Ratings797
Average rating4.4
The final book in this duology picks up right after the events of the first one and as in the first book, nothing is quite as it seems and the best laid plans often go awry in unexpected ways that keep you turning pages. I didn't think this volume was quite as strong as the first one, mostly in the sense of pacing. It felt very stop and go as we got huge back stories on just about every character between currently happening events. As much as I liked getting to know the characters better, I found how it interrupted the main storyline a bit frustrating sometimes and sometimes even gave current happenings less impact than I thought they should of.
Having said that, I really enjoyed all the characters with Inej probably being my favourite. They were fallible, but still enjoyable and likeable with motivations that made sense and never strayed into too dark a territory, which is what I tend to be fond of in the ‘grey' character trope that has taken over much of the fantasy books these days.
The fantasy itself is pretty light, there is magic, but it takes second seat to many other aspects of the story and that wasn't a bad thing. It felt very real in a way and believable in a genre that can sometimes stray into the absurd if it's not careful.
Overall I really enjoyed it, highly recommend it and think that the duology as a whole was excellent.