The Lovely and the Lost – Page Morgan
The sequel to The Beautiful and the Cursed, The Lovely and the Lost finds the Waverly sisters in mortal danger and able to trust no one.
Ingrid and Gabby survived the Underneath. They saved their brother, Grayson, from a future of dark servitude and exposed a plot to undermine the Alliance. But danger still lurks in the streets of Paris, and the Dispossessed, perched on the city’s bridges and rooftops, might not be able to save their human wards this time.
I can’t even begin to tell you how I felt about this book.
When I read the first book, The Beautiful and the Cursed, I don’t think I was able to form a complete sentence. My review of it was not very intricate (in my defense, I had also read Ellie Marney’s Every Breath that same week, and my heart was too full of excellent YA to make sense), so I’m going to try to be more detailed this time, so there may some vague spoilers ahead.
As I mentioned last time, there are gargoyles in this book. Gargoyles! Not like the comic-relief gargoyles from the Disney version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and not even the “re-awaken after centuries in stone” gargoyles of Disney’s Gargoyles (now that was a good cartoon). These are brooding dudes (I don’t think there are any female gargoyles) who only shift into their “true” stone form when their human charges (the people who live in their territory) are in danger. That in itself makes it a great concept. Then throw in the fact that Luc (a gargoyle) has a thing for his human charge, Ingrid, who also happens to have angel and demon blood…well, things get crazy in the best way possible.
Lots of YA books have a love triangle and this one is no exception. At first, I wasn’t sure who to root for – naturally I loved Luc, but I also kinda liked Vander. Now though? I still like Vander, but I’m completely sold on the Luc-Ingrid relationship. It has to happen. I might cry if it doesn’t. Ro and I (who, by the way, read the book at the exact same time – different copies, obviously – which was a lot of fun) have already spent a couple of hours discussing how this is all going to go down in book three (out this April). While Vander, as a human, is probably the more reasonable choice, there’s something about Luc’s devotion to Ingrid that makes him so appealing.
Meanwhile, Gabby’s character arc continues to impress me. You’d think she would be all wishy-washy and girly and unable to defend herself, but she’s badass and strong and doesn’t stand to the side while everyone else is off having adventures. And that twist at the end! I wasn’t expecting her to be the catalyst for the already unsteady relationship between the Alliance and the Dispossessed; I was genuinely shocked, especially after Nolan’s reaction (speaking of Nolan, his cousin Rory is pretty amazing).
Also, I was pleasantly surprised by the Grayson-and-Chelle subplot point. It’s something I felt like I should have seen coming, but Page Morgan managed to deftly work it in there without anyone being the wiser. Plus, that made Grayson’s story arc all the more heart-wrenching (I fully believed him when he thought he had the hellhounds under control).
Like the first book, the writing is fast-paced and vivid. There is a human with the blood of an arachne demon and the descriptions of his subsequent powers are disgusting yet effective. There is very little down-time in the book; even scenes that could be an info-dump have enough action that you don’t feel like you’re slowing down at all.
The writing is compelling, you can’t help but feel riveted. I willingly sacrificed a good night’s sleep in order to find out what happened next. Even if the third book doesn’t end the way I want it to, this series is definitely making it’s way onto my “favourites” list and the characters will absolutely stick with me even when it’s all over.
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