young adult, fiction
I generally enjoy Marie Lu's books and I thought the first book in this series, Stars and Smoke, was a lot of fun when I read it last year so I was excited to spend more time with pop sensation Winter Young and super-spy Sydney Cossette. Icon and Inferno is equally fun and fast-paced.
It was great to see Winter and Sydney back together again, and while I did not always enjoy the sulking and misunderstandings between the two of them, I do understand the need to build tension and create a story. Gavi and Tems, the newly introduced side characters, were interesting to a point but also easy to see for the false obstacles that they were; the path forward was easy to identify for anyone who reads regularly. Occasionally, I found myself wanting to smack Sydney in the back of her fictional head and tell her that she was a terrible spy for not seeing what was right in front of her face, but I do have the benefit of age and reality on my side, so... instead, I just decided to enjoy the journey, and fun adventure.
There was more vulnerability between Winter and Sydney in this book as we learned more about each of their backstories and what made them who they are. Lu clearly leaves the door open for more adventures in the future but, should she decide not to write them, the story of Winter & Sydney also feels like it has reached a place where they understand where they fit together, which is a nice place to leave things.
As always, the action was fantastic, and the shoutout to Lu's previous Warcross series made me smile. That was a very nice touch to think of these two series in the same universe.
Icon and Inferno will publish on June 11, 2024. Thank you to NetGalley, Roaring Brook Press and Marie Lu for the advance reader copy.
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