Reviews with content warning for Child death - A Reaper at the Gates

Because of some small critiques here and there, I gave A Reaper at the Gates 4.5 stars and not full five stars. Still, it’s an amazing book with an interesting plot and great characters.

We again follow Elias, Laia and Helene in this book. Elias became the soul catcher and now has to balance this new hard task with his want to protect Laia. Laia herself tries to find allies in the battle against the empire and especially Keris. I was again most interested in Helene’s story who has to stop Keris from taking over the empire but also protect her sister from Marcus; Livia’s need for protection increases in the course of the story since

she becomes pregnant with the new imperator

This book was a bit slower than its predecessor, even with the constant time pressure, because Laia’s and Elias’ plot felt a bit aimless at some points. I had also had two other small problems with the story: Firstly, it was a bit hard to keep track of the different nations/tribes and their interests introduced here. Secondly, some aspects of the story were not clearly enough explained, like

the reason why Elias suddenly was able to control the magic

The ending of this book though shows how amazingly the series was plotted from the beginning. We get to know that

the cook is Laia’s mom and that she was forced to kill her daughter and her husband which was such a dramatic reveal

. Then, all three characters are at the same place since

the capital of the empire is attacked: Helene is defending the city, Laia is trying to get the ring from her, and Elias wants to collect the escaped ghosts. The way Laia gets Helene’s ring was so creative, but the ring is sadly fake. It’s so disturbing as well how Keris perfectly planned everything and how she was able to kill Marcus

. The most powerful moment of the story though was when

Laia left her mother behind to save Helene; this moment gave me goosebumps

I still like most of the cast since many of them have so much depth. Helene became maybe one of my favorite characters of all time. At the beginning, it was so sad how heartless she became because of all the terrible things happening to her but it’s only understandable, just like her hatred towards Laia. But also, she became so strong which can be seen especially when

she survived the attempted assassination

. I ship her so much with Harper, but I somehow doubt that they’ll get a happy ending together. What I appreciate as well is the fact that romance is not the focus of the story.

After the ending of A Reaper at the Gates, I can’t wait to find out how this series will end and how our characters will be able to win against the demons of the outside world – and the ones inside of them.

Content Warnings

eve_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Overall Thoughts:
⁕ The pacing of this book redeemed the slower second installment that was A Torch Against the Night. I put off reading this one because I was worried that it would also be full of slow, quest-based traveling, but it was not! The action once again picked up and I could not put the book down!

⁕ Helene/The Blood Shrike is given a spot in the limelight and I am absolutely obsessed with and attached to her character. No longer is she the lovesick schoolmate of Elias, but a woman and warrior caught between family, duty, and justice. I absolutely ATE up her arc and I can't wait for more.

⁕ SPOILER: Even though this might go against popular opinion, I dislike the decision to make Cook Laia's long thought dead mother. It is such a rushed revelation at the end of the novel, and there is no prior hint or clue ever given as to her true identity. It didn't feel like the mind blowing plot twist I think it was intended as.

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sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional lighthearted tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

booksthatburn's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Laia takes a very long time to figure out what she should be doing. Elias knows what he should be doing but keeps trying to figure out a way to not do it and get the same result. Helene knows what she is doing but no idea if things will work out in the face of the malevolence around her.

There's a revelation about one character's identity which ended up feeling very anticlimactic for me, as I'd guessed it when I read the first book. It felt a bit like nothing else would have made sense. That's good, since it means the writing up until the reveal completely supported the revelation and was reliably telegraphing the direction of the story. It reinforced a feeling of frustration with how this character does things and why, while also not adding much in the moment.

This continues some things left hanging from the second book, and the things it wraps up are interesting but don't feel as emotionally significant. As the third book of four, it moves a lot of things into place which seem like they'll be critical for the final book. Book one was slavery and escape, book two was a months-long journey culminating in a rescue attempt, but this third book focuses more on trying to make certain bad things not happen. Best case, it's a holding action, worst case it's a series of disasters, and either way it ends feeling strange. Laia and her brother are working with a new contact to make weapons and get those weapons into the right hands, but not everyone agrees over what the right hands are. Helene is trying to keep her pregnant sister alive, and to foil the Commandant wherever she can. Elias is learning his new role in the Waiting Place, finding out just what that entails and how much it will distort his original humanity. The pregnancy and the weapons-making are almost new storylines, but they did have their start at the very end of the second book. Laia, Elias, and Helene are the main narrators, with brief appearances from the Nightbringer at the beginning and end of the book. Their voices are consistent with the previous books, while feeling distinct from each other.

Several things are left hanging for the final book to address, including but not limited to Elias's and Laia's fates, the devastation of the cities, and the final stages of the Nightbringer's plan. I can't think of anything major that was both introduced and resolved. Most of the important things were at least mentioned as possible plans in the second book. It leaves this murky feeling that this book is essential for the overall arc of the series, with several extremely important moments within it, but the ebb and flow of the story itself feels very forgettable.

It would not make sense to start with this book and not have read either of the others. This is a narrative bridge to get from the second book to the finale, it's full of revelations and secrets which have lingered for a while. Once those things are brought to light, the characters can act on them in the final book, but encountering them here as the introduction would feel largely pointless. There's worldbuilding for the Mariners, who haven't appeared until now, but other than that a lot of the background is carried over from the first two books and only lightly re-explained.

The main plot is a tangle of overlapping threads, making of them picking up on things begun earlier, then culminating in one hectic night which synchronizes them in time but not necessarily in theme or purpose. Helene's story is the strongest for me, with clear goals, a specific enemy, and where it's easy to tell if she fails (if her pregnant sister or the forthcoming baby die, that's a problem). Elias is trying to find out how to do the seemingly impossible task of helping all the ghosts move on, and his path towards that answer is full of a lot of back and forth, exiting and re-entering the forest of the Waiting Place. Laia's goals keep changing, as she wants bad things not to happen and good things to happen, but is having trouble figuring out what bad she's willing to accept in defense of which good. Given that the world isn't perfect (and her particular slice of it is filled with a bunch of people willing to do a whole lot of murder for their own goals), that indecision is giving her trouble.

Overall this feels necessary to the arc of the series while being largely forgettable for long stretches. There's a lot of places in the middle where it feels like it's repeating an emotional beat that already happened, or drawing out something for way too long. The end is very strong and I like the story overall, but it's not my favorite in the series so far.

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frantically's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

not even my main girlie helene aquilla can get me to continue reading this, I'M SORRY

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scandinavian_queen's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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hannasnowmueller's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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urlocalvocaloidstan's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad 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

5.0

Just like the other books in this series, this book was such a page turner and there were plot twists at every corner. All the characters had really good writing and Laia’s trauma from being betrayed by the Nightbringer still haunts her even in this book. Both the internal and external conflicts felt very real and you could easily sympathize with even evil people like Marcus. All three of the main characters go through so much and they have to make super tough decisions that could bring the end of the world, especially The Blood Shrike, so it would make sense if they were unlikable characters.

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