"For what was earth but a mirror of heaven?"

And another trilogy concludes with vengeance and love wrapped tightly around its center.

"People misunderstand. Love is the most powerful force in the world. It can change minds, change hearts, reshape the heavens and the earth. That is why people condemn it, say a woman is stronger without it, but that's their own fear talking. If you are lucky enough to find love, Xiala, you hold on to it with all you have. It is a rare thing."

I was—still am honestly—terrified of this finale. Mirrored Heavens was the first book in YEARS that gave me the sort of reading anxiety that only authors like Fonda Lee and George R. R. Martin invoke with their ruthlessness. While the series didn't end quite in a way I feared, it definitely slid the knife into my side and left me gasping for breath. I loved all of the original POVs so much, and I think back to 2020 me who first read an ARC of Black Sun and fell head first for these characters. They comforted me in a scary year, so this finale means more than I can express. But... Fevered Star was a disappointment, so I was torn on whether this finale would satisfy me or not.

"The Mother gives, and the Mother takes away. Life began in the sea, and it would end them, and that was a comfort, even now."

Spoiler alert: it did.

"The only free thing in life is the sea. Everything else costs."

I'm going to immediately begin discussing spoilers, so beware of everything beyond this point. If you want the basics, know that this finale is well worth the longer wait and also the effort to read its high page count.

"Power was an illusion often disabused at the edge of a blade."

Xiala has always been my girl. She is my absolute favorite character in this trilogy, and I would quite frankly murder all of the other characters to keep her safe. My Pirates of the Caribbean nostalgic self latched onto her with the ferocity of Gorilla Glue. Plus, she's the first siren character that I loved! Therefore, I was most scared for her fate, but another separate part of me refused to believe Rebecca would kill her off. She's too iconic, too central to the plot. I had trouble reading the first 100 pages of Mirrored Heavens because I just wanted straight Xiala chapters. Not to mention that was because it was our first time seeing the Teek in their homeland, which was my most anticipated scene in this whole series. But—OH YEAH near immediately a fucking massacre starts on the Teek people, and I NEEDED to find out more PRONTO. This led me to take over a month to continue reading because I was stubborn and grumpy due to the lack of Xiala. Once I got over that, I finished the finale in three days haha.

"I would know you in the dark, the reflection of my heart, the mirror to my soul."

Second spoiler alert: Xiala survives each and every attempt on her life and then, fully accepts her god and abilities. Thus, she becomes a true siren and wreaks oceanic vengeance on those who harmed her people, destroyed her land, and murdered her mother. It made sense that it took the loss of her childhood best friend for her to fully confront the siren side of herself. She'd already lost her aunt and mother, and she had zero clue what was happening to Serapio. It was the final nail in the coffin. She was afraid, not fully committed before, but in times of war, nobody has time to be uncertain. And, of course, Xiala does not disappoint in her power.

"I have not told you everything that happened when we were apart. Of the Cuecolan who killed our wise women, of the slavery she wished to impose on us, and how my mother, our queen, was betrayed by those who were meant to be her allies. This is very much my war, and if I can help bring these monsters to ruin, then I will do it."

My only gripe about Xiala's storyline is that I wish we could've seen her in action more with her full abilities. There's only one scene where she's hunting the Cuecolan cowards who fled her homeland once the Teek overthrow them, and we get to see Xiala at her most powerful via commanding a kraken (POTC fangirling 1000%). It was definitely my favorite scene of the entire book. Every word, every emotion was perfect. Xiala's tiny bit of empathy creeping in at the destruction and grotesque ruthlessness of the kraken vs. her pushing her empathy away because they DID. NOT. CARE. about the Teek women and children's pain. They did not care about her mother, and also, they're a part of the group willing to harm Serapio. Three outs, you're outta here!

"They do not see the inevitability of you... You are the storm they cannot fight, and yet they resist. Those women will always refuse what the gods have ordained, thinking themselves their own deities on earth. But it is earth that mirrors the heavens, not the inverse. What are humans in the face of a god reborn?"

Oh, Serapio. His storyline definitely reached its true potential. I was waiting for him and Xiala to reunite. It felt like coming back home to see them empowered together. Serapio is a very different person with Xiala around, and all of his attendants and allies notice it. Xiala is even told she makes him an even better god because he's happier when she's around.

"We are children teasing a predator who will cry when we are devoured."

Now I didn't expect the last, climactic scene to take place in the Shadow Palace. I was thinking one of the battlefields as Balam's group were invading, but I was wrong. Xiala and Serapio (after using the shadowgate after Balam to return back to the tower) are forced to confront Balam as he fully descends into his insanity due to magical and drug abuse. Serapio finally knows Balam is his father, and he is terrified of fulfilling the prophecy the Coyote representative gave him where he loses everything. Simultaneously, the Crow god senses Naranpa/ the Sun god destroying Tova outside, and he starts to completely overtake Serapio to attack them. Serapio is fighting himself on the ground while Xiala has to fend off Balam. She's cut off from the ocean whereas his blood magic is fed from not only himself but also the blood from Xiala and Serapio. It's in this moment when Xiala does yet another badass new ability. It may be one of the smartest fantasy powers (perfect for a siren) because she turns her song, sound essentially, into a weapon. She screams at Balam and shatters him into infinite pieces.

"What is the point of winning the world if you lose yourself in the process?"

With her delivering the killing blow, the prophecy for Serapio is left uncertain because he seemingly had to be the one to end his father. But the Crow god only continues to destroy Serapio, so the god can harm his godly enemy. In these final moments, Serapio tells Xiala to kill him to keep Tova safe because he no longer can control the god, can control himself. In a tear-jerking instant, Xiala comforts him and does stab Serapio in the heart with the Sun dagger, thereby freeing and bringing Serapio peace. It was the only end scene for Serapio, in my head. After all he's been through, the lack of love and connection, he deserved to have his love save him. His body is never found even because before Xiala's eyes, he turns into a murder of crows, who gaze at her but soon soar away into the sky.

