The Broken Citadel #2
by D. L. Taylor
coming February 24, 2026
(4 / 5)
First off, thank you to Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, Henry Holt and Co., and NetGalley for the free review copy of The Beasts We Raise! All opinions are completely my own.
The Beasts We Raise takes place several months after the first book left off and continues the story of Mance and Silver. While I didn’t like this book quite as much as the first one, I still enjoyed reading it. It had a different feel to it, maybe partially because it centered around Mance’s new ability. She just felt a bit stripped down, but ultimately it was intentional something that led to character growth. I wasn’t expecting the addition of some new points of view, but I really enjoyed seeing those perspectives. I liked the themes of acceptance and facing fears that the book dived into. Things often felt pretty dire and I wondered how the story could possibly have a happy ending. I was hoping for a bit more closure out of the ending, but I was still happy enough with the direction things went.
