Deception by C.J. Redwine was a fantastic follow up to Defiance. It was an unexpected mysterious adventure novel with the survivors of Baalboden trekking through the Wasteland to try and find refuge. Along the way a mysterious enemy lurks among them leaving ominous messages and death in his wake.
We return to Logan and Rachel’s world right where we left them, after the destruction of Baalboden. Logan at just nineteen has to take on the weight of being the leader to a group of people who don’t always trust his leadership. He has to fight the entire time to protect these people and get them to safety even while knowing some of them still don’t think he should be their leader.
Rachel’s dreams are soaked in blood as she tries to deal with all the horror she’s encountered. She’s just as strong as ever, but there are some wonderful moments in the book where she can’t figure out how to deal with her grief properly and Redwine uses these moments to teach her and us how worthy human beings can be.
I really enjoyed the multiple stories intertwined throughout the story. The big obvious one was the need to get to safety and away from the Commander, but the real villain of the book is the mysterious traitor in their midst. It was nice to have someone other than the Cursed One and the Commander to fear. This new enemy his in their midst as they fled through the Wasteland. It was a faceless enemy they couldn’t see and how do you stop an enemy you can’t find?
This was a great read and I am so happy I already have the next book so I can finish off this trilogy!