Second Skin

by Sue Bentley

If you love Fourth Wing and From Blood and Ash, then discover this enthralling fantasy novel.

Perfect for fans of Rebecca Yarros, Sarah J. Maas and Jennifer L. Armentrout.

‘Sue Bentley's dark, sensual, magical story will catch you in the gut, move your heart and set your imagination on fire.’ Radio Times

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘An epic fantasy which draws in the reader through its strong characterization and vivid imagery.’ Catherine M.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I am now a committed Sue Bentley fantasy fan.’ Suzan S.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I loved this book! The world building was fantastic with so many original ideas.’ Kirsty

TWO MOONS, TWO HEARTS, TWO SOULS . . .

Eighteen-year-old Lady Aledra Jewel-Wing is Drakkoni — a race of shape-shifting dragons who brutally conquered the Esran lands. They are fiercely protective of their pure bloodlines.

Aledra’s father is the powerful Lord Commander Artor Jewel-Wing. She was told her mother is dead, but really she was banished for being part-Esran.

Aledra is raised on a remote farmstead, keeping her away from the prying eyes of the Drakkoni court. She is mentored to control her secondskin, which is where her dragon form hides.

Your firstskin is what you allow the world to see and your secondskin is the true expression of your soul.

When war breaks out between the Drakkoni and the Esrans, Aledra is imprisoned and learns the truth about her mother.

She escapes from prison and meets Jubal, an Esran whose family were slaughtered by Drakkoni warriors.

Aledra conceals her heritage and against all odds they fall in love.

Will their love turn to ashes if he finds out who she really is?

Genres: Fantasy

364 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 10, 2024

About the author

Sue was born in Northampton where she still lives. For many years she worked for Northamptonshire libraries and remains a passionate supporter of Public Libraries. Sue loves everything about books, the feel of them, their smell. the way they look. And has a habit of matching a bookmark to the cover of each book she's reading. The process of reading, the feel of the book, carrying it around in her shoulder bag, sitting in favourite cafes reading all make for a complete sensory experience.
Browsing bookshops old and new, talking all things bookish with other book lovers, spending time with other writers and meeting with fans of her own books at author events are her favourite things. That and eating good quality dark chocolate, while writing.

Reviews

[Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

not the worst thing I’ve read

This is like Fourth Wing in that there are dragons and war. This is like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in that there is a ridiculously long, drawn out middle “camping” section that could have been pared down significantly.

Aledra is the daughter of a Drakkoni (dragon shifter) general and a half-blood woman. Raised with little involvement from her father and none from her biological mother, she is brought to the castle for her 18th birthday, where her stepmother’s death triggers a string of events. Escaping from the castle and the violence, Aledra disguises herself as a male Esran (human tribe) and pairs with another refugee that she rescues.
The “romance” in this is about as implausible as the romance in Mulan. The middle is long and drawn out, but the beginning and the end were pretty solid. This book could have also used another round of editing.

[Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good but could have been great

This book had a great beginning and a decent ending, but the middle just drug on forever. It could have used some additional editing for typographical errors and slow spots that needed trimming. It also had a second plot line and antagonist for some reason and I never fully understood the point. I’m guessing that this is the first book of a series and maybe some of the major questions left in this book might get explained later, but who knows how long that might take. The characters are well written and you love the ones you’re supposed to love and hate the ones you’re supposed to hate. If I ever run across the next book I’ll probably read it, but I don’t know that I would actively seek it out.

[Booklover · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hope she comes out with a second one so we can see what happens. It is definitely no where near as good as Fourth Wing and it took me awhile to start getting into it. I do want to know what happens though.

[Ky · Rating 1 out of 5]

*SPOILERS*
Normally I pride myself on being a fast reader, able to pack a book in within two days of starting it. It took me a week to drag myself through this one. The writing style was not my cup of tea, the pacing left something to be desired, and it was rife with typos. The initial premise seemed interesting, a high-ranking dragon warrior/shifter taking his half-breed daughter to be raised in his society as opposed to staying with her mother and their tribe. I will give credit to the author, she certainly developed a rich world replete with different cultures, unique terminology for flora and fauna, and historical contexts. Hats off to Sue. However, it felt that some of these unique things were never really explained or only given explanation about 100-150 pages in to the book itself. The FMC kept mentioning "double heartbeats," but it wasn't really explained until 1/3 of the way in to the story that the Drakkoni race actually have two hearts and not some sort of arrhythmia. It also took a long time to figure out what the moena actually were, and even then most of it is left to the imagination (I kept thinking of them as velociraptors with hair).

