In the straits of necessity, sometimes there isn't room for freedom.
The Price of Silver is the second book in Josie Jaffrey's Solis Invicti paranormal romance series, set in a dystopian, post-apocalyptic London where a deadly infection threatens to wipe out humanity. The only people who can stem its advance are the Silver, a vampiric race who offer a simple exchange: protection in return for blood and subservience.
Emmy is fenced in by the city, the walls marking the edge of safety closing in around her and sealing her in with one vampire who loves her and another who wants her dead. As she struggles to keep herself and the people she cares about alive, her fellow humans chafe against their enforced submission, and it becomes clear that there are bigger schemes and greater deceptions in play than she had ever imagined.
All the while, the monsters wait outside the barricades for their moment. Of one thing she is certain: without the help of the Silver, the humans won't be safe for long.
The Price of Silver (Solis Invicti #2) by Josie Jaffrey
Paperback, 406 pages
Published October 25th 2015
Purchase Links: Amazon | Print | Goodreads | Kobo | Smashwords
Josie lives in Oxford, England, with her husband and two cats. When she’s not writing, she works as a lawyer, specializing in intellectual property and commercial law. She also runs a video book review club, The Gin Book Club, through her website.
The first book in the Solis Invicti series (A Bargain in Silver) is Josie’s debut novel.
Author Links: Website & Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
The first chapter or so wasn't the most smooth transition from one book to the next. It might would have served better to just do a prologue instead of trying to make the refresher be so substantial and obvious from the previous book. I was hoping maybe throughout the book the author would have small reminders of previous events, but she took time to bluntly lay out the events of the previous book before starting with anything new. I could have skipped the first part of the book, but that is good for anyone wanting to jump in anywhere in the series, although you could almost skip book one with how much detail was given in the flashback. That being said I actually liked book one more than two, so don't skip it. Anyways, I enjoyed this book (maybe not loved but liked), but I'm comparing it to the last that was so heart pounding, adrenaline rushing, and unknown, which is why I was a little disappointed. I almost didn't want to review this one and was considering waiting to finish the third in the series then coming back to this one, but I didn't want to get through the next and forget which book had what details. This book mostly contained a wrap up and many answers the last one left open and then set the stage for an epic third book, so it did serve it's purpose, but it wasn't my favorite. I'm still looking forward and planning to read the rest in the series. The next one has a strong foundation and a lot of things I can't wait to be answered, but this story might end up being the least memorable. I started to get annoyed with the love triangle, the repetition, and indecisiveness. I realized that this might last throughout the entire series, the back and forth, and I'm really hoping something happens to spice things up because it's the same turmoil as the first. They did introduce last minute one girl to an addition possible love interest so I don't even know what shape that would make...a diamond? So maybe things are about to get a little more fun and less predictable.
I received this book free from the author for an honest review.
I was pushed roughly into the door at the top of the stairs, used as a tool to open it wide. It cracked across my cheekbone and into my hip, sending agonizing bursts of pain radiating out across my body. This man was brutal, and I wasn’t going to get any mercy from him.
We walked through the kitchen and I knew when we’d entered the dormitory because the breeze from the open window above what used to be my bed hit my bare thighs, chilling me to the bone. But it was too quiet, the normally omnipresent murmurs and snorts of sleeping people oddly absent. Where was everyone? I’d assumed that they were taking me to see Oliver or the other rebels, that they were going to try to beat information out of me about the Silver. Oliver had probably realized that I’d been holding back, and I thought he’d want to know what I knew.
But the room felt practically empty, as if the dormitory was unoccupied. There was a clanking, metallic sound by the window as I was marched in that direction.
“Is it true?” a male voice by the window asked. There was a movement from the man holding me, the motion sending a further jet of pain through my shoulder. He’d clearly made some sort of gesture, but I couldn’t guess what it might have been. There were a few footsteps towards me and then hands at the neck of my shirt, tearing the thin fabric open.
“See?” said the voice again, now right in front of me.
“Damn. He was right,” the man at my back replied.
“It’s going to make a fucking big statement, I’ll tell you that much,” came the response.
“Should never have taken that bribe, little girl,” another voice said from the direction of the window, female this time, as fingers stroked over the choker around my neck. The fingers were replaced by heavy metal that was draped around my throat in a loop. Chains, I thought.
“Too late now,” the man said, and I belatedly realised from the finality of his tone that they were going to kill me.
Dear god, they were going to kill me. Humans were going to kill me.