological arc of the trilogy and adds in even more fascinating characters, while continuing to further the backstories of the main characters. The tension and drama is upped exponentially and the incredible ending has left me impatient for the next book. I highly, HIGHLY recommend this for fans of the X-Men and alternate historical fiction.
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