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A review by wokeupbricked
A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir
5.0
“There is success, and there is failure. The land in between is for those too weak to live. Duty first, unto death.”
HOLY. FUCKING. HELL.
A Reaper At The Gates ripped my heart out and stomped all over it.
"Pain is a choice. Succumb to it and fail. Or defy it and triumph."
The stakes just keep getting higher and the wars keep getting more brutal, as we see everything being stripped away from our characters.
"The permanence of death will always feel like a betrayal."
The body count is HIGH. Like OVER THE BLEEDING HELL HIGH. I can't even remember reading a page which isn't narrating a man slaughter.
"I will never understand the savagery of war, even when it is my foes being destroyed."
Just when I thought our characters are so broken, so far beyond repair; just when I thought our miss author couldn't get any more evil; just when I thought things couldn't get any more brutal, Sabaa Tahir delightfully robs me of my mundane thoughts and brings the worse.
"There is a price for greed and violence. We do not always know who will pay it. But for good or ill, it will be paid."
This book is nasty. The entire series is cursed. It's bloody. It's barbaric. It's vicious. We are at a point where words like cruel and brutal feel too gentle.
The entire book is summed up in one prophecy:
"One pieces remains, and beware the Reaper at the Gates!
The sparrows will drown, and none will know it.
The past shall burn, and none will slow it.
The Dead will rise, and none can survive.
The Child will be bathed in blood but alive.
The Pearl will crack, the cold will enter.
The Butcher will break, and none will hold her.
The Ghost will fall, her flesh will wither.
By the Grain Moon, the King will have his answer.
By the Grain Moon, the forgotten will find their master."
But it doesn't even end here. As the climax promises a very dark and twisted final installment, A Sky Beyond The Storm.
And I know damn good that things ain't gonna end well for our characters.
For me, A Reaper at the Gates is what brought this series home for me. For a penultimate book, it did everything right, by preparing an excellent atmosphere, while leaving enough room for unpredictable, mysterious possibilities for the final book.
Although the first 50% of the book dragged, with endless strategies and planning and stupid mistakes and failure, but the rest of it was such a mind-blowing, gut-wrenching read that I couldn't get myself to dock off a star or two.
I'm dead serious when I claim to kill anything-or-anyone just to get these characters a happy ending.
"We are, all of us, just visitors in each other's lives."
Oh Elais. Never has there been a more selfless hero. No, I’m not kidding. I think the closest thing that comes to mind is Peeta-TOTALLY different guy, situation, scenario, but he’d give it all up just for her. Both of them. Elias could ruin everything in one moment-for the whole world as he knows it-but he can’t give himself up completely if it means Laia will be hurt.
"But even knowing what the Masks would have done, I do not wish to kill. I do not wish to belong to this world of blood and violence and vengeance. I do not wish to be a Mask."
His turmoil as his humanity is stripped away from him, the Mauth taking over his body and soul. His frustration on his helplessness as he sees himself turning cold towards the people he once loved. The feeling of feeling nothing, as the emotions and love that used to once swell within him slips away from his hands like a pile of sand.
I’ll go to them as Mask Veturius, dread Martial, soldier of the Empire. I’ll go to them as the estranged, murderous son of the Bitch of Blackcliff, as the monster who killed his friends and assassinated the Empire’s enemies as a child and who watched stonily as Yearlings were whipped to death before his eyes.
This time, I will not ask the jinn for help.
I will take it.
My heart. I just…CAN’T. He faces so many obstacles in this book I can’t describe or talk about, but just know that -heavy is the head that wears the crown-and this applies to so many different places.
Laia is a character I learnt to adore over time. Her seeing through her mother's sorrow. Fighting for the ones she love. Fighting for the freedom of her people, the scholars.
"In this fiery hellscape of a world, this mess of blood and madness, justice exists only for those who take it. I’ll be damned if I’m not one of them."
She's been betrayed way too many times, by the ones closest to her. Keenan (The Nightbringer), the Cook (Her Mother). She's a kind soul, one who can't let go of her humanity even if it destroys her. And thus no matter what, she fights. For where there's life there's hope.
"Because I know this feeling sweeping through me all too well, the feeling that all my effort, all I have worked for, means nothing. That everything and everyone is a lie. That all is cruel and unforgiving and that there is no justice."
