What do you think?
Rate this book
Rain Witch: Gods of Tellus Book Two
Not yet published
Expected 17 Feb 26Civil war ravages the kingdom of Tellus, with gods waging battle among mortals as a fledgling revolution struggles to hold fractured lands together.
At the center stands Lyanna Tempestas. After successfully aiding the Earth Mother and dealing a monumental blow to the crown in the process, Lyanna finds herself imprisoned by the king she defied. Cut off from her allies and subject to the volatile whims of the goddess she gave everything to save, Lyanna struggles to keep herself alive. Across the continent, Lord Cassius Coronis wages a brutal campaign to free her, entering into an alliance with the King of the Gods with devastating consequences.
For Lyanna and Cassius, securing her freedom is only the beginning. As rival revolutionary factions turn on each other and dangerous secrets rise to the surface, they both must decide what they are willing to sacrifice—not just to win the war, but to rebuild the kingdom.
Perfect for fans of The Dragon Republic and The Broken Earth Trilogy, Rain Witch is a sweeping fantasy romance that explores the psychological, political, environmental, and romantic fallout of the choices we make in service of revolution.
At the center stands Lyanna Tempestas. After successfully aiding the Earth Mother and dealing a monumental blow to the crown in the process, Lyanna finds herself imprisoned by the king she defied. Cut off from her allies and subject to the volatile whims of the goddess she gave everything to save, Lyanna struggles to keep herself alive. Across the continent, Lord Cassius Coronis wages a brutal campaign to free her, entering into an alliance with the King of the Gods with devastating consequences.
For Lyanna and Cassius, securing her freedom is only the beginning. As rival revolutionary factions turn on each other and dangerous secrets rise to the surface, they both must decide what they are willing to sacrifice—not just to win the war, but to rebuild the kingdom.
Perfect for fans of The Dragon Republic and The Broken Earth Trilogy, Rain Witch is a sweeping fantasy romance that explores the psychological, political, environmental, and romantic fallout of the choices we make in service of revolution.
At the center stands Lyanna Tempestas. After successfully aiding the Earth Mother and dealing a monumental blow to the crown in the process, Lyanna finds herself imprisoned by the king she defied. Cut off from her allies and subject to the volatile whims of the goddess she gave everything to save, Lyanna struggles to keep herself alive. Across the continent, Lord Cassius Coronis wages a brutal campaign to free her, entering into an alliance with the King of the Gods with devastating consequences.
For Lyanna and Cassius, securing her freedom is only the beginning. As rival revolutionary factions turn on each other and dangerous secrets rise to the surface, they both must decide what they are willing to sacrifice—not just to win the war, but to rebuild the kingdom.
Perfect for fans of The Dragon Republic and The Broken Earth Trilogy, Rain Witch is a sweeping fantasy romance that explores the psychological, political, environmental, and romantic fallout of the choices we make in service of revolution.
At the center stands Lyanna Tempestas. After successfully aiding the Earth Mother and dealing a monumental blow to the crown in the process, Lyanna finds herself imprisoned by the king she defied. Cut off from her allies and subject to the volatile whims of the goddess she gave everything to save, Lyanna struggles to keep herself alive. Across the continent, Lord Cassius Coronis wages a brutal campaign to free her, entering into an alliance with the King of the Gods with devastating consequences.
For Lyanna and Cassius, securing her freedom is only the beginning. As rival revolutionary factions turn on each other and dangerous secrets rise to the surface, they both must decide what they are willing to sacrifice—not just to win the war, but to rebuild the kingdom.
Perfect for fans of The Dragon Republic and The Broken Earth Trilogy, Rain Witch is a sweeping fantasy romance that explores the psychological, political, environmental, and romantic fallout of the choices we make in service of revolution.
