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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
Elander and Cassia have reunited, but the battle is still raging. She’s still fighting against her brother, and Elander is losing his abilities because he’s betrayed his master. But these two are determined to fight. I did not like the elves at all! They are sneaky, conniving and manipulative. I felt like Cass and crew should have picked up on that a little sooner. Elander was awesome in this book. Totally loyal and devoted to helping Cassia. The pace was a little bit better in this book than book 2.
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
As with the other books in this series I didn't feel the love for this story, but it was an its-me-not-you situation. The book was well-written. The audio production was well done. It just didn't grab me. I wish it had. I think that if I had been in a different headspace I might have felt differently. I give it three stars.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
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:
Complicated
It took me almost 3 months to finish this and I had to put it down in frustration several times.
Serious middle book issues with pacing—somehow I got through the first half pretty quickly while at the same time wondering why nothing was happening and why it all felt to be taking forever.
If you’re going into this one expected politics and intrigue, you’ll be sorely disappointed. The actual court stuff only really happens around the halfway point, and it’s so clumsy that I wish it hadn’t been there at all. I usually love it, but this? No. This was everything you can do wrong about political intrigue, done wrong.
There’s no gradual building of alliances, no double-dealing, no using known allies to figure out who’s who and what’s what in this unfamiliar court. The one obvious enemy is the only real enemy, and the only strategy employed by the good guys is to… just doggedly focus all the attention on the other person hoping to persuade him to join their cause.
That’s it. That’s all. There’s some silliness about being cautious with food and drink in case of poison, but not a thought spared for the dress presented by the suspicious servant nobody trusts. The intended ally keeps resisting, does a complete 180 for no apparent reason, and then the enemy does the predictable thing and things go south again. It’s all very dramatic for the characters, but it adds very little to the story as a whole.
Which is a shame, because I genuinely enjoy the concept and world-building, and the previous two books had me interested enough in the conflict that I stuck with this one to the end.
It did pick up again a little after the clumsy politics, but I’m not entirely sure if I feel like continuing this with the final two books in this series. I’ll take a break from it for now in any case. I need a palate cleanser or two after this disappointing and somewhat frustrating read.
Serious middle book issues with pacing—somehow I got through the first half pretty quickly while at the same time wondering why nothing was happening and why it all felt to be taking forever.
If you’re going into this one expected politics and intrigue, you’ll be sorely disappointed. The actual court stuff only really happens around the halfway point, and it’s so clumsy that I wish it hadn’t been there at all. I usually love it, but this? No. This was everything you can do wrong about political intrigue, done wrong.
There’s no gradual building of alliances, no double-dealing, no using known allies to figure out who’s who and what’s what in this unfamiliar court. The one obvious enemy is the only real enemy, and the only strategy employed by the good guys is to… just doggedly focus all the attention on the other person hoping to persuade him to join their cause.
That’s it. That’s all. There’s some silliness about being cautious with food and drink in case of poison, but not a thought spared for the dress presented by the suspicious servant nobody trusts. The intended ally keeps resisting, does a complete 180 for no apparent reason, and then the enemy does the predictable thing and things go south again. It’s all very dramatic for the characters, but it adds very little to the story as a whole.
Which is a shame, because I genuinely enjoy the concept and world-building, and the previous two books had me interested enough in the conflict that I stuck with this one to the end.
It did pick up again a little after the clumsy politics, but I’m not entirely sure if I feel like continuing this with the final two books in this series. I’ll take a break from it for now in any case. I need a palate cleanser or two after this disappointing and somewhat frustrating read.
“Because it’s perfectly human to hope. To believe in things despite evidence to the contrary.”
What to expect:
✔️ Enchanting world-building that expands to even more realms than books 1 and 2
✔️ Soulmates
✔️ Gods/goddesses
✔️ Unique magic system
✔️ Political intrigue
✔️ Immaculate spice (I would class this as NA for sure, same spice level as ACOMAF imo)
✔️ Found family
✔️ Protective MMC that is so perfect it hurts
✔️ A determined and feisty FMC who will do anything to protect the ones she loves
I think it’s offical. I am completely undone by this series. My thoughts are a jumbled mess because of how quickly I devoured this book. I honestly can’t even remember how I first found this series, but it was my partner Ad who chose it from my tbr list so BIGGG thank you to him for that! If you’ve read my previous two reviews on books 1 and 2 you’ll know how much I’ve loved this story from start to where it is now. It’s just so engaging and addictive to read, with so many twists and turns that always leave you guessing. I am beyond ready for book 4!
Casia’s is just everything. She is the ultimate heroine who has so much grit and determination. She is powerful not only in her magical abilities that she’s been honing, but in spirit and character. She has faced so many obstacles over the past three books and I’m just so eager to see where her story goes next.
Elander is the standard I will hold every man to. Idk what else to say other than that I love him so much.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Spice:
What to expect:
✔️ Enchanting world-building that expands to even more realms than books 1 and 2
✔️ Soulmates
✔️ Gods/goddesses
✔️ Unique magic system
✔️ Political intrigue
✔️ Immaculate spice (I would class this as NA for sure, same spice level as ACOMAF imo)
✔️ Found family
✔️ Protective MMC that is so perfect it hurts
✔️ A determined and feisty FMC who will do anything to protect the ones she loves
I think it’s offical. I am completely undone by this series. My thoughts are a jumbled mess because of how quickly I devoured this book. I honestly can’t even remember how I first found this series, but it was my partner Ad who chose it from my tbr list so BIGGG thank you to him for that! If you’ve read my previous two reviews on books 1 and 2 you’ll know how much I’ve loved this story from start to where it is now. It’s just so engaging and addictive to read, with so many twists and turns that always leave you guessing. I am beyond ready for book 4!
Casia’s is just everything. She is the ultimate heroine who has so much grit and determination. She is powerful not only in her magical abilities that she’s been honing, but in spirit and character. She has faced so many obstacles over the past three books and I’m just so eager to see where her story goes next.
Elander is the standard I will hold every man to. Idk what else to say other than that I love him so much.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Spice:
adventurous
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
emotional
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
I enjoyed this read. I like the magic system, I like the tropes, I LOVE the narration, and I enjoy the characters. However, I found myself distracted through much of the middle of this book. It just seemed to take a while to get to where we needed to go/be. The last 2.5 hours were where things really picked up and then it was a race to the finish with several loose ends remaining. Will I continue the series, yes. Will I do it immediately, no. The narration is superb though!
Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Story: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Narration: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Spice:
Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Story: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Narration: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Spice:
the ending restored a star for me but honestly i felt like i could have skipped the middle third of the book and gotten the same experience