The Pact is the second, and final book in The Black Hinds Wake duology.
She trembled like a poked jellyfish, shaking her head in panic.
I loved revisiting old friends and exploring ever more of the world. There’s a whole new layer of mysteries and complications, and our crew has to dash and suffer a lot to deal with all the things life throws at them.
The characters we already know from The Skin grew and stretched even more, both individually and into a tighter family than before. There’s a whole new set of them as well, along with a new POV, which made me breeze through the story. The switch between the two different adventures kept the story fresh and made it hard to put the book down.
One of my favourite things about this series is the found family, and the many friendships, while being very low on romance. I really wish more books had such a strong bond of friends and family instead of relationship drama!
Yearning filled her voice. ‘He is beautiful. Show me a woman who wouldn’t be under his spell.
I pointed at myself and sighed. ‘Any woman with a brain!’
I especially enjoy the melding of our broken world, different sorts of mythology and a bleak future that has magic again and thereby a chance to recoup. I wouldn’t have thought this mix of alternative future, a world almost destroyed by humankind and mostly lost technology would blend so well with magic and all sorts of creatures. Hannaford however manages to somehow pull this off amazingly well! The world feels deep and well developed, and there’s so many little details to discover.
The Pact has some quite dark moments. Some really gut wrenching, while others had me snort with a dose of nice dark humour. It definitely isn’t a fluffy or easy read, but it’s also not dark for darkness’ sake. There’s always hope at the core of the story, which contrasts well with the grimmer scenes.
The plot is split into two different parts. It’s a race against time and mysterious foes for both, which kept the intrigue up all the time. Plenty of action, adventure, fight scenes and murderous people made for a fast paced story.
The Pact is a great blend of fantasy, science, action and amazing characters that will suck you into its depths and won’t let go.
The Pact is due out September 1, 2022.
Jennie Ivins