Title: The Damned (The Beautiful #2)
Author: Renée Ahdieh
Rating: ★★★★

The Damned returns readers to the dark and decadent world found in The Beautiful. Renée Ahdieh continues to create a mysterious atmosphere full of vivid descriptions and luscious writing. Fans of The Beautiful are definitely going to love The Damned.

The Damned added a few more character perspectives. This book is focused a lot more on Bastien and his story. I found myself really enjoying his point of view and getting to become familiar with his thoughts and emotions. The biggest complaint about The Beautiful was the lack of vampires for a book about vampires, and just as I had suspected, The Damned is full of all the vampire-y goodness readers were looking for.

The world-building was expanded upon in The Damned and it was excellently written. I loved learning more about the Sylvan Wyld and the Summer Vale, as well as how those worlds interact with our world. In addition to vampires, we are introduced to fey and I was super excited about this aspect of the book!

I was under the impression that this was a duology. However, it becomes very clear towards the latter half of the story that there will be another book. I haven’t seen any announcements or anything about it so it was confusing as I reading and could tell that the story wasn’t going to be wrapped up by the end.

The Damned was a wonderful follow up to The Beautiful. I loved the additional focus on Bastien’s POV and the introduction of fey. I’m super excited to continue this series and follow Celine and Bastien as they navigate the problems they’re sure to face next. Fans of The Beautiful will definitely enjoy this, and I would challenge anyway who was disappointed by the lack of vampires in the first book to give this one a try! The paranormal aspect takes center stage and will please anyone who loves a good dose of vampires, werewolves, and other paranormal creatures.