Review
After my heart was so rudely ripped out by the end of the last book (ANSEL BABY) I was livid. I was sure I was going to hate the third book on principal because ANSEL WASN’T THERE. Therefore, I think I went into this book without a lot of hope. I was prepared to roll over in my grave and suffer. But to my surprise – and delight I should add – this book ended up being my favorite in the series. Or at the very least tied with the first book. I liked the second book fine, but it wasn’t mind blowing for me, but this one was.
I think as the conclusion to a series Mahurin did an excellent job of wrapping up the series and getting us to a place where it may not be super happy, but was happy enough. I feel that had the ending been over happy that it wouldn’t have fit with the overall tone and theme of the previous books. Why am I talking about the ending first? Because I feel like it was a good ending, and that the rest of the book really show Mahurin’s talents to get us there, and the ending was sublime. I was very happy with it.
Mahurin is a talented writer. She drew me in and made me love Lou and Reid and the world they inhabit. We have a full cast of characters that we both love and hate (love you Coco!) Even Beau and Celie were amazing in this one! I felt that she has really made the characters easy to love. Sometimes larger casts can be hard to handle, because characters end up being lackluster or not fully developed. I am happy to say that this isn’t a problem in this book.
In this book we do get several perspectives aside from Lou and Reid, one from a witch, and one from another character…which the reveal is worth it. I cried. Mahurin makes them so different and it is easy to tell who they are.
I also liked Lou and Reid’s journey in this book as they learn each other again as well as find themselves and what they want. We have actually communication skills here, people! Which made me very happy overall.
Do you want to know what I also love? Worldbuilding! I feel like this world Mahurin has created is so well done, clearly based in history, but still has a fantasy element to it. And in this book we do get more of the world that she has created for us as well as more background on Coco! I loved those parts of the book.
I like how we get a theme that runs through the book, and I also like how Mahurin created the witches in this series. I think they are fleshed out and create a lot of interest.
We also get a bit of political intrigue as we did in book two, but it was a bit more obvious in this one. Still, I loved how it added to the worldbuilding. It was all so cohesive.
I’m honestly very much in love with the series as a whole. I think it was fantastic – and one that I will be binge reading to get the full experience of it. I will admit I wept a little at the end, not too much, but some. It also gave me a nice big book hangover. It was hard to move on from this book. I actually would love a novella – just an aftermath kind of thing. This is because I am not quite ready to let go of these characters just yet.