The story itself had a lot of great potential: Aledra trying to navigate the Drakkoni world, the inexplicable and instantaneous blood-feud with rival courtier Shulina, the mysterious illness that has been affecting the Drakkoni and eventually leading to their demise, the mysterious Drakkoni priests who want Aledra for some greater purpose, Aledra's blood somehow being the cure to the mystery illness, Coiron Lock and his mission from the priests, and Aledra's tribal mother. None of these plotlines were ever really resolved. Shulina had an off-screen death (presumably), the illness is never resolved, consuming Aledra's blood did nothing, the priests' ultimate goal is never realized, Coiron is basically an undead revenant who will only know peace once he brings Aledra to the priests and the last we ever read of him is when he pulled his moldering body out of a well and is currently trying to entice a velociraptor into letting him ride it. Aledra does take control of her position in the Drakkoni world but the subplot with her mother never actually comes to fruition beyond we know her name and which tribe she lives with. It feels like there were a whole bunch of different stories that the author wanted to tell in one overarching adventure but so many of them were only introduced and then never completed. Obviously she wanted the growing romance between Jubal and Drale/Aledra (also, how confused that kid must have been when he spent months falling in love with another native boy and then come to find out that not only is she a despised Drakkoni but also a GIRL. Mulan/Ping and Shang vibes), she clearly wanted Aledra to experience the subjugation and slavery of the natives at the hands of the Drakkoni, and then finished with Aledra going through the torture of being chained and bled dry for what must have been weeks if not months. And yet these subplots only feel like a fraction of what the author had posed as the overall story.

I was pretty let down by how much was left unresolved in this supposed stand-alone novel. The author obviously put a lot of thought into this story and this world she has created, it seems a shame to leave so much undone. For the readers who enjoyed this book far more than I did, I hope she writes a follow up to Second Skin and resolves the storylines so there is closure to Aledra and this world.

[Jan Tabor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surpisingly good. If there is a sequel in the works, sign me up. I read Second Skin based on the NYT review which Compared it to The Fourth Wing. While I outgrew my fascination with dragons back in the days of Anne McCaffrey, I read The Fourth Wing because I love Yarros's knack for developing relatable characters that tug at my heart. While Bentley isn't at that level yet, I really liked the way Sue Bentley developed the main character, particularly the dialogue between her and Jubal, a tribesman she rescues. The villains, particularly the mean girl, could use some work, but I will be looking for more from this author.

[Liz Marnell · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s not bad

I picked this up because it mentioned if you loved Fourth Wing this would be a good Rex. I think that is a bit generous as it’s not anything like Fourth Wing. That said- it’s a good story. A bit slow and it never really picks up the pace. But I liked Aledra. She was a good character and the end makes me wonder about a sequel- it kinda sets up for one. Overall 3 solid stars.

[Rebecca]

DNF

99.99% of the time I will give a book until ~25% in before I decide if I'm going to DNF, because usually at that point I have a good idea of how I feel about the general plot. I made it two pages. Why, you ask?

First - the writing feels really high school. There was an attempt at descriptive imagery but it fell flat for me.

Second - a character's name is Blanchelda. Blanchelda . I read a lot of fantasy, I can handle weird names. But I draw the line at Blanchelda.

[Lindsay McCuen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3.0
Spice: none

Not worth the read. To mention this as a follow up to fourth wing is disappointing.

The concept had potential and I liked Jubal and Aledra’s characters. But that’s kinda where the praise ends. The other characters fell flat to me, the plot felt hard to get through, and it’s clearly written to be a series given the ending. I’m surprised I finished honestly.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Refreshing

I loved the storyline. It flowed nicely, I became invested in the characters and slightly frustrated with them, too.

Was quite the adventure story hints of romance lots of action.

I wish it had been a little longer by another book or 2.

[sindy krukowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

This book was so exciting, I didn't want it to end. The imagination of the author is incredible.i would recommend this book to all fantasy lovers

[Melanie Dubois · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very hard to follow, alot of extra "fluff", overall not much happened in the book. I gave it 2 stars because the ending was faster paced and good, but most of the beginning was not needed.

[Nabo Preo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intriguing concept but too much of the plot relied on dialogues and the MC kept fainting at convenient timings to avoid having to narrate the proceedings.

[B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty decent book. Short and good for taking a break after a huge series. I do feel the story was kind of rushed in the middle and some setting transitions weren’t that descriptive. At one point I was like “how did we get here?” I also feel it could be more descriptive in all, especially with fake things, ideas or animals. I would like to know what is being talked about and how it looks or what it is. These are small things though, it was overall a good book. Recommended if you need a short, single book break after something big.

[Nerdy Pingwin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't finish this one. Unfortunately I could not get into this book. The premise was really intriguing and it could have been a really good story. The editing and the writing style just didn't work for me.