I’ll write a longer review when I have more time, but I believe the series needs to be reviewed as a whole. Each book fits as one part of a whole, and they all read very quickly. I could have easily finished the whole series in just over a day if I had the time for it. 

Overall, Eliza Rayne is great at keeping the reader enthralled, but as I experienced with the series starting with Of Blades and Wings, the stories seem to run their course in an insufficient manner. This book concludes so quickly it is practically a deus ex machina, and the explanation for most of the mysteries somehow both feels incredibly obvious but also inexplicable. Things are simply stated as fact, and things are resolved without much explanation. It feels like all the tension was built up for nothing. 

My main issue with the series beyond that, however, is the main love interest. Maz is withholding, intensely untrusting, and does not communicate on any level that would constitute the heroine falling for him. When they suddenly decide they love each other in this book, it makes such little sense, I barely cared. They were always going to end up together, but their flip-flopping on how they felt and how they interacted absolutely would never have led to the ending it does. It didn’t feel natural at all, considering how inconsistent and untrusting their relationship was 90% of the time. 

All that said, I will happily continue to read Eliza Rayne’s work when I have free time to do so. I’m also looking forward to whenever the next series in this Brides of Mist and Fae collection comes. I don’t expect it to be some great piece of literature, but her characters and worlds do consistently ensnare me for a light, easy distraction in a Norse-inspired world, and I will always enjoy returning to something like that. 

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