Immortality by Dana Schwartz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
**3.5-stars rounded up**
Immortality is the second book in Dana Schwart’s YA-Gothic Fantasy Romance The Anatomy Duology.
First, let’s get the most obvious thing out of the way. This cover is absolutely stunning and the two novels together…
They’re perfection. They also fit this story nicely. These books follow Hazel Sinnett, who after the tumultuous events of Anatomy: A Love Story finds herself on her own.
Not one to give up in the face of adversity, however, Hazel continues to plug along, doing what she does best; learning about human anatomy, while also putting her knowledge to good use helping the underprivileged of Edinburgh.
When a young woman comes to Hazel, scared and distressed, she never even considers turning the sick woman away, even though the procedure she requests is against the law.
Unfortunately for Hazel, her efforts that day don’t go unnoticed and she is arrested and imprisoned. The punishment, possibly execution. This is no joke.
Just when Hazel thinks it’s the end of the road for her, a confounding message arrives that saves her skin. She has been specifically requested to be the personal physician of Princess Charlotte, the sickly daughter of King George IV.
Before she knows it, Hazel is freed from prison and transported to the Palace, where she must befriend the Princess, a task easier said than done, and figure out just what the heck is wrong with her.
As Hazel becomes more involved with the royal court, it’s clear to her that something is afoot. If she can’t figure out what it is, and soon, there could be a lot more than just her life at stake. We have a mystery on our hands!
Immortality is a very solid sequel. Sometimes it can be difficult with a second book to create the same magic as the first, but I think Schwartz pulled it off overall.
I was delighted from the get-go to be back with Hazel. I really grew to love her over the course of the first book and she was sticking true to herself in this follow-up.
As a girl who goes against the grain of what family and society expect of her, Hazel’s personality rings true and is quite intriguing. I love how she never backed down, even when her family basically shunned her. She took risks and although doesn’t live the most extravagant lifestyle, I think she’s able to sleep pretty comfortably at night.
I was sorry to see her get into a bit of a pickle early on in this one, but it was fun watching how she got out of it. Of course it was more pure luck and her reputation than anything else, but we’ll take what we can get.
I also liked her immersion in the royal court. There were definitely some interesting characters flitting about around there and as expected, a ton of royal drama.
While this one didn’t feel as dark and gothic to me, mainly due to the different road the plot went down, it was still well done as far as the atmosphere and overall vibe.
I also missed the dynamic we had between Hazel and Jack in the first one. As they were getting to know one another, the pining and tension was fantastic and you really couldn’t have that same thing here. I missed it, but obviously understand why that couldn’t be a part of this continuation.
However, we do get another intriguing man, a doctor no less, circling around Hazel like a bee to honey, so that definitely brought some more cute fun.
I’ve enjoyed watching Hazel grow over the course of this story, as she became even more committed to her vocation, in spite of the contempt, disrespect and disregard she received from most of her male peers.
I also enjoyed the light fantastical elements sprinkled throughout the duology, the idea of the immortality serum; to learn more, you’ll have to read the book, by the way.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Wednesday Books and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review. I enjoyed my time with this duology and am looking forward to reading more from Dana Schwartz.
I hope she sticks to the gothic-feeling, light-fantasy romance style that she brought us here. She does it so well!