A review by cold_boy
Truth of the Divine by Lindsay Ellis

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

After reading (and mostly enjoying) Axiom's End, I was left wishing that Ellis had taken the story in a bit of a darker, weirder direction. The first book very much feels like a Hollywood movie. In Truth of the Divine, she delivers that in spades.
In particular, the way that this book depicts
anxiety, panic attacks, and suicidal ideation
is remarkably real, far more accurate than any other piece of media I've seen - the repetition of
"It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world,"
really hit home. This was boosted immensely by Stephanie Willis's exceptional performance as the main narrator of the audiobook. 
The plot did struggle a bit, in that it was mainly characters both new and old reacting to the events of the previous book rather than tangibly expanding the world and story, but Ellis develops and explores this so well that it's hard to complain.
The only real issue I took with the book was the introduction of the new point-of-view character, Kaveh. I understood his importance to the plot and to Cora, but I just really didn't like him as a person, which made it hard for me to connect with him.
That said, the awkwardness of his relationship with Cora, his handling of her mental health issues, his conversations with Nikola, and Cora's reaction to his death were all some of the most interesting (I hesitate to say "best") parts of the book.

tl;dr this was a difficult book to read, but worth it. I'm very excited to see where Ellis takes the series from here.
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