Although at times I'm annoyed by how she wishes to be everyone's saviour, sabotaging a much more important mission just to save a few scholars. But that's what makes her the most human character in this series. The world is cruel, merciless, but Laia is the only knight in shining armour, the only source of kindess and humanity that we get to see in the book, or the overall series.
“Don’t you belittle me. I am the daughter of the Lioness. I destroyed Blackcliff. I saved the life of Elias Veturius. I survived Commandment Keris Veturia. I survived the betrayals of the Resistance and the Nightbringer. I crossed the Empire and broke into Kauf Prison. I rescued my brother and hundreds of other Scholars. I am not nothing.”
She's strong in her own way. She has overcome so many things throughout the book. She's not weak. And anyone thinking otherwise is a damn fool.
"Love." I sigh. "Love is joy coupled with misery, elation bound to despair. It is a fire that beckons me gently and then burns when I get too close. I hate love. I yearn for it. And it drives me mad."
Although Laia and Elias's love story didn't get me invested, (I was busy swooning over Harper and Helene), I would still like to mention one of their most iconic quotes.
“You are cruel, Elias,” she whispers against my mouth. “To give a girl all she desires only to tear it away.”
“This isn't the end for us, Laia of Serra.” I cannot give up what we could have. I don't care what bleeding vow I made. “Do you hear me? This is not our end.”
“You've never been a liar.” She dashes her hands against the wetness in her eyes. “Don't start now.
And what can I say about my queen Helene Aquilla. I'll let her punch me in the throat and thank her for sparing her precious time in doing so. I love her to bits. I love her to the hell and heaven. She's so imperfect and cold and heartless, and I love it.
"My song is not one of peace. It is one of failure and pain. My song is one of battle and blood, death and power. It is not the song of Helene Aquilla. It is the song of the Blood Shrike."
No one has suffered the way she has. No one can go through what she has been through, and still be alive to stand on both of their feet fighting for the very nation who destroyed them.
"One day soon, you will be tested, child. All that you cherish will burn. You will have no friends that day. No allies. No comrades in arms. On that day, your trust in me will be your only weapon."
This women. She is the moment. Her loyalty to her people, her nation. Her determination for the safety and well being of her people. I have nothing to offer but my utmost respect to this women. Marcus tore her apart. The very Empire she almost died fighting for took everything from her. Her body, her soul, her family, her love. She had to see marcus slaughter her family right in front of her eyes. She had to endure the emperor slowly killing off her sister. She had to live every moment under the cruel, rapist eyes of her emperor. She had to face failure again and again, see herself being torn apart and unmade to The Blood Shrike. And yet she stands. Ready to die and kill for her people. She stood tall and brave and fought her enemies ALONE, blind, face bleeding, body exhausted beyond repair, while everyone left her side. All for her Empire. I just cannot shut up about how much of a great character she is.
...I draw on every last bit of strength I have. I am a thing from the Barbarians’ nightmares, a silver-faced, blood-drenched demon of the hells, and I will not let them pass.
You are all that holds back the darkness.
For the Empire. For the mothers and fathers. For the sisters and brothers. For the lovers.
For the Empire, Helene Aquilla. For your people.
We get to see another side of Marcus Farrar. A side that could've thrived well and alive had The Empire not ravished it. I still hate Marcus. He's a rapist, sadistic son of a bitch. But there's no denying that he lived long enough to see himself become a villian. It's interesting yet heart clenching.
Marcus releases my hand and scrabbles at his side for a dagger, which he thrusts into my hand. “Mercy, Blood Shrike. That is my order. I do not deserve it. I do not even wish it. But you’ll give it to me anyway. Because you’re good.” He spits out the word, a curse. “It’s why my brother loved you.”
The Emperor meets my eyes. As ever, his are filled with rage, hatred. But beneath that is something I have never seen before in the fifteen years I have known Marcus Farrar: resignation.
I think of baby Zacharias and the innocence of his gaze. Marcus too must have looked that way once. Perhaps that’s what his twin, Zak, saw when he looked at him: not the monster he had become, but the brother he had been.
“Do it, Shrike,” he whispers. “He waits for me.”
I can't believe I cried at Marcus Farrar's death.
The story of the twins, Marcus and Zak, wrenched my heart.
