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Sabaa Tahir

4.33 AVERAGE


only cared abt helene by the end of it

3 ⭐️

fuck this book. she killed every secondary character i gave a shit about. this ending wasn’t it. everything that made the series work fell apart here. laia’s invincible to the point of absurdity. elias is a walking sadboy cliché. helene had potential, but they dragged her through misery for no reason.

the big villain? dies in the most disappointing way. no weight, no payoff. the fantasy takes a backseat so the romance can take over, and not even the good kind – just repetitive, overwrought drama.

i powered through the last three books because i needed to know how it ended. now i wish i hadn’t bothered. the whole thing crumbled, and i’m just really annoyed. ugh.

Ah yes
Let the villain of this extremely well written, well thought series (only the first 3 books though) with amazing character development and pay offs be defeated by the power of love and friendship... And let the last chapter be a proposal....
That seems like something the readers would enjoy
adventurous dark 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

This series started out about a girl who joins the rebellion against an empire, a boy who hates that he's been raised for war, and a girl who loves her empire. But by the end it became an epic story about all kinds of love, but especially the love between a mother and her child. A Sky Beyond the Storm is a heartwrenching but satisfying end to the series.

I still hold that book 1 is the strongest of the 4, but I definitely think this last book comes a close second. The romance came back strong in this book, in a way more believable arc, and was entwined beautifully with the love the characters have for each other and their peoples.

Helene especially is the stand out character for me. Her love for her empire is in everything she does, in her drive to keep going, and is what keeps her going when she has lost everything. I'm so inspired by her that I think I'm going to make a D&D character based off of her. She is mired in tragedy but doesn't fall to the same traps as Laia who is a much more “bleeding heart” type - she is one of the strongest women I've read in fantasy.

That said, I did still like the rest of the characters, Laia and Elias being the other POV characters we get it's hard to dislike them. Keris was a super compelling antagonist, and her ending ripped my heart out, I was a sobbing mess. I do wish we had gotten a little more insight to her, as she is quite overshadowed by The Nightbringer - for good reasons. The remaining side cast - to be honest a lot of them didn't feel like real characters for a good chunk of this series. But Sabaa Tahir succeeded in adding enough depth to these characters so that she could devastate me with them in this last book without it feeling cheap (well, there is one character I take issue with how they died…).

Overall, it's a really fantastic and epic fantasy series. The ancient Rome inspiration makes it feel fresh and apart from others, with a heavy focus on war and how the characters feel about it and the empire they live in. There is magic here, and its not the strong suit, but adds just enough for a wonderful blend of worldbuilding.

The whole series was great! This last book wrapped the story up nicely. Definitely need a wad of Kleenex by the end.

yk what, i literally love laia, girl was obsessed

3-3.5/5 stars
adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective 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
adventurous dark emotional 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

This book was written to test my tear gland's power. Will I ever be able to forgive Sabaa Tahir for a very particular event in the book? I think not.

This book has empowered me and wrecked me simultaneously over and over again. ESPECIALLY AS A DESI WOMAN IN WAYS I PROBABLY WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO PUT IN WORDS.