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Series Review: The Brothers Sinister by Courtney Milan

Greetings and welcome to Reviews That Burn: Series Reviews, part of Books That Burn. Series Reviews discuss at least three books in a series and cover the overarching themes and development of the story across several books. This review is for The Brothers Sinister by Courtney Milan. Full Audio Here   The Governess Affair Miss Serena Barton intends to hold the petty, selfish duke who had her sacked responsible for his crimes. But the man who handles all the duke's dirty business has been ordered to get rid of her by fair means or foul. She’ll have to prove more than his match… The Duchess War The last time Minerva Lane was the center of attention, it ended badly—so badly that she changed her name to escape her scandalous past. So when a handsome duke comes to town, the last thing she wants is his attention. But that is precisely what she gets... A Kiss for Midwinter Miss Lydia Charingford does her best to forget the dark secret that nearly ruined her life, hiding it beneath her smi...

The Second Rebel by Linden A. Lewis (The First Sister Trilogy #2)

Astrid has reclaimed her name and her voice, and now seeks to bring down the Sisterhood from within. Throwing herself into the lioness’ den, Astrid must confront and challenge the Aunts who run the Gean religious institution, but she quickly discovers that the business of politics is far deadlier than she ever expected.

Meanwhile, on an outlaw colony station deep in space, Hiro val Akira seeks to bring a dangerous ally into the rebellion. Whispers of a digital woman fuel Hiro’s search, but they are not the only person looking for this link to the mysterious race of Synthetics.

Lito sol Lucious continues to grow into his role as a lead revolutionary and is tasked with rescuing an Aster operative from deep within an Icarii prison. With danger around every corner, Lito, his partner Ofiera, and the newly freed operative must flee in order to keep dangerous secrets out of enemy hands.

Back on Venus, Lito’s sister Lucinia must carry on after her brother’s disappearance and accusation of treason by Icarii authorities. Despite being under the thumb of Souji val Akira, Lucinia manages to keep her nose clean…that is until an Aster revolutionary shows up with news about her brother’s fate, and an opportunity to join the fight.

This captivating, spellbinding second installment to The First Sister series picks up right where The First Sister left off and is a must-read for science fiction fans everywhere.

CONTRIBUTOR(S): Jennifer Aquino (Narrator), Neo Cihi (Narrator), Farah Naz Rishi (Narrator), Gary Tiedemann (Narrator), Emily Woo Zeller (Narrator)
PUBLISHER: Simon & Schuster Audio
YEAR: 2021
LENGTH: 512 pages (18 hours 30 minutes)
AGE: Adult
GENRE: Science Fiction
RECOMMENDED: N/A

Partial Queer Rep Summary: Lesbian/Sapphic Main Character(s), Bi/Pan Minor Character(s), Genderqueer/Nonbinary Main Character(s).

DNF 14 hours 6 minutes in (76%).

I found myself much less interested in the the story than in the first book. I'm still uneasy with some of the character choices I mentioned in the first book's review and I couldn't tell when or if they would be resolved. Ultimately, while I'm unable to pin down exactly what I don't like about this book, trying to make myself finish it resulted in a period of several days where I barely read anything and could only handle re-reads. As soon as I officially DNF'd this I was able to read other stuff again. For me, that's enough.

Graphic/Explicit CW for mental illness, grief, blood, violence, death.

Moderate CW for cursing, sexual content, classism, xenophobia, sexism, misogyny, fatphobia, body shaming, disassociation, dysphoria, transphobia, trafficking, sexual abuse, child abuse, terminal illness, blood, gore, injury detail, medical content, medical trauma, torture, suicide.

Minor CW for drug use, drug abuse, excrement, abandonment, confinement, self harm, epidemic.

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