468 pages, Kindle Edition
Expected publication February 17, 2026
2 people are currently reading
13 people want to read
About the author
Alida Miranda-Wolff
5 books29 followersAlida Miranda-Wolff is the Amazon-bestselling author of two nonfiction books with HarperCollins Leadership and the debut fantasy novel A Raven in the Storm, the first in the Gods of Tellus quartet. Her writing has appeared in Salon, Writer’s Digest, Books by Women, and Hippocampus. A diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging practitioner and worker’s rights activist, Alida also hosts Care Work, a podcast about what it means to offer care for a living. She received the University of Chicago’s Early Career Achievement Award in 2021 and holds a degree in creative writing from the same institution. She lives in Chicago with her husband, their threenager, and a literal animal menagerie.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
dnf
February 8, 2026I'm still not amazing at DNF'ing books but I found that this one was taking a lot more energy than it was worth - I was forcing myself to read it on my commute to work, because reading it in the evenings after work was too depressing an action to compel myself to do it.
Admittedly this book likely would have been much better if I was more familiar with the first volume, so I'll admit this is partly self inflected, but as it stands I found the book very difficult to get through.
I feel as though the MMC was intended to be portrayed as morally grey but the emphasis of the point that he has killed THOUSANDS of innocent people in trying to rescue the FMC made the grey a shade darker with each mention, and the romance less compelling. Similarly, the few romance scenes I got to felt obscene! The FMC having sexual visions on the torture table to try comfort herself didn't give 'longing romantic' vibes but felt a bit disturbing.
I also didn't full get behind the fantasy set-up. I enjoyed the making of an ecological disaster based magic system but as the characters are very confused about the workings of their powers, it doesn't give the reader much to work with...
Admittedly this book likely would have been much better if I was more familiar with the first volume, so I'll admit this is partly self inflected, but as it stands I found the book very difficult to get through.
I feel as though the MMC was intended to be portrayed as morally grey but the emphasis of the point that he has killed THOUSANDS of innocent people in trying to rescue the FMC made the grey a shade darker with each mention, and the romance less compelling. Similarly, the few romance scenes I got to felt obscene! The FMC having sexual visions on the torture table to try comfort herself didn't give 'longing romantic' vibes but felt a bit disturbing.
I also didn't full get behind the fantasy set-up. I enjoyed the making of an ecological disaster based magic system but as the characters are very confused about the workings of their powers, it doesn't give the reader much to work with...
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Rating: 3.5 stars (rounded to 4)
For Fans Of: And the Sky Bled, The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas, Cursebound, Kushiel's Dart, The Conquest of Bread, Jineologî
First, the cover: this is one of the rawest scenes in the book that sets the tone for Who Lyanna has become, and seeing the author's vision of it is so cool!
As with the first book this is highly political climate fiction, which especially shows up in the leftist infighting - this isn't just a story of rebellion and revolution but one that is grounded in a real-world history of philosophy and radical politics. It is an unexpected mirror to world-systems analysis discussions on the World Revolution of 1848, where magic and its disastrous effects on the environment join Moore's "seven cheaps" impacting the social network of, in this case not capitalism, but monarchy. And it's done well, I was fuming at Drusus and Romulus for their bourgeois betrayal of the people under the pretense that the mob cannot govern itself and needs the guidance of a rational intelligentsia. I wanted to crawl inside the book and strangle them both myself. Miranda-Wolff weaves some of the politics of Bookchin, Öcalan, and Jineologî into Lyanna and her relationship with the revolution: there can be no liberation without women's liberation and without liberation of the earth.
This book adds Cassius as a second PoV, which let the setting and story expand and in the first part especially give needed breaks from the horrors of Lyanna's imprisonment. Dividing this book into sections was the right choice, and I think the only thing that really made it work. While Lyanna's story followed an arc, Cassius' narrative felt like it was there just to explain what was going elsewhere - without sections, his would have just been one long slog between dynamic chapters. There wasn't character development so much as there were new things he did.