The twins walk beside me quietly, one on each side. They are empty of anger, of pain, of loneliness. They are ready to pass on. I sift through their minds dispassionately and find a memory that is joyful—in this case, a day they spent together on the rooftops of Silas before they were taken for Blackcliff. Their father bought them a kite. The winds were fair, and they flew it high.
When I look back at the twins, they are boys once more, untainted by the
world. And when they step into the river, they do it together, small hands clasped.
Avitas Harper. Can I love you more than I already do? Save our Helene.
“The Scars. They are beautiful.” His green eyes are thoughtful. “Your face couldn’t be anything but beautiful, Blood Shrike. With or without the mask.”
I loved every moment of their slow burn.
He is an open book, and I learn that he did set Laia free months ago, when we ambushed her. He set her free because he knew I would kill her. And he knew Elias would never forgive me for it. I witness myself through his eyes: angry and cold and weak and strong and brave and warm. Not the Blood Shrike. Helene. And I would be blind not to see what he feels for me. I am woven into his consciousness the way Elias used to be woven into mine. Harper is always aware of where I am, of whether I am all right.
The Nightbringer. Whew, a very interesting character indeed.
I’m not her ally, Blood Shrike.” The Nightbringer cocks his head, and I sense his amusement. “I am her master."
We see his POV in this book. A glance at his humanity, which has been buried over millennial years of waiting for vengeance. This is one of the characters whose depth I would love to explore a lot more in the last book.
“I am not a man of your people,” the Nightbringer says. “But I do wonder at Keris. You humans give your loyalty so willingly for just a little hope.”
“And you think we are fools because of it?” I shake my head. “Hope is stronger than fear. It is stronger than hate."
This series owns my heart. I can't write anything more as I'm quaking to know what happens in the finale.
See you off at A Sky Beyond The Storm.
-------------------------------------------------------------
THE EMBER QUARTET
rated and reviewed by me:-
An Ember in the Ashes
A Torch Against the Night
A Reaper at the Gates
A Sky Beyond the Storm
-------------------------------------------------------------
THE EMBER QUARTET
ranked from most to least favourite by me:-
1. A Reaper at the Gates (Love of my life)
2. An Ember in the Ashes
3. A Sky Beyond the Storm
4. A Torch Against the Night
HOLY. FUCKING. HELL.
A Reaper At The Gates ripped my heart out and stomped all over it.
"Pain is a choice. Succumb to it and fail. Or defy it and triumph."
The stakes just keep getting higher and the wars keep getting more brutal, as we see everything being stripped away from our characters.
"The permanence of death will always feel like a betrayal."
The body count is HIGH. Like OVER THE BLEEDING HELL HIGH. I can't even remember reading a page which isn't narrating a man slaughter.
"I will never understand the savagery of war, even when it is my foes being destroyed."
Just when I thought our characters are so broken, so far beyond repair; just when I thought our miss author couldn't get any more evil; just when I thought things couldn't get any more brutal, Sabaa Tahir delightfully robs me of my mundane thoughts and brings the worse.
"There is a price for greed and violence. We do not always know who will pay it. But for good or ill, it will be paid."
This book is nasty. The entire series is cursed. It's bloody. It's barbaric. It's vicious. We are at a point where words like cruel and brutal feel too gentle.
The entire book is summed up in one prophecy:
"One pieces remains, and beware the Reaper at the Gates!
The sparrows will drown, and none will know it.
The past shall burn, and none will slow it.
The Dead will rise, and none can survive.
The Child will be bathed in blood but alive.
The Pearl will crack, the cold will enter.
The Butcher will break, and none will hold her.
The Ghost will fall, her flesh will wither.
By the Grain Moon, the King will have his answer.
By the Grain Moon, the forgotten will find their master."
But it doesn't even end here. As the climax promises a very dark and twisted final installment, A Sky Beyond The Storm.
And I know damn good that things ain't gonna end well for our characters.
For me, A Reaper at the Gates is what brought this series home for me. For a penultimate book, it did everything right, by preparing an excellent atmosphere, while leaving enough room for unpredictable, mysterious possibilities for the final book.
Although the first 50% of the book dragged, with endless strategies and planning and stupid mistakes and failure, but the rest of it was such a mind-blowing, gut-wrenching read that I couldn't get myself to dock off a star or two.
