Scan barcode
ibergem's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
eunicek82's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
5.0
This series continues to be amazing. This was a little slower than the first 2 but still very immersive. The last 3rd or so was stunning and emotional for me.
drridareads's review against another edition
4.0
Our stories have purpose. Souls. Our stories breathe, Laia of Serra. The stories we tell have power, of course. But the stories that go untold have just as much power, if not more. I will sing you such a story—a story that was long untold. The story of a name and its meaning. Of how that name matters more than any other single word in existence. But I must prepare myself, for such stories are dragons drawn from a deep well in a dark place. Does one summon a dragon? No. One may only invite it and hope it emerges.
Sabaa Tahir: need people to torture their souls indirectly
Me:
Writing and Plot
I love the way Tahir writes . And the only way to describe it is as a long beautiful but tragic song maybe an opera show (I obviously don't know for sure I've never watched one but I imagine it to be as dramatic as her books). But no words I say can do justice to the world she's created so just go ahead and read for yourself.
In this book we got more into the magical element of it. Mauth has a bigger role. And we have faqirs (DAMN I LOVE THIS WOMAN AND HER REFERENCES FROM OUR CULTURE). We learn some background stories. We have some new characters. And the stakes are just getting higher.
I love her Villains ; I'm going to talk about them before talking about the main characters because without them these books wouldn't have been the same.
Marcus Farrar:
“My brave bird.” Marcus smiles at her, and I want to rip his throat out. “You know I like it better when you scream.”
He's a monster through and through; he was only ever humane around his brother and with his brother his humanity too died.
Nightbringer:
You are our Meherya. Your heart is made to love. To give. Not to take. That is why you are king of the jinn.
Finally we learn the backstory of the Nightbrinnger and the jinn and their hatred towards everyone. Is he really the villain we made him up to be. I think he's more of an Anti Hero and I want more of him and the jinn. In my ramblings of the first book I talk of how I think names are important in this series and now knowing his name is like calling Voldemort by his name instead of you know who but you know less dangerous.
Keris Veturia:
I really feel like the Commandant is the worst and most dangerous of them all. I really feel like her only moment of weakness was when she fell for Elias' dad that's it. It is very wise to fear her. I'm excited to learn her backstory though when and how did she become this monster.
Main Characters
Helene Aquilla
My song is not one of peace. It is one of failure and pain. My song is one of battle and blood, death and power. It is not the song of Helene Aquilla. It is the song of the Blood Shrike.
She has become one of my most favourite characters of all time. In my ramblings of the first book I talk of how I think names are important in this series and I loved the transition from her chapter names being Helene (in the previous book) to Blood Shrike now. I love how Sabaa shows us how broken our character is after everything she's lost. I love her friendships forming with the Cook. I love how she's finally learning some politics and is leading.
Laia of Serra:
“Everyone believes that nothing concerns them until the monsters are knocking on their doors!” She winces at my shriek, but I do not care. “Until they are burning down your homes and destroying your lives and killing your families!”
I'm liking her more. I do thinks she's sort of impulsive though. But she's becoming fierce and she's fighting for what she believes.
Elias:
Duty must reign over all else. Love cannot live here.
Elias' role in this book is basically to come to accept that he is now the Soul Catcher not Elias. Which means no more Laia.. His struggle was tragic to watch.
Minor Characters:
Cook:
Curse this world for what it does to the mothers, for what it does to the daughters. Curse it for making us strong through loss and pain, our hearts torn from our chests again and again. Curse it for forcing us to endure.
HOLY COW I WAS RIGHT.
Musa:
Not sure how I feel about this one ye he's fun though.
Darin:
If I have a complain about this book it's how little we got to see of this guy. It's just not fair after everything we've been through with the first 2 books.
Harper:
We need to see more of him. He's amazing.
Afya:
This sassy lady is so much fun.
Livia:
So brave. So patient. I can't imagine what she feels like
Ships
Elias and Laia:
“This isn’t the end for us, Laia of Serra.” I cannot give up what we could have. I don’t care what bleeding vow I made. “Do you hear me? This is not our end.”
“You’ve never been a liar.” She dashes her hands against the wetness in her eyes. “Don’t start now.”
Me:
Helene and Harper:
“Your face couldn’t be anything but beautiful, Blood Shrike. With or without the mask.”
My blush rises, and this time there is no mask to hide it. I don’t know what to do with my hands. My hair must look a mess. I must look a mess. Doesn’t matter. It’s just Harper.
But it’s not just Harper anymore, is it?