My favorite characters were Marius - who did have a character arc - and Nemesis, who is nothing if not charming. And when we finally meet Juno, she is everything I could have hoped for and more based on Lyanna's descriptions and reminiscing about her.
Like with the first book, the writing style might not appeal to everyone, with awkward transitions and some pacing issues throughout. The focus on leftist infighting sometimes creates whiplash between the more typical romantasy scenes (not just the spicy scenes, but the romantic conflict more typical of romantasy novels). Regardless, the world Miranda-Wolff has crafted is just cool. The fact that even Lyanna, who made a pact with the Storm God to protect the Earth Mother from extractivism, must contend with the effects of her magic on the environment ("I wondered whether my magic was generative or extractive. Specifically, was I making the rain? Or taking it from somewhere else?") is a clever inclusion. What she added to the world lore in this book left me curious for more, especially revelations about the king's development of raw magic into a usable form (and just the impact of raw magic on the environment and on people, it's not hard to see where she's drawing inspiration from; also BIG Omelas vibes).
Overall, I think this book was more difficult to read than the first one, but the author did provide clear trigger warnings for some of the things I found difficult. And of course there's no real trigger warning to give for "hey most of the men in this are terrible people," although her author's note about them was...enlightening, to say the least. I'll probably read the next one when it comes out, because on some level I don't think it's fair to judge whether the series itself is good or not when it's only just ramping up (book two of a four book series isn't supposed to have full resolutions).
Thank you to Rainflower Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC, these opinions are my own and I am leaving them by choice.
For Fans Of: And the Sky Bled, The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas, Cursebound, Kushiel's Dart, The Conquest of Bread, Jineologî
First, the cover: this is one of the rawest scenes in the book that sets the tone for Who Lyanna has become, and seeing the author's vision of it is so cool!
As with the first book this is highly political climate fiction, which especially shows up in the leftist infighting - this isn't just a story of rebellion and revolution but one that is grounded in a real-world history of philosophy and radical politics. It is an unexpected mirror to world-systems analysis discussions on the World Revolution of 1848, where magic and its disastrous effects on the environment join Moore's "seven cheaps" impacting the social network of, in this case not capitalism, but monarchy. And it's done well, I was fuming at Drusus and Romulus for their bourgeois betrayal of the people under the pretense that the mob cannot govern itself and needs the guidance of a rational intelligentsia. I wanted to crawl inside the book and strangle them both myself. Miranda-Wolff weaves some of the politics of Bookchin, Öcalan, and Jineologî into Lyanna and her relationship with the revolution: there can be no liberation without women's liberation and without liberation of the earth.
This book adds Cassius as a second PoV, which let the setting and story expand and in the first part especially give needed breaks from the horrors of Lyanna's imprisonment. Dividing this book into sections was the right choice, and I think the only thing that really made it work. While Lyanna's story followed an arc, Cassius' narrative felt like it was there just to explain what was going elsewhere - without sections, his would have just been one long slog between dynamic chapters. There wasn't character development so much as there were new things he did.
My favorite characters were Marius - who did have a character arc - and Nemesis, who is nothing if not charming. And when we finally meet Juno, she is everything I could have hoped for and more based on Lyanna's descriptions and reminiscing about her.
Like with the first book, the writing style might not appeal to everyone, with awkward transitions and some pacing issues throughout. The focus on leftist infighting sometimes creates whiplash between the more typical romantasy scenes (not just the spicy scenes, but the romantic conflict more typical of romantasy novels). Regardless, the world Miranda-Wolff has crafted is just cool. The fact that even Lyanna, who made a pact with the Storm God to protect the Earth Mother from extractivism, must contend with the effects of her magic on the environment ("I wondered whether my magic was generative or extractive. Specifically, was I making the rain? Or taking it from somewhere else?") is a clever inclusion. What she added to the world lore in this book left me curious for more, especially revelations about the king's development of raw magic into a usable form (and just the impact of raw magic on the environment and on people, it's not hard to see where she's drawing inspiration from; also BIG Omelas vibes).
