One of my biggest moans about books in recent years has been about how often the cover of a book rarely reflects its contents, or at its worst often feeling like something dashed together in ten minutes in Photoshop.
However, here the wonderful cover (by Anna Moshak) not only shows a wonderful level of detail but also sums The Second Death of Locke up nicely. The classic-style artwork looks like something out of a medieval history book; and this is a medieval-esque fantasy novel, with its talk of greaves, valances and the like.
The Second Death of Locke is however more than that – amongst all of the battles in this novel (and quite vicious at that) it is a relationship-focused, and even romantic novel.
The relationship between Hand Captain Grey Flynn and Captain Kiernan (Kier) Seward, around whom this novel is focussed, is one that shows that they have known each other for a long time, through life’s trials and tribulations, highs and lows.
The bond they have is a magical one, of course.
The book is in three basic sections. The first sets up the relationship between Kier and Grey, and explains the nature of the connection between Hand and Heart. (This is also graphically illustrated with drawings of an arm in armour and two hearts between each chapter.) The basic idea is pretty straight-forward – Grey is a Hand – a well, whose purpose is to provide the magical energy for mage Keir to do his work: in his case, kill enemies on the battlefield. The close connection between them allows this to happen. It is made clear from the start that this close bond that these two characters have is more than a magical pairing, a life-long friendship that endures through everything that the field of battle throws at them.
To show this, much of this first part is shown in battle, as the two fight in the army of the kingdom of Scaela. Bovalino’s descriptions of brutal battle and the injuries incurred, both physical and mental, are given in some detail, although never to the point where it seems gratuitous. Grey also spends time off the battlefield assisting her close friend Leonie as a healer, patching-up those injured, as she was a healer before she became a Hand.
More importantly, this section seems to spend its time telling of the unrequited longing that these two have for each other. As Hand and Heart, they are forbidden to marry (or bond), as this will mean that they cannot work with anyone else, and the risk of death is quite likely. If one of them is killed when bonded, the other will lose all magical power. Consequently, much of the time in this part is spent telling the reader how much the two know each other, having being friends since childhood before they became Hand and Heart. In true Lethal Weapon style, they are looking to retire from battle, feeling worn out and exhausted.
The plot around which these details are given is that they are given what they hope will be a last secret mission: capture the child of an enemy kingdom, who also claims to be Maryse, the long-lost Lady of Locke, the island kingdom destroyed years ago in a cataclysmic explosion, killing all of the island’s inhabitants.
The middle part of the book deals with Kier, Grey and a select group taking the girl to the eastern coast of the High Lord Scaelas, who is waiting for them on the eastern coast of Scaela, near the island of Locke. There Scaelas will reunite with Maryse, his god-daughter, and work with her to restore the Isle. The journey is not easy, with the need to travel in secret and constant fights with soldiers trying to find them before they can get to the High Lord. For reasons that I won’t disclose here, the main complication is that there is a survivor of the Locke catastrophe – but Kier and Grey know that it is not the girl.
The last part of the book deals with the consequences of those revelations when the group meet the High Lord. There is much political manoeuvring for power and position emphasised when the surrounding nations of Luthar and Eprain, sensing a possibility of gaining advantage at this point, decide to attack Scaela. Kier and Grey’s plans of retiring are put in jeopardy and there are life-changing events for all concerned.
Where Bovalino wins here is her ability to combine military tactics and warfare with strong, fierce characterisation and make the two work together. I can’t think of any book in recent reading that emphasises reciprocal yet unrequited love as much as this one. It is not easy to maintain such constant intensity amongst all of the secret touching, staring and meaningful conversations that go on in the book – a longish book at that – but most of the time the author’s use of restraint is a welcome aspect, although there were times when I did feel that this chivalric romance aspect was a little overdone. (“Get on with it!”, I thought more than once – whatever ‘it’ was.)
Having said that, some readers may be a little disappointed that this is not a book that lingers too long on the lusty elements that such a story could entail; rather, it is as the old Kenny Everett saying goes, “All done in the best possible taste!” It is to the author’s credit that the sex aspect to the novel is not emphasised as much as some recent books seem to have done, although there are some scenes that reader will either love or pass quickly over. The Second Death of Locke is a story centred on romance, after all.
In summary, though, The Second Death of Locke is everything that THAT cover suggests it will be – a lushly romantic High Fantasy story with a logical setting, a sense of peril, pleasingly convoluted political intrigue, strong relationships, epic-ally brutal battles and more than a touch of romance. The Second Death of Locke is a triumph.
© 2025 Mark Yon
Hardback | Orbit (Little, Brown Book Group)
THE SECOND DEATH OF LOCKE by V. L. Bovalino
September 2025 | 480 pages
ISBN: 978 0356 524 887
