This one really bums me out. This series showed so much promise after the first book. It reminded me of The Daughter of Smoke and Bone, which is a series I really enjoy. Unfortunately, the second book definitely suffered from second-book slump. Going into this third installment, I was hopeful that it would get back on track and end on a high note. Unfortunately, that is not what happened.

I would like to say right of the bat, I listened to this book on audio, so I won't have many (or any) specific examples from the text, and it's totally possible that I missed something during the course of the 12+ hours of audio (I listened at 2x speed, but still. This was a long audiobook.)

What I liked:
1.

I liked that the author had the guts in the end to raise the stakes and kill off a major character. At first, I thought it was going to be two, which would've been even more badass, but no, just one. I like when books about battles and war actually go there and acknowledge that in a war not everyone is going to make it to the end.

What I didn't like:
1. Too much focus on romances.
None of these relationships really did much for me. I started to like Caius and Echo a little more I guess near the end of this book, but I just didn't really feel the chemistry. The same goes for Jasper and Dorian. I actually was enjoying Ivy and Helios's interactions, but then the author

decided to make Helios a traitor. Even though it seemed like Ivy wanted to forgive him, it wasn't something that was ever addressed again. That's another issue altogether.

There are people dying all around them and all of these awful things being done by Tanith, yet all these characters can think of is making out with each other's faces. I'm just saying, they need to reprioritize.

2. So many loose ends.
-What happens to Helios? Does he get his trial? Did he die in the battle?
-What happens with Ivy? Does she forgive Helios?
-Why did they reintroduce Quinn just to never mention him again? I couldn't stand his character, but they completely ignore him for the course of this entire book just to bring him in right before the final battle, and then that's it...who knows what happened?
-Rowan is helping Echo at the beginning of the book, then he disappears for like 400 pages until the final battle. I actually was wondering if I missed something when I was listening. I thought he died or something, because he just seemed to disappear.
-Did the guy who was young but growing older in the hospital because Tanith was sucking him dry live? Did he die? Again, it's totally possible I missed this being explained while I was listening to the audiobook, but still. There were way too many things left up in the air. And I'm okay with a vague ending. But if you are going to set up all of these characters and then not pay them off at some point in the story, that's not good writing.

3. The pacing
This book was far too long. This ties back into my first gripe about too much focus being placed on the romances. We would take these long breaks from the action in order to read a chapter about Jasper being petty because Dorian wanted to rescue Caius. Then a chapter about Dorian feeling conflicted about the fact that he has feelings for Jasper, mixed with his guilt for letting his prince and former crush get kidnapped while he was canoodling with Jasper. Then there is a chapter about Echo and all her feelings about Rowan and Caius. Then it might finally get back to the actual plot of the story (what there was of a plot) for a chapter before getting started all over again. There is no way that this book needed to be 500+ pages. That is silly.

4. Deus ex machina in the extreme.

Oh, the final battle is about to start and you are WAY outnumbered? Well, look over there! There's a dragon that we didn't bring with us but just somehow knew what was up, and then this pink-haired mage we met awhile back that I literally had no memory of at all! They're joining the fray!! And then she's never mentioned again and the dragon disappears and no one knows where it is. A FUCKING DRAGON. Just...gone.

5. The ending (specifically the epilogue).

I did not have a problem with the fact that the author chose to kill off one of the major characters in the last chapter of the book. I actually appreciated it quite a bit. However, I didn't like that it felt like she was trying to mitigate it in the epilogue with the whole 'Rose is going to find Caius' thing. It made no sense. It was confusing. So, Caius sacrificed himself to save the universe and went into the in-between, but somehow his long-dead ex-love is going to 'find him'? How? What does that even mean in the grand scheme of things? And then she has a conversation with Rowan. Are we supposed to hope she settles for him, then? Because I just don't care.

6. The audiobook.
This is the second series I've listened to with this narrator. When I realized who the narrator was, I actually decided to read the physical copies of the second and third books instead because I just don't like her voice acting. Unfortunately, this last book wasn't readily available on ebook or physical copy, and I didn't feel like waiting, so I went into the audiobook. Her characters show very little emotion, and the voices she uses for the characters isn't distinct, unless she is doing some kind of accent. The Ala did have a different cadence to her voice, but Ivy and Echo sounded identical. The same thing is true of her male voices. Also, several of the characters in this series are supposed to have Scottish accents. There are certain times when the accent kind of comes out, but it is not consistent at all. I just don't think I'll listen to another audiobook narrated by her.

7. Not enough Ivy. Ivy is my favorite character throughout the books. And she's not in them enough. I'm really annoyed that we didn't get to see her in the epilogue. I don't even recall if she got more than a passing mention. And as much as I roll my eyes when a series will have all of the major characters coupling up, I preferred her and Helios to any of the other various romantic couplings that occurred in this series. I also loved her friendship with Dorian.

I almost wish I would've read a physical copy of this so I could've referred back to it or taken notes more easily. I feel like there is a lot that I could talk about in this review that I'm skipping over. Suffice it to say, I was really disappointed by this book. I kind of wish I'd just read the first book and pretended that Echo defeated Tanith at the end and that was it. It would've saved me so much time.