Overall, I think this book was more difficult to read than the first one, but the author did provide clear trigger warnings for some of the things I found difficult. And of course there's no real trigger warning to give for "hey most of the men in this are terrible people," although her author's note about them was...enlightening, to say the least. I'll probably read the next one when it comes out, because on some level I don't think it's fair to judge whether the series itself is good or not when it's only just ramping up (book two of a four book series isn't supposed to have full resolutions).
Thank you to Rainflower Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC, these opinions are my own and I am leaving them by choice.
Review of advance copy
A grim, thoughtful bridge between catastrophe and consequence—less spectacle, more scars.
The Rain Witch continues where its predecessor left off, leaning hard into aftermath rather than escalation. This is very much a middle book: contained, bruising, and primarily concerned with what survival actually costs.
Lyanna’s imprisonment under King Tellus’s wards dominates the first half—harrowing interrogations, torture, and survival through small, human kindnesses from guards and a healer. It’s bleak, but never gratuitous, and firmly rooted in the book’s moral core.
Her escape is desperate rather than triumphant, aided by Cassius, who to even attempt freeing her made a pact with the sun god. That choice fractures them afterward: Lyanna grapples with violation and the earth mother’s betrayal, while Cassius retreats out of fear and guilt—predictably the worst possible decision. Their emotional distance feels painfully earned.
Nothing here aims for a grand climax. Instead, the novel deepens its themes: climate allegory, god-pacts with real costs, and a revolution bogged down by protocol-heavy leaders who talk far more than they act. The world-building remains excellent, and the stage is carefully set for the finale.
MMC note: Cassius still carries that cold, clean sea-air presence—but it’s dimmed now, scorched at the edges by sun-god fire and guilt.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Immaculate world-building, emotional weight, and moral complexity. A difficult but rewarding middle installment that earns its place by making everything that follows matter more.
⸻
This is for you if you like:
• Contemporary, earthly problems (pollution, exploitation, resource abuse) reframed through fantasy
• A strong FMC who survives without being romanticized
• Revolutions run by committees colliding with reality
This is not for you if you can’t stand:
• On-page mistreatment and violation of women
• Blood sacrifice and large-scale human collateral damage
I received an e-arc for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
The Rain Witch continues where its predecessor left off, leaning hard into aftermath rather than escalation. This is very much a middle book: contained, bruising, and primarily concerned with what survival actually costs.
Lyanna’s imprisonment under King Tellus’s wards dominates the first half—harrowing interrogations, torture, and survival through small, human kindnesses from guards and a healer. It’s bleak, but never gratuitous, and firmly rooted in the book’s moral core.
Her escape is desperate rather than triumphant, aided by Cassius, who to even attempt freeing her made a pact with the sun god. That choice fractures them afterward: Lyanna grapples with violation and the earth mother’s betrayal, while Cassius retreats out of fear and guilt—predictably the worst possible decision. Their emotional distance feels painfully earned.
Nothing here aims for a grand climax. Instead, the novel deepens its themes: climate allegory, god-pacts with real costs, and a revolution bogged down by protocol-heavy leaders who talk far more than they act. The world-building remains excellent, and the stage is carefully set for the finale.
MMC note: Cassius still carries that cold, clean sea-air presence—but it’s dimmed now, scorched at the edges by sun-god fire and guilt.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Immaculate world-building, emotional weight, and moral complexity. A difficult but rewarding middle installment that earns its place by making everything that follows matter more.
⸻
This is for you if you like:
• Contemporary, earthly problems (pollution, exploitation, resource abuse) reframed through fantasy
• A strong FMC who survives without being romanticized
• Revolutions run by committees colliding with reality
This is not for you if you can’t stand:
• On-page mistreatment and violation of women
• Blood sacrifice and large-scale human collateral damage
I received an e-arc for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
January 31, 2026
2.5 Stars ⭐️
I really enjoyed the writing in this one, it felt more mature and thoughtful compared to book one, having different POVs was a great choice since Lyanna was unaware of many things most of the time during part one.
