4.75 stars. 

I loved this book! For me this series is the perfect balance of plot and romance. Everything feels fleshed out and explained. My only tiny little gripe that the reason for knocking off 0.25 stars is that the magic system is still a little vague and confusing to me, but it's not so annoying that it took me out of the story at any point or prevented my enjoyment. 

I really enjoyed the twists that this book had and how it brought everything together. Without going into spoilers, there is something that's 'resolved' early on and I was like 'that felt too easy, why did we even need that whole storyline then' but I should have had faith because the last 20% brings it ALL together and you realise Ms Carissa Broadbent was 10 steps ahead of us the entire time. 

There was also one reveal that I did see coming, but it wasn't 'too obvious' in the slightest and still SO impactful. I felt so smart for picking it but oh lord was I hoping I was wrong. Gosh my heart was so broken. If you know you know. 

I love that Carissa Broadbent’s "villains" are SO good. They’re complex and flawed and you understand them. It’s almost hard at points to hate them fully because you get their motivations. They feel like three dimensional. My heart breaks for what some of them have suffered and even if I disagree with their actions, I can't help but feel some compassion for them. You *almost* want to root for them (you know, if it weren't for all the death and destruction). 

I’m jumping straight into the next one weeeeeeeeeeee