I love books like this, but not all of them are for me. I’ve read a few series like this one and while some of them have the video-game like elements that are first and forefront (you get sucked into a game, or you KNOW you’re in a game). Where, with The Bright so far, they are there (setting up skills based on skill points earned) but it’s more in the background. The Bright series has absolutely got my attention and I’m really intrigued where Knowles is going to take it.
In Retaliate we learn more and more about each character and find out a lot more of the secrets from this world. We are also treated to some romance and some kinship between some of the characters that was a really nice break in the breakneck pace of some of the action scenes.
One of the best parts of this is that even though it’s a book two, we still get a nice story arc. You can tell there’s a larger and longer arc for the series – but this book itself read like its own story and had a beginning, a middle, and an end. (I mention this because a lot of book two’s seem to be just a “to be continued” kind of story without any kind of ending).
The narration by Steve Campbell is also great. There was a choice he made for one of the characters that at first I was confused by, but I actually went back to figure out why he did that and I think it made sense. It was a bit raspy at first and kind of pulled me out of the story, but then I realized it was a good choice and it stopped bothering me. I wanted to point it out because Campbell is an excellent narrator and sometimes you have to trust their choices. Bray did similar things in the Hell Divers books and they’re some of my favorite moments in those books.
Overall, Retaliate was an excellent book and a great addition to this series.