Playing Through Every Choices Book In Order (Part 112: The Elementalists, Book 2)

Hey! Today we tackle our sophomore year at Penderghast as a threat far more daunting than Raife arises.

Next time, we reunite with our childhood friend and crush who now just so happens to be a billionaire...

Link to previous reviews: https://www.reddit.com/user/stresseatingdog/comments/sj3s3m/all_choices_reviews_megapost/

The Elementalists, Book 2

M/C: Lance Valentine

Love Interest(s): Beckett

Favorite Characters: Beckett, Shreya, Atlas, Griffin, Aster, Gemma, Familiar

Least Favorite Characters: Alma

Rating: 9/10

Review:

This book takes what was great about the first book and really amplifies it.

Kane is a great antagonist, and he constantly feels threatening as well. The immense lore drop we get in this book, with M/C and Atlas's mom being a Source, and the other Sources being discussed as well, all of it added to the great worldbuilding that I truly appreciate from this series. I will say one thing, I was never bored, not even with the few filler chapters (such as Shreya's gala).

The four LIs all have minor subplots this time around, and it helps them all stand out individually. I especially liked Aster finally getting major screentime and relevance after the previous book, where I wouldn't fault people for forgetting she is a LI. Zeph, on the other hand, I feel doesn't really get much focus at all, and kinda faded into the background for me. I also have to once again praise the sexuality system. It's such a cool feature that was never brought back (presumably because most modern books are single LI...)

Also, despite being a Beckett romancer mysel, I can't deny just how immensely skewed the diamond scenes are to him. I honestly was shocked at just how many scenes he gets in comparison to the other three. I feel so bad for non-Beckett romancers, because the disparity is quite frankly insane.

I enjoyed the drama between Atlas and M/C, although I thought Atlas was overreacting quite a bit. M/C casually mentions potentially wanting to find their mom, and Atlas acts like M/C is constantly non-stop yapping about the idea. Speaking of their mom, it was really neat finally getting to see her at the end of the book, but I wish we got more time and/or an extra diamond scene or two with her.

The other side characters are good, for the most part. I'm not too fond of Alma, and to be honest I was kind of confused with the whole "Path" thing. Gemma's interesting, I like the re-used Mr. Konevi sprite as a djinn, and the nymphs/Aster's family are neat to meet and see. I kinda wish we got to meet some of the other Sources as well beyond the four we do get to meet.

The new spells are really cool, and the final-tier evolution for the familiar (I named mine Dratini), is so, so cool. The action sequences and fights are really fun to play through, and the various spells and attunements are so, so much fun to use.

Somehow, I feel like this book tried to do too much, at points? The morality score, for instance, doesn't affect enough for me to really care. It feels like they knew this was to be the last book in this series, so they jam-packed it full of new locations, lore, characters, spells, the whole works, which is all really interesting and fun, but also feels kinda overwhelming at times.

I also think this book would have benefited from an epilogue. I wanted to see how everyone was doing for their junior/senior years. How is Shreya's business going? Did Beckett introduce my M/C to his parents? How is Zeph doing leading the thief team? How are M/C and Atlas handling their newfound mother? You get the drift.

Overall, the sheer amount of creativity and clear passion makes me thoroughly adore this book, as a sequel and as a conclusion to the series. Do I sorely wish we got a junior year and senior year book to finish out this series? Yes. However, if this is the way it had to go out, I'll take it.