“The cost of survival isn’t just power—it’s becoming someone else to wield it.”
Holy smokes, Tides of Memory was not the sequel I was expecting it to be, but it is exactly the sequel this story needed to come into its own, and I am just in utter awe of what Laura A. Blake pulled off here. It’s got so much lore, so much drama, so much heartache, so many emotions, and all the wild twists and turns, and I was truly revelling in the chaos of it all. To me, Tides of Memory is to The Shattered Sky Saga what Heir of Fire is to the Throne of Glass series, and I absolutely love it for that.
“Chaos was coming, and I had a chance to do something. I was a piece on the board, but unlike my past, where I had failed to be the master of my fate, I now was one of the players.”
Now, as with my review of book 1, I am going to have to start off with a disclaimer because Laura is a dear friend and I read the manuscript in its raw, early stages. Does that make me too biased? Maybe, but I want to unapologetically gush anyway because I truly do love this series and I think it deserves all the hype it can get. Do with that what you will, I guess.
Anyway, Blake already chose violence by ending book 1 with that diabolical cliffhanger, but then she chose even more violence by making us experience it all over again at the start of Tides of Memory. Except this time we’re seeing it through Kadian’s eyes, because yes babyyy, we are going multi-POV! Like, there’s no denying that Brida was a compelling protagonist in The Forgotten Dawn, but I have to admit she maybe became my least favorite perspective here because Kadian and Lil just absolutely stole the show. They were already my favorite side characters, but getting to spend so much time in their heads made them feel so much more real and raw as we saw all the sides they kept hidden from Brida, whether they meant to or not.
“We are woven into the fabric of time, the threads of past, present, and future. And what are those threads if not people? Lives woven together?”
I think it is so damn impressive how Blake made the three first-person POVs so distinct and equally compelling, with each of them having such a strong voice, personality, and (tragic?) backstory. My poor chaotic Kadian, bless his heart, is stuck in Azmeer getting sucked into political schemes while having to hide that he is one of the very few people who actually remembers what happened at the wedding, meanwhile Lil and Dainan are in mystery land trying to survive while being haunted by their pasts, and then there’s Brida being held captive at the Court of Whispers and getting drugged out of her mind, so hello feverdream vibes.
I just adored how Blake expanded the scope of the story with these new perspectives, and the way that the lush, descriptive prose just made each and every new setting come to life was such an immersive experience for me. Though, the switch to multi-POV does mean the original found family vibes are a bit absent in Tides of Memory since everyone is scattered around the world (or worlds?!), and if you are here for the romances, I am so sorry to inform you that they become even more of a simmering slow burn. I have to admit that I wasn’t feeling the feels in the same way as in book 1, but we did get divine levels of yearning, so I truly can’t even complain about the delicious torture.
“I am the foundation upon which the world collapses, and yet they have forsaken my memory. My name is a silent whisper on the wind, sounds lost to time so long ago. I was once the Primal of nights, the bringer of endings. I am a Dusk forever yearning for Dawn.”
Moreover, I think Blake did such a phenomenal job giving us new characters and relationships to get invested in, and especially the budding, reluctant friendship between Kadian and my fiery babe Iona really captured my heart, and now I need a whole book just about her (please?). Also, while I was initially a bit disappointed that my broody babe Dainan didn’t get his own POV, I actually really enjoyed seeing him in a different light through Lil’s eyes because their platonic grumpy/sunshine banter was everything I didn’t know I needed.
Now, The Forgotten Dawn already was not the most fast-paced book, but in Tides of Memory the action takes even more of a backseat without ever becoming boring. It’s a book of introspection and reflection and internal spiralling, and I really appreciated how that mental health journey looked so different for each character. The exploration of anxiety, trauma, and the exhaustion of constantly putting on a happy mask when you are crumbling inside all really resonated so deeply with me, and especially the arc of my (maybe not so?) sunshine girl Lil really moved me in ways I was not ready for.
“You must remember, it is when one embraces the shadows that one can live in the light.”
But don’t worry, as much as Tides of Memory is a book of reflection, it’s also a book of wild revelations. Like, if you were annoyed that book one raised so many questions, get ready for the tidal wave of answers that starts at the halfway mark when everything turns to absolute chaos. Sure, I was maybe a bit frustrated that it had to take so painfully long for everyone to stop so damn being cryptic and holding back critical information all the time, but holy hell the pay-off was so worth it.
And the best thing is that at no point did any of the revelations feel like clunky, boring infodumps to me, because the way Blake has woven the history and lore of the Primals into the actual journey of the characters is nothing short of masterful. The tiniest seeds of foreshadowing that were planted all the way back in book 1 come to bloom so beautifully here, and while I was maybe a bit too overwhelmed to keep track of everything that was revealed, all the emotional beats and wild twists are still burned into my memory (yes, pun very much intended). It’s just so wild to me how the story goes so hard on the epic divine stuff while staying so deeply human, but that is exactly why I love it so much.
“You’ll come to see we all have roles to play. Some we’re born to, others have been unwillingly thrust upon us, but they remain ours. It’s what we do with those roles that can change the world.”
Tides of Memory truly shattered all my expectations, and it has taken The Shattered Sky Saga to a whole new level that I didn’t even know was a possibility. I truly could not stop myself from devouring this book in just two days, and now I am just reeling from that ending because even if it wasn’t as rude or diabolical as the ending of book 1, those final few pages still left me screaming. This is truly epic romantic fantasy at its best, don’t miss out.
Thank you to Laura A. Blake for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. Tides of Memory is scheduled for release on 14 May 2026.
