An Iridescent Light: A Record of Revival, Book 2

by Marie D.

To repress is natural. To die, divine.

The Saint has been killed twice. His assassins have vanished without a trace, leaving the island of Taisala vulnerable to unnatural influence.

After a period of mourning, Raki, Yunai, and Esera have returned to Taisala to continue scout training. The events surrounding the Saint’s downfall have led them to question the dictate of repressing their emotions. Their bonds are fractured, but they’ll need each other to navigate a Scouthood tightening its control over Taisala. And tensions flare further as a suspected unnatural person is coerced into joining their ranks.

The cadets must come together and confront the Scouthood’s teachings to uncover Taisala’s newest unnatural crisis—the rise of people with dying spirits. As they gather in secret for reasons unknown, their existence threatens everything the Scouthood stands for.

With newfound convictions, the cadets must make a choice. Abandon their emotions and let the spirits surrender to oblivion, or save them by connecting with their humanity—and betraying the Scouthood.

458 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 13, 2026

Reviews

[Stellar]

**I received an eARC of this book for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.**
This book is second in a series so you should read the first installment first, because there is a lot of context that builds up the plot for the reader. (It is a treat of a book so I think it’s worth it! I just would definitely recommend doing so if you can) 😝

I enjoyed diving into this world Marie built where she expands culture, horror (zonbi gives horror vibes imo) and fantasy into this novel. I was able to read and enjoy this story without having read “Still Water, Skin” first which is a treat, but I will definitely go back to read it. I found the characters relatable and their relationships central to the story as it develops. You must follow closely as there are setting and time skips involved as you read. The way the magic system called syncing fits in to how the communities view emotions shows like… zero tolerance for empathy specifically which adds a level of stress to the story! You easily relate to most characters in that way.

This series by Marie D. exploring magical themes where repressing human emotions is considered “natural.” The unnatural are surveilled, removed from their families and extradited from society to keep unnatural, monstrous creatures called zonbi from taking over. In this installment, human zonbi start to turn up, causing the entire system, and people’s faith in it, to falter.

[Aikane Belez · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75 snaky tails! Imaginative “magic” system which everyone can yield. Suppression of feelings is a form of protection against the zonbi…or is that just what they are led to believe??? The twists and surprises in this book, and book 1 of Record of Revival series, are truly enjoyable….thankfully there were no cat zonbi in this book! There are a couple of sections that were a little tough to follow the jump in the story, introducing non-zonbi characters, the abilities of the expressionists, for example, but it did not detract from the story. @mariedspace has a series going that we cannot wait to see the conclusion of.

🌊 YA -> NA epic fantasy drama
🌱 Ensemble cast of morally clueless characters
🌊 Character-driven story
🌱 Shonen anime vibes
🌊 Training to slay zonbi
🌱 Elemental powers for all - even the NPCs
🌊 Emotion-based powers
🌱 Multi POV w/ young and adult POVs
🌊 Slooow-building romance threads
#arcreviewers #bookstagram #fantasyreader #fantasyreviewer #booksky