Me:
I want to scream at Helene to stop being stubborn and already get together with him. They both deserve this and so much more
Complains
I gave the previous 2 books 5 stars but I'm going to give this one 4:
1. Darin: seriously everything that happens in the first 2 books is to get this guy back and safe. And now when he finally is we barely get to see him. Seems a little anti climatic.
2. This book was a little too much. So much was happening together. We have Adisa, the ghosts escaping, the faqirs, the conspiracies and battles between the blood shrike and the commandant. Remember the simpler days when it was just about the scholar resistance against the cruel Martials. This was a little too much too fast for my tiny brain to comprehend in time.
4 stars!
I cannot wait for the final book to come out and Tahir to destroy my soul all over again. Exciting!
________________
Books should come with a warning "May Destroy Your Soul. Proceed with caution".
Sabaa Tahir: need people to torture their souls indirectly
Me:
Writing and Plot
I love the way Tahir writes . And the only way to describe it is as a long beautiful but tragic song maybe an opera show (I obviously don't know for sure I've never watched one but I imagine it to be as dramatic as her books). But no words I say can do justice to the world she's created so just go ahead and read for yourself.
In this book we got more into the magical element of it. Mauth has a bigger role. And we have faqirs (DAMN I LOVE THIS WOMAN AND HER REFERENCES FROM OUR CULTURE). We learn some background stories. We have some new characters. And the stakes are just getting higher.
I love her Villains ; I'm going to talk about them before talking about the main characters because without them these books wouldn't have been the same.
Marcus Farrar:
“My brave bird.” Marcus smiles at her, and I want to rip his throat out. “You know I like it better when you scream.”
He's a monster through and through; he was only ever humane around his brother and with his brother his humanity too died.
Spoiler
But then we see him in his final moments and not exactly redemption because he definitely does not deserve that but he could've ordered Helene to heal him instead he asks for a merciful killing blow and we know monsters were only ever human. In my head this made more senseNightbringer:
You are our Meherya. Your heart is made to love. To give. Not to take. That is why you are king of the jinn.
Finally we learn the backstory of the Nightbrinnger and the jinn and their hatred towards everyone. Is he really the villain we made him up to be. I think he's more of an Anti Hero and I want more of him and the jinn. In my ramblings of the first book I talk of how I think names are important in this series and now knowing his name is like calling Voldemort by his name instead of you know who but you know less dangerous.
Keris Veturia:
I really feel like the Commandant is the worst and most dangerous of them all. I really feel like her only moment of weakness was when she fell for Elias' dad that's it. It is very wise to fear her. I'm excited to learn her backstory though when and how did she become this monster.
Main Characters
Helene Aquilla
My song is not one of peace. It is one of failure and pain. My song is one of battle and blood, death and power. It is not the song of Helene Aquilla. It is the song of the Blood Shrike.
She has become one of my most favourite characters of all time. In my ramblings of the first book I talk of how I think names are important in this series and I loved the transition from her chapter names being Helene (in the previous book) to Blood Shrike now. I love how Sabaa shows us how broken our character is after everything she's lost. I love her friendships forming with the Cook. I love how she's finally learning some politics and is leading.
Laia of Serra:
“Everyone believes that nothing concerns them until the monsters are knocking on their doors!” She winces at my shriek, but I do not care. “Until they are burning down your homes and destroying your lives and killing your families!”
I'm liking her more. I do thinks she's sort of impulsive though. But she's becoming fierce and she's fighting for what she believes.
Elias:
Duty must reign over all else. Love cannot live here.
Elias' role in this book is basically to come to accept that he is now the Soul Catcher not Elias. Which means no more Laia.. His struggle was tragic to watch.
Minor Characters:
Cook:
Curse this world for what it does to the mothers, for what it does to the daughters. Curse it for making us strong through loss and pain, our hearts torn from our chests again and again. Curse it for forcing us to endure.
HOLY COW I WAS RIGHT.
Musa:
Not sure how I feel about this one ye he's fun though.
Darin:
If I have a complain about this book it's how little we got to see of this guy. It's just not fair after everything we've been through with the first 2 books.
Harper:
We need to see more of him. He's amazing.
Afya:
This sassy lady is so much fun.
Livia:
So brave. So patient. I can't imagine what she feels like
Ships
Elias and Laia:
“This isn’t the end for us, Laia of Serra.” I cannot give up what we could have. I don’t care what bleeding vow I made. “Do you hear me? This is not our end.”
