4.42 AVERAGE


Every book in this series pulls me in even more—this is without a doubt one of my favorites! Sikithad is the classic morally gray, broken hero who swears he won’t fall for the girl… only to end up completely in love with her. This book was so intense!

Sophia is our queen—she tamed the king no one thought could be controlled. She found her perfect mate, one who would start a war for her and watch the world burn in her name.
adventurous emotional funny lighthearted tense fast-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
emotional funny mysterious fast-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: No
dark emotional relaxing slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful lighthearted 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

“No. I don’t bend.” Sikthand’s eyes drifted to the mirror. Truth rose like acid in his throat. “But I could break for her.”

——————————————————
Summary

Overall rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
adventurous emotional slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
emotional hopeful tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
emotional lighthearted fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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: Complicated

I’ve been powering through this series and have loved all of them, but wow this one blew my expectations out of the water!

All the damaged heroes have been so swoon worthy (Theo and Maxu anyone else’s previous faves??), so cool seeing a new side to this world with an even more intense, 1000x more damaged and paranoid antihero was so much fun. I loved that Sophia didn’t fall into the typical soft spoken, sweet, archetype and even had some damage of her own by way of the healing tube trauma and the second kidnapping debacle. 

The new steampunk-esque setting was perfect for the angst in this story as well. I loved that there was such a refreshing take on this world, which is super impressive seven books in.
I wish Sikthand and Maxu had made up, but the reveal at the end (though there was a hint in the beginning) that Maxu had been the vermin all along was hilarious. Hopefully as the humans and their mates band together against Vila these two emotionally healed baddies will het the reunion they deserve.
 

Sikthand and Sophia’s relationship felt super well-developed and had the most realistic timeline of all the Clecanians. Obviously I knew there was a HEA on deck, but
I think it was a really nice touch that the mating marks didn’t come out until over 90% of the way in. It really took the pressure off both of them, and it was so different to have him say the big ILY before he knew.


Overall super excited to continue this series, they’ve only gotten better as they’ve come.