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A review by _isabel_
The Queen's Starfire Throne by Hailey Turner
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
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
4.5
Oh god, what a ride. What a ride!
This final installment had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish: it did not disappoint. My heart's still beating out of my chest, and I'm pretty sure I'll be thinking about that ending, that bittersweet, epic ending, for a long, long time.
Also, I think I need a whole month to get over everything that has happened; my heart won't recover, I fear. Betrayals, death, war, magic; heart-stopping romance, emotional upheavals, found family, and gut-wrenching angst; and, also, a boatload of heart-clenching close calls from start to finish.
I swear, I need at least twenty palate cleansers to get over the sheer amount of nail-biting angst I've just gone through. Gah.
I'm going to miss these characters a whole lot; and I'll miss this whole magical, deadly, complicated, messy world they all live it, where poisonous spores, revenants, backstabbing politicians and morally gray nobles are a daily occurrence. I love epic fantasies, and I love them even more so when everything is delightfully queer and delightfully packed with romance.
Hailey Turner's Infernal War Saga as a whole, but this final installment in particular, is yet another confirmation of how damned great she is at creating such wonderful worlds and such wonderful (and wonderfully complicated and nuanced) characters. Even though Soren is, and will remain, my favourite, I won't be forgetting Caris and Blaine and Honovi and Vanya any time soon. They all have a special place in my book-loving heart.
"The Queen's Starfire Throne" is packed, absolutely teeming, with action from start to finish, and the desperate, fierce rush towards that bitter, deadly, violent end, against Eimarille's madness, had me simultaneously clutching my heart, tearing my hair out, and screaming at the top of my lungs. It's also, like I said, packed with love: familial love, platonic love, romantic love. Hailey Turner is a masterful writer of the found family trope, and all the bonds that emerge from the death and violence and poison afflicting Maricol had me in tears more than once.
Also, that ending had me in tears. I knew not everyone was going to get their happily ever after at the end, and I guess there was only one way for all that mess to be resolved, but it still made me unbelievably sad too. Thankfully there are enough HEAs for my romance loving heart to be satisfied, but god, what a bittersweet, albeit epic, ending.
Hailey manged to weave together every single plotline, every single story arc, in a crescendo that made my heart soar: she was already one of my favourite writers, but this series is a testament to her skills. Epic fantasies with a complicated world-building and an even more complicated political landscape (or hellscape; I wouldn't want to live in Maricol; except, maybe, in E'ridia: they seem to be the least crazy and power hungry of the lot), packed with a huge cast of morally grey, ambiguous, messy, flawed characters, that, despite the sheer number of them, still manage to make a lasting impression, isn't an easy feat. I knew she'd be up to it, and I'm so, so happy we have this trilogy in our hands.
Or I will be, as soon as I get over that ending and all the damn angst: I'm still crying.
I can't wait to have my heart broken by Hailey with whichever book she gifts us next. <3
Thank you GRR for the ARC. This is my honest review
This final installment had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish: it did not disappoint. My heart's still beating out of my chest, and I'm pretty sure I'll be thinking about that ending, that bittersweet, epic ending, for a long, long time.
Also, I think I need a whole month to get over everything that has happened; my heart won't recover, I fear. Betrayals, death, war, magic; heart-stopping romance, emotional upheavals, found family, and gut-wrenching angst; and, also, a boatload of heart-clenching close calls from start to finish.
I swear, I need at least twenty palate cleansers to get over the sheer amount of nail-biting angst I've just gone through. Gah.
I'm going to miss these characters a whole lot; and I'll miss this whole magical, deadly, complicated, messy world they all live it, where poisonous spores, revenants, backstabbing politicians and morally gray nobles are a daily occurrence. I love epic fantasies, and I love them even more so when everything is delightfully queer and delightfully packed with romance.
Hailey Turner's Infernal War Saga as a whole, but this final installment in particular, is yet another confirmation of how damned great she is at creating such wonderful worlds and such wonderful (and wonderfully complicated and nuanced) characters. Even though Soren is, and will remain, my favourite, I won't be forgetting Caris and Blaine and Honovi and Vanya any time soon. They all have a special place in my book-loving heart.
"The Queen's Starfire Throne" is packed, absolutely teeming, with action from start to finish, and the desperate, fierce rush towards that bitter, deadly, violent end, against Eimarille's madness, had me simultaneously clutching my heart, tearing my hair out, and screaming at the top of my lungs. It's also, like I said, packed with love: familial love, platonic love, romantic love. Hailey Turner is a masterful writer of the found family trope, and all the bonds that emerge from the death and violence and poison afflicting Maricol had me in tears more than once.
Also, that ending had me in tears. I knew not everyone was going to get their happily ever after at the end, and I guess there was only one way for all that mess to be resolved, but it still made me unbelievably sad too. Thankfully there are enough HEAs for my romance loving heart to be satisfied, but god, what a bittersweet, albeit epic, ending.
Hailey manged to weave together every single plotline, every single story arc, in a crescendo that made my heart soar: she was already one of my favourite writers, but this series is a testament to her skills. Epic fantasies with a complicated world-building and an even more complicated political landscape (or hellscape; I wouldn't want to live in Maricol; except, maybe, in E'ridia: they seem to be the least crazy and power hungry of the lot), packed with a huge cast of morally grey, ambiguous, messy, flawed characters, that, despite the sheer number of them, still manage to make a lasting impression, isn't an easy feat. I knew she'd be up to it, and I'm so, so happy we have this trilogy in our hands.
Or I will be, as soon as I get over that ending and all the damn angst: I'm still crying.
I can't wait to have my heart broken by Hailey with whichever book she gifts us next. <3
Thank you GRR for the ARC. This is my honest review
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Death of parent, Violence, and War
Moderate: Slavery