BROO. I don’t think I can put into words what I’m feeling rn. I absolutely loved it. The writing was brilliant, her use of pov’s to unfold the plot. Also AEFE, MY HEARTTT. I don’t think I’ve ever read better written villians before, I have an ongoing internal war that I don’t see an end to. 

As much as I liked this sequel, I did think there would be more spice - or at least more romance between Max and Tif, I felt v sad reading their separate journeys.
Though I did like that we got to see more Sammerin and Moth, poor Moth. This book felt so much darker than the first which I did love.
For 600 pages, this book moved at a really speedy pace and got through a lot of unnecessary battle content which I appreciated. Wars can become tedious to read so this was perfect for me

 
1. I cannot believe they LEFT MAX??? 
2. I really liked the twists of the fae plotline, how it was set in the past with Aefe’s origin story before becoming Reshaye and the fae kings origin as her love interest before he was presumed dead and her taken, it puts an interesting spin on the third book as he becomes the villain

I have taken some time to think about this installment in the series and my thoughts are thus:

The magic system is in shambles.  What little of it you understood from the first book is extrapolated on a bit, but there's also some wishy-washy moments where the situation doesn't seem to make sense how things work as they have been presented.  Also, what even are stratagrams really?  They are predominantly used for travel, and binding magic, but then there's a necklace that has some charms with stratagrams that do other things and I'm just so confused by it all.

It honestly felt like this book had three separate endings, but contained only two parts.  It was disjointed and the time and pacing were off.  It was a bit of a slog to get through, especially when we would get reiterations of the same thing.

There was a bit of a murder spree situation where everyone started dying all of a sudden and I don't know if the foreshadowing was adequate or overdone and heavy-handed because I guessed some reveals quite early and it meant that the tension in the situation was lost.

There was a new POV right from the start.  This is one of the things I guessed about from the start and so when the big reveal happened 500+/-ish pages later, I was underwhelmed.  It seemed like it was meant to be a big build up with a bigger pay off but it fell short.

I'm debating not continuing and reading the last book in the series.  The obsession with scent, and eyes/being seen, the bad grammar (so many sentences start with "But" that should not, regardless of whose POV it is), the made up nonsense swear words/exclaimations that are never explained, in addition to real swear words, etc..

At the end of the day, I don't know that I care to find out what happens next.

Edited to add a spoiler because I cannot handle it when books do this with sex scenes:
 

So, Tisaanah had been sparring with Nura, and Max had just returned from battle, so they are both sweaty and gross/grimy/possibly bloody, and I get it, you see your honey bunny for the first time in months after nothing but letters and you immediately want to bone down, but like, bruh...  they put their mouths in places I wouldn't want to without a good soap and rinse.  AND THEN THEY BATHE TOGETHER BUT MAX IS ALL...  EW I DON'T WANT TO MARINATE IN UR GROSS SOUP...  Tisaanah rightfully says it's OUR gross soup, but still...  He didn't have any issues having sex with her and him being hella gross.  Anyways, if there was already the plan to bathe, why not do that step first?  It is not that hard.  And the bath water is described as like dingy grey color...  I'm paraphrasing but I finished this book over a week ago and I just remembered this and it gave me the ick all over again.

 

I switched from physical book to audiobook because the early middle got a little slow for my ADHD fixation, but I love the characters so much

the aefe plot should’ve been obvious she was reshaye but because the time lines and locations weren’t obvious, I really did not predict it. I loved her so much that when we found out who she was my jaw DROPPED!

I love the way the author addresses hard topics and keeps you invested in all the narrators. Just not 5 stars because I was hoping to learn more about the orders and Aran politics, but tbh it would’ve been too long with it. So excited to read the next one