Council of Souls (Fated Eternals #2)

After surviving the perils of an ancient family feud, Jack Hammond and Leah Winters believe only happiness lies ahead. However, their future isn’t as secure as they think. When Death and his council arrive to welcome Leah into their treacherous shadow world, the couple discovers that Leah’s immortality has come with a high price.

With Artagan’s help, Leah slowly learns how to navigate the dark waters of the Concilium Animarum—the Council of Souls. As their world starts to unravel further, their love is all Jack and Leah have left. Will that be enough?

*May Contain Spoilers*

Jen Printy continues the love story of Jack and Leah in this sequel, Council of Souls. However, now that Leah is immortal like Jack, Death wants to make her a grim reaper and a member of his council. While Death's reasons are his own, other council members feel slighted and seem to be considering an alternate path for Leah. 

I reviewed the first book in this series four years ago and though my memory of the first book was a little blurry, I remembered enough to keep myself from getting too confused. Because of the intricacies of the immortal beings that Printy creates, I think this is a book that requires the first installment in order for readers to really feel at ease with everything that's happening. I say that mainly because of the different types of immortals there are in the book: Endless, Timeless, Soul Immortals, Soulless, etc. It gets a little confusing with so many different categories of immortals. 

Regardless, in the first book Jack and Leah were reunited after 150 years. Now in this book, they're happily together but there's been a major development in Leah's immortal status. Death wants to make her a grim reaper, or a gatherer, and Jack is definitely not okay with it. Leah fears she'll become a monster like other gatherers if she becomes used to the act of taking people's souls. Artagan is assigned as her guide, however, which allows Leah to be introduced to the act of gathering souls at a reasonable pace. But trouble ensues when Death and others want to push things along. 

I think readers will feel connected with Jack and Leah based on the foundation created in the first book. They have a very long history and the story is written to embellish that. Though in this book, readers see Leah and Jack set against quite a strong adversary and figure out a way to overcome it or choose a true death to save themselves. The way that both react to this demonstrates how deeply devoted they are to each other while also giving readers a larger sense of their morality. With the stakes running this high, readers who like paranormal romance and fantasy will be consumed with the story. And yes, I'd bet on a book number three. 

Rating: 3.5/5 Cups

Review of the first book: My Soul Immortal