“You’ve never been a liar.” She dashes her hands against the wetness in her eyes. “Don’t start now.”
Me:
Helene and Harper:
“Your face couldn’t be anything but beautiful, Blood Shrike. With or without the mask.”
My blush rises, and this time there is no mask to hide it. I don’t know what to do with my hands. My hair must look a mess. I must look a mess. Doesn’t matter. It’s just Harper.
But it’s not just Harper anymore, is it?
Me:
I want to scream at Helene to stop being stubborn and already get together with him. They both deserve this and so much more
Complains
I gave the previous 2 books 5 stars but I'm going to give this one 4:
1. Darin: seriously everything that happens in the first 2 books is to get this guy back and safe. And now when he finally is we barely get to see him. Seems a little anti climatic.
2. This book was a little too much. So much was happening together. We have Adisa, the ghosts escaping, the faqirs, the conspiracies and battles between the blood shrike and the commandant. Remember the simpler days when it was just about the scholar resistance against the cruel Martials. This was a little too much too fast for my tiny brain to comprehend in time.
4 stars!
I cannot wait for the final book to come out and Tahir to destroy my soul all over again. Exciting!
________________
Books should come with a warning "May Destroy Your Soul. Proceed with caution".
kswanson900's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
lexysbookcorner's review against another edition
3.5
Love is joy coupled with misery, elation bound to despair. It is a fire that beckons me gently and then burns when I get too close. I hate love. I yearn for it. And it drives me mad.
-
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Ahhhh I didn’t love this one as much as the first two books 😭 I’m honestly not sure why! I think it was just too all over the place. I was expecting more after certain cliff hangers and foreshadowing. But don’t get me wrong, it’s still pretty good! The plot twists were giving in this book! I was able to predict the one with cook, but it still tore my heart out 😭 and the ending 😳 poor Helene!
I want to talk about Helene some more. After the cliff hanger and foreshadowing by the augurs in book 2, I was expecting to see more of an evil side to Helene. But she didn’t really change imo? If anything, she became more feeling and willing to do whatever it takes to save her loved ones. Also, I feel so bad for her. This girl is always two steps behind 😭 But, she’s still slays 🤌
“I draw on every last bit of strength I have. I am a thing from the Barbarian's nightmares, a silver-faced, blood-drenched demon of the hells, and I will not let them pass.”
I FINALLY feel more attached to Laia! She has more of a personality and she’s grown so much. She’s not a timid mouse anymore. She is so committed to saving her people and won’t let anything stand in her way. She’s come sooo far from the girl who ran away at the first sign of trouble.
“Skies save me from the men in my life and all the things they think they know.”
I really enjoyed the character depth we got with the villains in this book. We see more of keris’ background and some of the pain she’s been forced to endure. She stills screams evil. The nightbringer is a more complex villain. He is doing everything in his power for his people. I definitely felt pity for Marcus in the end, but still think he was a jerk.
Hoping the next one is my fav of the series 🤞
-
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Ahhhh I didn’t love this one as much as the first two books 😭 I’m honestly not sure why! I think it was just too all over the place. I was expecting more after certain cliff hangers and foreshadowing. But don’t get me wrong, it’s still pretty good! The plot twists were giving in this book! I was able to predict the one with cook, but it still tore my heart out 😭 and the ending 😳 poor Helene!
I want to talk about Helene some more. After the cliff hanger and foreshadowing by the augurs in book 2, I was expecting to see more of an evil side to Helene. But she didn’t really change imo? If anything, she became more feeling and willing to do whatever it takes to save her loved ones. Also, I feel so bad for her. This girl is always two steps behind 😭 But, she’s still slays 🤌
“I draw on every last bit of strength I have. I am a thing from the Barbarian's nightmares, a silver-faced, blood-drenched demon of the hells, and I will not let them pass.”
I FINALLY feel more attached to Laia! She has more of a personality and she’s grown so much. She’s not a timid mouse anymore. She is so committed to saving her people and won’t let anything stand in her way. She’s come sooo far from the girl who ran away at the first sign of trouble.
“Skies save me from the men in my life and all the things they think they know.”
I really enjoyed the character depth we got with the villains in this book. We see more of keris’ background and some of the pain she’s been forced to endure. She stills screams evil. The nightbringer is a more complex villain. He is doing everything in his power for his people. I definitely felt pity for Marcus in the end, but still think he was a jerk.
Hoping the next one is my fav of the series 🤞
emmalil's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
brendalovesbooks's review against another edition
5.0
Really good. One of my favorite YA fantasy series.