However, I did feel like the pacing was really slow and there were so many things happening but at the same time I felt like the plot didn’t really move along.
*Mild Spoilers ahead*
.
.
.
I loved the political aspect of it and how Lyanna struggled to be accepted in the council, it actually made me angry anytime they were being sexist, but I also felt like this was repetitive and instead of being used as an opportunity for Lyanna’s character development I felt like it was happening so she could bite her tongue and have Cassius swoop in and defend her. I loved how she started speaking up but that being explained as something caused by external forces diminishes Lyanna’s right to be angry in my opinion.
I also felt like so many things were left unexplained/unexplored, I wish we got more information about the Earth Mother for example.
Overall, I really liked how the world was expanded and how after the ending of Book 1 we are seeing how difficult it is to sustain a revolution and enact change when there are so many voices chiming in protecting their own interests. After that epilogue I can’t help but feel intrigued about what comes next how it will affect Lyanna and Cassius’ magic.
Thanks to NetGalley and Rainflower Publishing for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I really enjoyed the writing in this one, it felt more mature and thoughtful compared to book one, having different POVs was a great choice since Lyanna was unaware of many things most of the time during part one.
However, I did feel like the pacing was really slow and there were so many things happening but at the same time I felt like the plot didn’t really move along.
*Mild Spoilers ahead*
.
.
.
I loved the political aspect of it and how Lyanna struggled to be accepted in the council, it actually made me angry anytime they were being sexist, but I also felt like this was repetitive and instead of being used as an opportunity for Lyanna’s character development I felt like it was happening so she could bite her tongue and have Cassius swoop in and defend her. I loved how she started speaking up but that being explained as something caused by external forces diminishes Lyanna’s right to be angry in my opinion.
I also felt like so many things were left unexplained/unexplored, I wish we got more information about the Earth Mother for example.
Overall, I really liked how the world was expanded and how after the ending of Book 1 we are seeing how difficult it is to sustain a revolution and enact change when there are so many voices chiming in protecting their own interests. After that epilogue I can’t help but feel intrigued about what comes next how it will affect Lyanna and Cassius’ magic.
Thanks to NetGalley and Rainflower Publishing for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Book Review: Rain Witch by Alida Miranda-Wolff
Rain Witch picks up immediately after book one with Lyanna Tempestas captured by the king and spending much of the story surviving interrogation, drugs, and the uncomfortable realization that far too many powerful people are invested in her existence. Her role here is less action heroine and more endurance test, holding steady while everyone else plays politics around her.
Cassius is part of the rebellion continuing the civil war they helped ignite, and while he and Lyanna are reunited, their relationship exists under constant pressure. Between gods, kings, and an active war, being together doesn’t translate into safety or stability. Romance is present, but it’s threaded with tension and the persistent sense that everything could fall apart at any moment.
This is very clearly a middle installment. The plot moves, the stakes rise, the gods meddle, and the war escalates, but the story is focused on positioning rather than payoff. Lyanna survives, the relationship holds, and everything truly decisive is saved for the next book. If you enjoy sequels that deepen conflict and set the stage for bigger shifts later, this will work for you. If you’re hoping for clean resolutions, this one may feel more like a necessary pause than a crescendo.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. This is my honest and unbiased review.
Rain Witch picks up immediately after book one with Lyanna Tempestas captured by the king and spending much of the story surviving interrogation, drugs, and the uncomfortable realization that far too many powerful people are invested in her existence. Her role here is less action heroine and more endurance test, holding steady while everyone else plays politics around her.
Cassius is part of the rebellion continuing the civil war they helped ignite, and while he and Lyanna are reunited, their relationship exists under constant pressure. Between gods, kings, and an active war, being together doesn’t translate into safety or stability. Romance is present, but it’s threaded with tension and the persistent sense that everything could fall apart at any moment.
