The Reaper (Dark Verse)

don't know if i want tristan or morana more at this point just adopt me as a houseplant
i love them so much it hurt me physically to had to finish this book, i never wanted it to end

The Reaper, the second book in RuNyx’s Dark Verse series, delves deeper into a world of mob power, dark secrets, and an intense, addictive love story

“You,” she whispered to the space between them, “Tristan Caine, are a beautiful, beautiful man. And my heart beats for you.” ♾️/5

This series is soo good

He would be her ruin. And she would ruin him right back

Looking back at my review of the first book, I realised I may have underestimated the amount of silence in the book because in this one, it was too silent.

THIS IS NOT SPOILER FREE

Morana had a glow up from describing Tristan's voice of ✨whiskey and sin✨ to describing his hand:

huge metallic watch around his strong wrist with a navy dial that looked expensive, the veins that ran at the back of his hand, the sparse dusting of hair that curled right under his sleeve, the long, strong fingers

alright Morana, you've got a fine man we get it. And if you think whiskey and sin disappears in this book, it doesn't.

I will admit this book was better than the first but it didn't hit the expectations that everyone told me about, people were always going "TRISTANMORANA!!!" and I'm still like "why?"

Tristan is too silent, way too silent for a male character who supposedly is dark and dirty. And I really didn't like it because it felt like Morana carried the book. Even she knows that he doesn't have the right words to express himself with... so what comes out of this?

And Morana, I admired her more in this book because she was intelligent, as said by Tristan himself too. She's quick thinking in every situation despite her flaws and that for sure is one strong woman. And she also called him out for his mute-self:

I don’t mind that you’re not the most talkative guy in the room, but it means that when shit gets in your head, you tell me about it so we can have discussions like adults rather than retreat and deal with it on your own

honey you may not mind but I mind a whole damn lot because why can he kill people but not talk?

I understand they have a tangled past together but at some point of time he'd trust her to talk more and that literally came..... at the end of the book. That's too late to call it character development, there isn't much. I can probably be lenient and close one eye for Tristan because at one scene, he did go and find her when he felt down. At least he didn't use the touch-another-hoe-to-find-out-if-she-has-feelings-for-me tactic. Morana however, had character development because she understood from his body cues not to talk and pry at certain times and left him alone. Now that is character development.

I'm not a Tristan hater, I really am not so I'll share one thing I appreciate about Tristan - it is the way he handled Morana's panic attacks. I would say that didn't need any words because his actions said it all. A man who leaves chocolates for you every time is a man to be cherished