You can see all my reviews here: Books Are The New Black

If you have not read this series yet.. please go pick up book one (Jade City) right now! This series is just getting better and better. Am I terrified to jump into the last book? YES! It’s such an emotional roller coaster but I’m so glad to be on it. I finished this a couple weeks ago and just had to sit with it a bit. I apologize if my review is all over the place but this book was quite the experience.

I think that Fonda Lee stepped up to the plate and made a sequel that was better than the first, in my opinion. There is so much going on in this book that you will devour it quickly. With that being said, sometimes the pacing is a bit slow. There are times that I can’t put it down and times that I have a harder time hanging in. It could have been all the extra outside politics that were explored.

The plot in this book expands to add more threats from beyond their borders. For a chunk of this book, there’s a lot of focus on that. You think that maybe the clans might have put a hold on their grievances but do they really? While there’s more going on, there’s a lot of things that will break your heart. I’m not kidding. It can get intense and dark in some places. I don’t think it hinders the story at all but makes it much more impactful. There are moments in this book that I STILL think about.

One of the things I enjoyed about this book was all the amazing characters. Not only do we have our MC’s but we have so many additions and they have big moments in this book. I think that Lee does a brilliant job making you just quickly attach to them all. Most of them have such great growth and development in this book. Many times it’s black and white when it comes to the characters. Things definitely start to go down a greyer path for several of them. There are characters in the first book that didn’t have much importance but make huge impacts in this one. I think we learned quickly in book Jade City, NO ONE is safe. I mean it… no one. Fonda Lee is not scared to go there and destroy you. She’s perfected writing powerful and flawed characters.

There were so many moments in this book that I didn’t see coming. The action scenes are fantastic and well-written. There are so many moving pieces that you don’t see the whole picture until it’s unfolded right in front of you. You get the same reactions as the characters do and that’s refreshing. Many times there are things I didn’t think twice about and then come back to just blow you away later. I love it when authors can do this without everything being extremely predictable. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of predictabilities in this series but not as many as you would think.

Overall, I love how immersive and surprising this book was. A lot of times sequels don’t outdo their predecessor but this one is an exception. There were several surprises and shocking moments. Many times my husband had to ask me what was going on because I would gasp or want to throw the book. This is different than your typical fantasy and it might be what intrigues me so much. Fonda Lee is an amazing writer and I cannot wait to read the conclusion to this series. Okay, I’m terrified to read it because I think it’s going to break me. Regardless, it’s going to be an amazing ride.

Thank you to Orbit for providing me a copy of this e-book for review!