"You are my home, Xiala. My present and my future, and in the face of that, what is the past but the dust of memories best forgotten?.. You can back when you did not have to, risked your own life, sacrificed so much. You are my heart, my home. I want for nothing else."

Of the POVs, Okoa's in definitely the weakest. It's not bad by any means. His storyline is just ebtrayal after betrayal, backstab after backstab. He's conflicted about Serapio but overall, he commits to his side more than anyone besides Xiala. He actually meets Xiala after she pretends to be a citizen working under Balam's group, and he sacrifices himself to their opponent to allow her to escape to warn Serapio of the impending invasion. He jumps from Benundah's back (very Daemon Targaryen of him) onto the Golden Eagle heir's ride and murders her. Somehow he manages to survive this and reunite with Serapio to inform him of what he's learned. They separate to continue destroying Balam's camp when he is murdered from behind by a Carrion Crow soldier sent by his sister. Now they end on horrible terms for many reasons, but this death felt very left field to me. I don't know. Even thinking about it now, weeks later, it doesn't feel completely right. I would've rather he died sacrificing himself for Xiala than this. I guess it's important because it shows the downfall of his sister later on because she's untrustworthy and horrible, but I just didn't like it. It reminded me a lot of Matthias' death actually but not as successfully done.

"The old ways are dead... I bring a new order, and those who do not submit will know only suffering."

Switching POVs, Naranpa's storyline focuses a ton on a new ability where she essentially walks into people's dreams after consuming godsflesh, a powerful plant that allows people to walk the dreamworld. Like Xiala's siren complete abilities, I wish we could have seen this part of Naranpa's power sooner. Her storyline is first learning this ability before leaving to save Iktan after xe nearly dies from attempting to assassinate Balam and successfully assassinating the leaders of Golden Eagle. From the get-go in Black Sun I loved their interactions, but I was not sure if Rebecca would pair them together. Well, she does in this finale, and I was LIVING through their yearning and loving of one another. It was their moments that kept me going while Xiala was seeking vengeance and Serapio either almost marrying or worrying about his prophecy. Naranpa and Iktan's reunion and marriage are by far my favorite moments.

"Perhaps you do not need to protect me... Perhaps you only need to love me, and that is enough."

But their ending is the most complicated, arguably, of the entire cast. Naranpa plans to use the godsflesh to try to infiltrate Balam. She wants to protect Tova, so she plans with her mentor Kupshu and Iktan to use the Graveyard of the Gods (strong physical location to the gods and magic) to dream walk. Before their plan even begins, they are attacked by zombie-like beings of magic who drag Iktan and Kupshu away. Naranpa only survives because she burns everything in her surroundings to protect herself. She realizes Iktan and her mentor are dead, and due to the graveyard and godsflesh heightening her abilities, she fully connects with her god and magically travels to Tova where she proceeds to burn it to the ground. Or try to, at least. Iktan was supposed to be her anchor to the world, but with xir gone, she sees no reason to fight for her way back to control and allows the god to fully consume her mind. Ultimately, her body is found after the events, and she is in a seemingly sleep-like state. Her body does not perish, but she seems to have lost her mind to the dreamworld. To my absolute horror and probably other readers, Iktan is actually alive and protecting her body. We don't know exactly what happened to Iktan in the graveyard, but xe's alive. Their story ends with Iktan guarding Naranpa as they move her body back to her tower to be with her books in her endless sleep. Somehow this ending obliterated my heart more than either of them dying because the yearning from Iktan HURTS.

"Some women are born to always stay in sight of the shore. Others are meant to cross the ocean."

Although, the one thing keeping me afloat after their ending is my theory that Rebecca Roanhorse may be setting up a companion/spin-off series about these two. The epilogue shows Iktan talking to Xiala about xir continuous research/efforts to bring Naranpa back from the dreamworld. I could see a whole series or standalone being dedicated to both of them via this quest. SIGN ME UP, REBECCA!! PLEASE!!

"I would have found you anyway. Even if I had to cross the continent a dozen times. If my way is death and yours is life, then you are my other half."

And that spark of hope is not the only one. Xiala is told by Iktan of a man who lives up in the cold mountains and creates the most beautiful wooden art pieces. Xiala immediately is desperate to find out if it could be Serapio, but readers learn, 9 months after Serapio died, she had their son Akona, meaning black-winged in Teek... I was deadass sobbing at this point y'all. I could not handle the implications because we know the Teek do not approve of males in their community, but Xiala is now the Queen of the Teek. She makes the rules and obviously voids this one not only because of her love for her son but also him being her last remnant of Serapio. *sigh* And don't even get me started on her journey to the mountain and the confirmation that is is Serapio—more tears. He was a murder of crows for years, but eventually, he found his way back to his human form. Possibly found his way back because of Xiala and his desire to be human and with her again? Romance is alive and thriving you guys. I could not get enough of this epilogue.

"Love me. And let fate do its damnedest to get around that."

Overall, besides the incredibly slow first 100ish pages, this book was everything I wanted it to be. Even my small critiques above are not enough to harm this finale's rating because it was a wild ride. I'm just super content with the ending because of my possible spin-offs theory. I'm going to be recommending this book for the rest of eternity because it's a damn good epic fantasy. I cannot wait to see what Rebecca releases next!!

"Perhaps, while we wait, I can tell you a story. I know a great one, about a crow and a mermaid."

Thank you to Saga Press for the gifted ARC copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.