The Devil You Know by Kit Rocha
Tor Books
Release date: August 31st
The Mercenary Librarians and the Silver Devils are back in USA Today and New York Times bestselling author Kit Rocha’s post-apocalyptic action/romance, with hints of Orphan Black and the Avengers
Maya has had a price on her head from the day she escaped the TechCorps. Genetically engineered for genius and trained for revolution, there’s only one thing she can’t do—forget.
Gray has finally broken free of the Protectorate, but he can’t escape the time bomb in his head. His body is rejecting his modifications and his months are numbered.
When Maya’s team uncovers an operation trading in genetically enhanced children, she’ll do anything to stop them. Even risk falling back into the hands of the TechCorps.
And Gray has found a purpose for his final days: keeping Maya safe.
Thank you to Tor Books for an e-arc for review.
Last year, Deal with the Devil, hit the perfect spot for me. This wonderful found family with action, ass-kicking, and mercenary librarians. It took Kit Rocha to make me realize that found family was my favorite thing. They deliver on it. Every. Single. Time. Family is who you choose to belong to.
I devoured The Devil You Know, the moment that it downloaded to my Kindle from NetGalley. I stayed up late into the night reading, desperate to be back in this world, with this family. And that’s what I always love most when diving into a Kit Rocha book. Even when the books are shifting focus, I never feel lost because we’re still with the family that these characters have chosen for themselves. Now it’s not just Nina, Maya, and Dani, but all the Silver Devils…and a few others.
Maya held my heart in her hands from almost the first moment I met her. I fell in love with everything about her, including how she continued to fight for everything she believed in, despite not having the superpowers Nina and Dani did. But Maya has strengths of her own, once she allows herself to see them. We get so much more about how Maya experiences the world. The way her sensory-sensitivity and overload is portrayed felt so authentic and hit really close to home. I loved her techniques for managing it, and how she didn’t want to allow it to control her while at the same time accounting for the way she had no control at times.
Gray’s voice in my head is probably wildly unlike what the author hears, but as I have my own thing for voices, I’ll just keep associating this voice with him. Gray won me over with his unflinching dedication to Maya. To support her, however she needed; to never let himself be used against her.
Theirs is a slow-burn romance. How I loved it. It’s absolutely beautiful to read, perfect to see.
Deal with the Devil had a ton of external conflict. The Devil You Know is much more internal-conflict based. Which doesn’t mean that there isn’t plenty of action here, it’s just more concentrated. I, personally, loved the pace of this. It gave me plenty of time to spend with all the characters I love and to see Maya and Gray work towards each other. I love that they fight all external issues to be together.
I didn’t talk much about secondary characters in my review for book 1, mostly because I didn’t want to spoil anything. But I have to say: I will kill for my murder-lady Ava. And if I don’t get a book about Conall (and maybe his grumpy/sunshine interest?), with all his quips and smart-ass remarks – I may just expire with need.
If you haven’t started this series, go now. Start. It’s everything I’ve needed these past two years, and I revisit the books often to live, again, the pure joy they bring me.
Leave a Reply