Now, spoilers here for the previous book; it is a direct continuation, after all.
The blurb for Painted Devils starts out fantastically: “Let’s get one thing straight—Vanja Schmidt wasn’t trying to start a cult.”
With Little Thieves, I knew that it was a trilogy coming in, but by the end of the book, I wasn’t 100% certain where the story was going to be heading next. After ridding herself of a nasty curse, putting the displaced Princess Giselle back where she belonged, settling most of the affairs in Bóern, and perhaps starting a relationship with Emeric Conrad, I wasn’t sure what Vanja’s next steps were. Neither, it seemed did Vanja; not that we should blame her for not having the most well though out plans after all, she’s still a teenager. But I don’t think accidentally starting a cult was really on either of our lists.
Got to hand it to Vanja, that’s exactly what she did; after stumbling around drunk one night and nearly losing her hard-earned life savings, Vanja indulges in a little showmanship and trickery in order to convince the locals to help her out. As we know form the first book, she’s a scam artist at heart; she’s very good at this. Where’s Emeric, you might ask? Why didn’t he rein her in? Remember, he was only a junior prefect in the previous book, and he’s off to take his final tests before he can become fully qualified. No doubt things would not have spiraled out of control as fast as they did if he had been at her side, but Vanja seems determined to barrel her way through life as a loose cannon. So here we are; Vanja has accidentally invented the cult of the Scarlet Maiden, and even though the little village she got drunk in seems to be prospering as a result, it’s not long until things start to spiral out of control.
It turns out the manifestation of the The Scarlet Maiden isn’t really under Vanja’s control. Something else has seen the opening she made and hijaked it! After cosulting with other, more learned adults, it is decided that Vanja has not accidentally awakened an old god or a low god—so what to make of the entity that has so many people under it’s thrall? And if The Scarlet Maiden is not under Vanja’s control, then neither are her followers. And they’re getting at little zealous. Adding to that, guess who might be asked to investigate these claims of a false god? And then what is to be done when the maiden starts mentioning blood? Good thing there seems a rather friendly family willing to go out on a limb for Vanja; she just needs to ask herself why they would do that for her?
Oh Vanja: she’s so great at making messes.
Much like Little Thieves, Painted Devils is unexpected hilarious at times and somewhat dark for a young adult novel at others. There is also a lot of discussion here relating to both the nature of Justice* and of personal accountability. It is also far more “teenager” in nature than the first book; probably because there is a lot more focus on both Vanja’s and Emeric’s romantic relationships. Sometimes their antics are cute, but other times, all I could hear were foghorns warning that a certain someone has not dealt with their personal issues sufficently to be in a relationship. And while their actions can well and truly justified by their mental state, it still drove me a little nuts. There is also quite a bit of teenage discussion (read: giddy stuttering) about how one would protect another from being becoming a virgin sacrifice by making sure they became a not-virgin. This, on the other hand, I found quite amusing.
Thankfully there are some mature adults on the page who seem really good at discussing these issues with young people!
So the humor and the feel of Painted Devils is just as on point as Little Thieves, which I really welcomed. However, I don’t feel the sequel is as well structured and tied together as its predecessor; it certainly came across as a lot more episodic with a lot of little side plots that needed to be covered. The middle especially gave me the feeling that the book was stuck in second gear. I think the neater overall narrative of the first book was more successful, but if Painted Devils was structured that way, I’m not sure the author could have found an excuse to slot in Ragne? (Love Ragne.)
Again, a bit of an unexpected direction after Little Thieves, but still very enjoyable. That’s a three and a half here.
For cbr18bingo, this one is Justice. Why? One of the two big themes here.
