The Second Death of Locke book review
The Second Death of Locke by V.L. Bovalino Series: The Hand and the Heart #1
on September 23, 2025
Goodreads
Love. Loyalty. Sacrifice.
Grey Flynn has dedicated her life to her mage, Kier.
She will be his blade on the battlefield, his healer and protector. The deep well of raw power inside her is Kier's to use. Grey would do anything for Kier - be anything for him - if he would only ask.
When a quest to protect the child of an enemy kingdom pulls them into the dangerous heart of their nation's war, Grey and Kier will need to decide what they are willing to sacrifice to protect their secret.
For Grey is no ordinary magical well, but heir to the lost island of Locke - the root of all power. If she dies, all magic dies with her.
The Second Death of Locke is a devastatingly romantic epic fantasy and about the undying bond between a knight and their mage, perfect for fans of The Knight and the Moth and The Six Deaths of the Saint.
This book was perfection. I have no other words. The Second Death of Locke was one of the best books I have read this year. There was a perfect mixture of fantastical elements and romance. I adored the main characters and they didn’t suffer from being insufferable idiots who didn’t know how to do anything. When I say I wanted to live this book, I wanted to climb inside and be with them in the action. It was brilliantly written and did wonderful things with some really common tropes.
Grey and Kier were some of the best main characters I have read in a really long time. There was a naturalness all the way through The Second Death of Locke that is SO hard to write and pull off. At no point did I ever doubt that these two were long term friends, the comfort they find in each other and the lack of awkwardness makes this one of my favourite friendship pairings EVER. I loved every interaction between the pair of them and the casualness of it was fantastically well written.
The entire set up of the world, ‘quest’ and the magic was so well rounded. I was left with no questions and I thought the way it worked added to the story and didn’t detract from the action. One thing I really struggle with is fantasy books that have a convoluted magic system or politics system that you have to spend the entire book trying to keep a track of everything. I’m an avid believer that the background should either benefit the story somehow or be faded and almost ignored, it should never be a detriment to the reader.
Even the sidekicks to this story brought their own uniqueness to the plot, Ola and Brit were a fantastic pairing, it was a treat to read a truly platonic friendship and watch that grow through the adversity. Sela was probably one of my favourite side characters. For someone who was such a weak character to begin with, her involvement in The Second Death of Locke ended up having some of the cutest impact. I just adored her moments with the crew, especially Grey.
If you haven’t heard of this book, then I beg you to please go and pick it up! I had no idea what it was about and I am so thrilled to have received it in my Illumicrate box. I just hope they do the sequel, because that’s right! There’s going to be an entire series, and I CANNOT wait.