I'm dead serious when I claim to kill anything-or-anyone just to get these characters a happy ending.
"We are, all of us, just visitors in each other's lives."
Oh Elais. Never has there been a more selfless hero. No, I’m not kidding. I think the closest thing that comes to mind is Peeta-TOTALLY different guy, situation, scenario, but he’d give it all up just for her. Both of them. Elias could ruin everything in one moment-for the whole world as he knows it-but he can’t give himself up completely if it means Laia will be hurt.
"But even knowing what the Masks would have done, I do not wish to kill. I do not wish to belong to this world of blood and violence and vengeance. I do not wish to be a Mask."
His turmoil as his humanity is stripped away from him, the Mauth taking over his body and soul. His frustration on his helplessness as he sees himself turning cold towards the people he once loved. The feeling of feeling nothing, as the emotions and love that used to once swell within him slips away from his hands like a pile of sand.
I’ll go to them as Mask Veturius, dread Martial, soldier of the Empire. I’ll go to them as the estranged, murderous son of the Bitch of Blackcliff, as the monster who killed his friends and assassinated the Empire’s enemies as a child and who watched stonily as Yearlings were whipped to death before his eyes.
This time, I will not ask the jinn for help.
I will take it.
My heart. I just…CAN’T. He faces so many obstacles in this book I can’t describe or talk about, but just know that -heavy is the head that wears the crown-and this applies to so many different places.
Laia is a character I learnt to adore over time. Her seeing through her mother's sorrow. Fighting for the ones she love. Fighting for the freedom of her people, the scholars.
"In this fiery hellscape of a world, this mess of blood and madness, justice exists only for those who take it. I’ll be damned if I’m not one of them."
She's been betrayed way too many times, by the ones closest to her. Keenan (The Nightbringer), the Cook (Her Mother). She's a kind soul, one who can't let go of her humanity even if it destroys her. And thus no matter what, she fights. For where there's life there's hope.
"Because I know this feeling sweeping through me all too well, the feeling that all my effort, all I have worked for, means nothing. That everything and everyone is a lie. That all is cruel and unforgiving and that there is no justice."
Although at times I'm annoyed by how she wishes to be everyone's saviour, sabotaging a much more important mission just to save a few scholars. But that's what makes her the most human character in this series. The world is cruel, merciless, but Laia is the only knight in shining armour, the only source of kindess and humanity that we get to see in the book, or the overall series.
“Don’t you belittle me. I am the daughter of the Lioness. I destroyed Blackcliff. I saved the life of Elias Veturius. I survived Commandment Keris Veturia. I survived the betrayals of the Resistance and the Nightbringer. I crossed the Empire and broke into Kauf Prison. I rescued my brother and hundreds of other Scholars. I am not nothing.”
She's strong in her own way. She has overcome so many things throughout the book. She's not weak. And anyone thinking otherwise is a damn fool.
"Love." I sigh. "Love is joy coupled with misery, elation bound to despair. It is a fire that beckons me gently and then burns when I get too close. I hate love. I yearn for it. And it drives me mad."
Although Laia and Elias's love story didn't get me invested, (I was busy swooning over Harper and Helene), I would still like to mention one of their most iconic quotes.
“You are cruel, Elias,” she whispers against my mouth. “To give a girl all she desires only to tear it away.”
“This isn't the end for us, Laia of Serra.” I cannot give up what we could have. I don't care what bleeding vow I made. “Do you hear me? This is not our end.”
“You've never been a liar.” She dashes her hands against the wetness in her eyes. “Don't start now.
And what can I say about my queen Helene Aquilla. I'll let her punch me in the throat and thank her for sparing her precious time in doing so. I love her to bits. I love her to the hell and heaven. She's so imperfect and cold and heartless, and I love it.
"My song is not one of peace. It is one of failure and pain. My song is one of battle and blood, death and power. It is not the song of Helene Aquilla. It is the song of the Blood Shrike."
No one has suffered the way she has. No one can go through what she has been through, and still be alive to stand on both of their feet fighting for the very nation who destroyed them.
"One day soon, you will be tested, child. All that you cherish will burn. You will have no friends that day. No allies. No comrades in arms. On that day, your trust in me will be your only weapon."