This is very clearly a middle installment. The plot moves, the stakes rise, the gods meddle, and the war escalates, but the story is focused on positioning rather than payoff. Lyanna survives, the relationship holds, and everything truly decisive is saved for the next book. If you enjoy sequels that deepen conflict and set the stage for bigger shifts later, this will work for you. If you’re hoping for clean resolutions, this one may feel more like a necessary pause than a crescendo.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. This is my honest and unbiased review.
Review of advance copy
this was everything that I was looking for and enjoyed from a sequel in the Gods of Tellus series, it had that historical dark fantasy element that I was looking for and enjoyed about the first book. It does a great job in bringing the world back and continuing the story. The characters were so well written and was hooked from the first page, they worked well in the world that was set up and enjoyed getting back to the world. Alida Miranda-Wolff wrote this well and left me wanting to read more in this world and from the author.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Review of advance copy
Very much enjoyed! I loved the growth, compromise, sacrifice, and changes that characters have undergone. This MMC!!! Who did this and Burn the world for her is his way of life!
Be prepared for a more disjointed feeling when reading. It makes sense once you understand what is happening, but it definitely caught me off guard initially.
I am excited to see if they can do what is discussed in the ending…. :)
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Be prepared for a more disjointed feeling when reading. It makes sense once you understand what is happening, but it definitely caught me off guard initially.
I am excited to see if they can do what is discussed in the ending…. :)
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This starts exactly where we left off in book one. We follow Lyanna during her time being held captive by king Tellus and Cassius goes on a rampage to free her. This also ends with a cliffhanger and can't wait to find out what happens. I highly suggest reading this if you want a poppy wars vibe with a little romance.
My favorite quote "that's the thing about blessings, Nani. We're not meant to hold onto them for very long"
My favorite quote "that's the thing about blessings, Nani. We're not meant to hold onto them for very long"
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I really wanted to like this one and was excited to read it. It didn't hit the same notes. I know it's setting things up for the war, but that's all this story did. Set up the next one.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thank you to netgalley for the ARC for the honest review.
Spoilers:
This was ALMOST a DNF for me. The pacing was off. As much as I liked this stylistically, the torture of the FMC was over the top. To the author’s credit, it improved greatly at the 65% mark.
The author allowed the FMC a little bit of time to heal and the reader got to know her a bit better. It’s important for the author to understand that excitement doesn’t have to come from torture, it can be shown in other ways. The letters woven in are a nice way to world build without directly showing and telling.
This book really needed trigger warnings. The plot includes drugging of the main character, beheading of a family member, being buried alive, main character being SAed , body horror, and a little cannibalism (munching on fingers in a dream).
If you like your books dark and your MC tortured, this is your book.
I really enjoyed MFC, but she was tortured constantly. She was constantly recovering.
If you’re in to this series, you may love to see the FMC’s story arc. The writer has moments of brilliantly detailed writing. I would like to see what the writer can come up with after writing a bit more.
Spoilers:
This was ALMOST a DNF for me. The pacing was off. As much as I liked this stylistically, the torture of the FMC was over the top. To the author’s credit, it improved greatly at the 65% mark.
The author allowed the FMC a little bit of time to heal and the reader got to know her a bit better. It’s important for the author to understand that excitement doesn’t have to come from torture, it can be shown in other ways. The letters woven in are a nice way to world build without directly showing and telling.
This book really needed trigger warnings. The plot includes drugging of the main character, beheading of a family member, being buried alive, main character being SAed , body horror, and a little cannibalism (munching on fingers in a dream).
If you like your books dark and your MC tortured, this is your book.
I really enjoyed MFC, but she was tortured constantly. She was constantly recovering.
If you’re in to this series, you may love to see the FMC’s story arc. The writer has moments of brilliantly detailed writing. I would like to see what the writer can come up with after writing a bit more.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews