An Anatomy of Beasts by Olivia A. Cole: Other Planets, Colonialization, and A Rich New World

I’ve been hyping this book up for myself for over a year, and I can’t believe it’s finally here!

I absolutely adored reading A Conspiracy of Stars last year and have been anticipating this sequel for so long, so I’m so so happy that it’s in my hands now! Ahh!

(Psst! There are a few very minor spoilers for book one, so read at your own risk! However, you can read my review of A Conspiracy of Stars here, too! You’ll probably be okay reading this without reading book 1.)

I do admit that while I still remember how much I loved book one, I did forget a lot of things that happened, so keep that in mind! But still,

Cole did a great job of reminding us about what was happening in Faloiv & what had happened in book 1.

I came into it with barely any memory of what was happening, but Cole did a really good job of jogging my memory without making it info-dumpy or recapping what happened too much.

Initially, I was a little disoriented, but overall, I felt well situated in the world by the end of the first hundred pages.

More worldbuilding & examination of colonialism! And interaction with other animal species . . .

This was definitely one of my favorite parts and I loved getting to see more cool organic technology and new creatures and understand the Faloii people better. The world was so rich and all of the plants and everything were really interesting to read, and the way Cole talked about it and its evolution made sense.

It didn’t feel like she was just making things up, it felt like there was structure and a system there.

Plus, I definitely like how An Anatomy of Beasts furthered the examination of colonialism and really dove deeper, looking at not just the N’Terrans, but also the Faloii and how they felt about what was happening. The way Cole looks at colonialism is still one of my favorite parts of this series and I wholeheartedly recommend it based off of just that.

Twists and reveals that will shock you.

UMM WOW that ending! (I don’t think there was ever an official book deal for a third book, so now I have my fingers crossed that we get one.)

I was definitely surprised in a few ways about the Faloii people themselves as well as the N’Terrans and what really happened a hundred years ago. Cole really packed those reveals in during the last third, and now I really want to know what happens next.

I do think that there were moments when the shock value could have been played up more, but the twists themselves were inherently intriguing and added more layers to the story.

The story lacked focus at times, and I wasn’t sure where it would go, initially.

This is the biggest reason why I didn’t enjoy An Anatomy of Beasts as much as I did with A Conspiracy of Stars.

I felt like Octavia wasn’t sure what she was doing, and although this is completely valid, I guess I never was able to grasp why she went and did something or another.

There’s this one scene that stands out to me where Octavia decides to go somewhere and I still don’t really know why. I felt like whatever was leading her was more of Cole than the story, and I do wish her motivations for going somewhere was more clear.

Because she goes on this journey, but she wasn’t even sure of her end goal, and so this made the story a bit foggier and harder for me to understand the big picture.

Overall, still a really fun read and I really hope we get more books in the series!

Still, I love Faloiv and I really want to see how this series continues, so PLEASE GIVE ME MORE, UNIVERSE.

I’d definitely still recommend you pick up this series and all the exciting other-planet adventures it brings!

4 stars

The tenuous peace between N’Terra and the Faloii is shaken by new secrets being revealed, and sixteen-year-old Octavia can feel the conflict looming. With the discovery that the N’Terrans have created a new weapon and the Faloii preparing themselves for impending disaster, Octavia must decide where her loyalties lie.

Thank you so much to Harper Collins and Olivia A. Cole for providing me with an advance reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review!

Have you read any of the books in this series? What did you think?