This women. She is the moment. Her loyalty to her people, her nation. Her determination for the safety and well being of her people. I have nothing to offer but my utmost respect to this women. Marcus tore her apart. The very Empire she almost died fighting for took everything from her. Her body, her soul, her family, her love. She had to see marcus slaughter her family right in front of her eyes. She had to endure the emperor slowly killing off her sister. She had to live every moment under the cruel, rapist eyes of her emperor. She had to face failure again and again, see herself being torn apart and unmade to The Blood Shrike. And yet she stands. Ready to die and kill for her people. She stood tall and brave and fought her enemies ALONE, blind, face bleeding, body exhausted beyond repair, while everyone left her side. All for her Empire. I just cannot shut up about how much of a great character she is.
...I draw on every last bit of strength I have. I am a thing from the Barbarians’ nightmares, a silver-faced, blood-drenched demon of the hells, and I will not let them pass.
You are all that holds back the darkness.
For the Empire. For the mothers and fathers. For the sisters and brothers. For the lovers.
For the Empire, Helene Aquilla. For your people.
We get to see another side of Marcus Farrar. A side that could've thrived well and alive had The Empire not ravished it. I still hate Marcus. He's a rapist, sadistic son of a bitch. But there's no denying that he lived long enough to see himself become a villian. It's interesting yet heart clenching.
Marcus releases my hand and scrabbles at his side for a dagger, which he thrusts into my hand. “Mercy, Blood Shrike. That is my order. I do not deserve it. I do not even wish it. But you’ll give it to me anyway. Because you’re good.” He spits out the word, a curse. “It’s why my brother loved you.”
The Emperor meets my eyes. As ever, his are filled with rage, hatred. But beneath that is something I have never seen before in the fifteen years I have known Marcus Farrar: resignation.
I think of baby Zacharias and the innocence of his gaze. Marcus too must have looked that way once. Perhaps that’s what his twin, Zak, saw when he looked at him: not the monster he had become, but the brother he had been.
“Do it, Shrike,” he whispers. “He waits for me.”
I can't believe I cried at Marcus Farrar's death.
The story of the twins, Marcus and Zak, wrenched my heart.
The twins walk beside me quietly, one on each side. They are empty of anger, of pain, of loneliness. They are ready to pass on. I sift through their minds dispassionately and find a memory that is joyful—in this case, a day they spent together on the rooftops of Silas before they were taken for Blackcliff. Their father bought them a kite. The winds were fair, and they flew it high.
When I look back at the twins, they are boys once more, untainted by the
world. And when they step into the river, they do it together, small hands clasped.
Avitas Harper. Can I love you more than I already do? Save our Helene.
“The Scars. They are beautiful.” His green eyes are thoughtful. “Your face couldn’t be anything but beautiful, Blood Shrike. With or without the mask.”
I loved every moment of their slow burn.
He is an open book, and I learn that he did set Laia free months ago, when we ambushed her. He set her free because he knew I would kill her. And he knew Elias would never forgive me for it. I witness myself through his eyes: angry and cold and weak and strong and brave and warm. Not the Blood Shrike. Helene. And I would be blind not to see what he feels for me. I am woven into his consciousness the way Elias used to be woven into mine. Harper is always aware of where I am, of whether I am all right.
The Nightbringer. Whew, a very interesting character indeed.
I’m not her ally, Blood Shrike.” The Nightbringer cocks his head, and I sense his amusement. “I am her master."
We see his POV in this book. A glance at his humanity, which has been buried over millennial years of waiting for vengeance. This is one of the characters whose depth I would love to explore a lot more in the last book.
“I am not a man of your people,” the Nightbringer says. “But I do wonder at Keris. You humans give your loyalty so willingly for just a little hope.”
“And you think we are fools because of it?” I shake my head. “Hope is stronger than fear. It is stronger than hate."
This series owns my heart. I can't write anything more as I'm quaking to know what happens in the finale.
See you off at A Sky Beyond The Storm.
-------------------------------------------------------------
THE EMBER QUARTET
rated and reviewed by me:-
An Ember in the Ashes
A Torch Against the Night
A Reaper at the Gates
A Sky Beyond the Storm
-------------------------------------------------------------
THE EMBER QUARTET
ranked from most to least favourite by me:-
1. A Reaper at the Gates (Love of my life)
2. An Ember in the Ashes
3. A Sky Beyond the Storm
4. A Torch Against the Night