The Realm Below: The Rise of Tanipestis
Title: The Realm Below: The Rise of
Tanipestis
Author: Susan Rooke
Genre: YA Christian Fantasy Fiction
Rating: Five Stars!
When I love a book, I’m always leery
about picking up its sequel. I know, that may sound crazy, but I’ve read a few series
where the subsequent books have turned me off to the entire universe. Hopefully,
you don’t know what I mean (because you’ve always struck literary gold every time
you’ve picked up a book series!). If, however, you’re all too familiar with my
plight, then you’ve undoubtedly shared some of my reticence as you’ve reached
for the second book of a series. Will it be as good? Will the storyline
progress in a way that keeps me engaged? Will I be able to continue to love and
hate the same characters with an equal amount of passion? As an avid reader, we
tend to build intimate, passionate relationships with our books, so committing to
a series is serious business!
This month, I happily volunteered to
read the second book of Susan Rooke’s The Space Between Series and while I was
slightly nervous as I first dove in, I quickly discovered that book two of the
series is just as awesome as book one. Before I go into my review though, here’s
a quick recap of the synopsis…
“The
Realm Below: The Rise of Tanipestis” Book Synopsis
His powers diminished and his form
greatly changed, Satan bides his time until he can return to his terrible
strength and his kingdom of followers. Cautiously hopeful of Satan’s defeat,
the Penitents have resumed their lives in the Space Between, while contending
with new additions and the tragic loss of one at the Keep.
In the Realm Below, chaos reigns
among the leaderless demons. The monster Tanipestis, no longer under Satan’s
thumb, sees an opportunity to disturb the balance of power among the Fallen.
When Satan discovers his disciples
can be easily led astray, he decides to reinvent himself. And what he does next
will set off a desperate search across three worlds.
Summer’s
Take on “The Realm Below: The Rise of Tanipestis”
“The Realm Below” is a beautifully
written and hugely entertaining sequel to “The Space Between.” The story picks
up right where we left off; with the same elegant narrative and wonderful
imagery we grew to love in the first book. The characters who we embraced continue
to face many challenging trials and tribulations that make us love or hate them
all the more, and we get to know a lot more about each of them—and the lengths
they’ll go—as we continue through the series. I especially love the way the
author continues to adapt many of the traditional Christian mythologies and
fables into unique storylines that leave you wanting more. So while I tend to
worry about sequels, I had absolutely nothing to fear with “The Realm Below!”
In fact, I highly recommend it and I’m very curious and excited to see how the
series continues in book three!
