I truly don’t know how to explain how much I loved this book, or how much it and the ones that came before it mean to me. This was my most anticipated release of 2020 and it didn’t disappoint. It met and went far beyond my expectations, even though I never knew what to expect. I felt so many different emotions—happiness, terror, frustration, amusement. I was stressed basically the entire time I read. LaFevers took this in so many surprising directions and made it all work. I adore this world and these characters, and the final pages made everything else absolutely worthwhile. Of course I’d love more—I’d read another 500 pages about these characters and their lives, loves, and shenanigans—but this was perfect. Absolutely perfect.

It’s late enough at night to be called early in the morning, depending on how you look at things, so I don’t think I can write anything else right now. Maybe I will soon, or maybe that will wait until my inevitable reread, whenever that may be. But for now.......

RUTTING FIGS I LOVED IT. (This book also gave me new ways to swear without using any known swear words, so that’s a bonus. :))

CW: blood, violence, gore, war, death, captivity, discussions of sexual assault & child loss