Recreated ARC Review: Lily

Book: Recreated
Author: Colleen Houck
Series: Reawakened #2
Genre: YA mythology
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Pages: 416
Release: August 2nd, 2016

From Colleen Houck, New York Times bestselling author of The Tiger’s Curse, comes Recreated, the second book in the epic Egyptian-inspired Reawakened series, in which a seventeen-year-old must literally go to hell to save the love of her life. 

Lily Young thought traveling across the globe with a reawakened sun prince was a grand adventure. Now she’s about to embark on the journey of a lifetime. 

When Amon and Lily part tragically, he transports himself to the Netherworld—what mortals call hell. Tormented by the loss of his one true love, he’d rather suffer in agony during Lily’s mortal years than fulfill his duty to protect humanity. 

Heartbroken, Lily seeks refuge on her grandmother’s farm. Yet she can feel Amon’s pain, and she has been having dreams—dreams of Amon continually suffering. 

For before he departed, Amon gave Lily something very special, an item that connects them even though they are worlds apart. Now Lily must use this object to free him, and to free their realms from darkness and utter chaos. She will do whatever it takes.

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***Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a physical copy. This does not affect my review in any way.***

Oh, where to start? So many good things!

This book pick off a few months after the last book. Amon has returned to the afterlife after performing a ceremony to keep the chaos god Seth at bay for another thousand years--or so Lily assumes. In reality, instead of returning to the afterlife to continuing serving the gods with his brothers as the Sons of Egypt, Amon jumps into the Netherworld in hopes to wait for Lily to live out her mortal years rather than do his duty. Too soon, Lily finds herself back into the world of the mythical, only this time, she's set on a mission to save Amon...

Lily's character for sure went through a lot more evolution than I ever imagined she would. She began the book off rather helpless and inactive--trying to live through the pain of being separated from Amon, and being unable do anything but watch as Amon suffers through her dreams. So of course she would jump at any chance she could get to save him. Not once did she ever show any weakness or second guess herself; she was confident at all times, even during confrontations with gods and other terrifying monsters. She really stepped up her game!

Whereas we got to know Amon in depth in the last book, this book we were introduced to Asten's backstory. I liked Asten the moment he appeared on page in the last book, just because his personality was so great. But after reading this book, I've come to love Asten. His charming and self-assured exterior is only that--an exterior. In an act of selflessness--which was what really got to me--we got to delve deeper into his past, and watch as he came face to face with his own darkness. Asten hands down had the best character development in this book, and I can no longer say I like Amon better than Asten!

Tia and Ashleigh were two big surprises to the novel. I did not see the story going in the direction it did, and the introduction of these two threw me off at first. At the beginning, I was irritated by Tia's actions, and became fearful of affect Lily in the long run. Right after I made my peace with Tia, Ashleigh came along, complicating everything and starting the same process I went through with Tia, except this time for Ashleigh. I haven't quite latched onto Ashleigh yet, but then again, she was introduced rather late in the book. I am a bit hesitant on the apparent pairing of love interests with Lily, Tia, and Ashleigh, just because it seems to be rather...convenient. And I have no idea how their three relationships are going to work out, or what it means for Lily...

We got such a range of new characters in this novel, adding a bunch of personality to the book. The concept of gods was introduced, as well as the restrictions put on these powerful beings, which brought a headache of problems for Lily. Additional mythology and lore was brought in, which I enjoyed greatly, and really gave the entire story context. Egyptian mythology is so complex and fascinating! 

The climax was definitely my favourite part. Action-packed, with Lily in the centre, the odds completely stacked against her. And the ending. We're not quite back to square one, but we're pretty darn close, with the exception that everything has changed and the situation is a million times more dire.

I definitely enjoyed this book, though not as much as the first book, just because it took me a bit longer to latch onto some characters. Regardless, I'm definitely looking forward to the next book, because I'm dying for more Lily and Amon and can't wait to see them fighting together, and Asten <3