i’ve been sitting on this bad boy for a couple of days because ive been tossing up whether i give this 3-stars or 4-stars, and honestly the fact im dying to continue the series and can’t get it out of my mind promotes it to a solid 4-stars. 

first off i gotta yap about the characters:

lan… my baby boy. my pookie pie. i already miss him so bad.

i gotta say i am super surprised fonda went for it and killed him off! i love when books have balls and actually have stakes that affect the main characters. i wish he lived a bit longer but his death made sense so im not mad at it from a writing perspective, im just sad as a reader who loved him 💔

shae was… a bit boring. i mean i loved her still but she kind of has no personality. she is a girlboss and i love her and if she is done dirty in this trilogy i will be swinging on someone. but i like the overall themes she exhibits in terms of overcoming misogyny in no peak, and the way she handles her revenge…. scrumptious. 

hilo was… not my favourite but written well. he had depth, motivations, a soft spot, peaks and valleys, he had it all. i found him dislikable tbh, unsure if that was the intention or i was supposed to grow to love him. either way i do think he was written well, i just wasn’t the biggest fan, but his inner dialogue & his relationship with wen was great.

as a reader i might’ve preferred if he died instead of lan, but as someone with a Brain i get why hilo survived. plus now he can have a redemption arc! i love lan but he was too “perfect” and clean in his leadership, whereas

hilo is messy so im excited to see where the story takes him. 

andy was a surprise to me. to begin with i found him a snooze fest, but his arc probably was one of the more interesting in this book. and hey gay people!!!! whooo gay people!!!! i really liked his ending as well, im super excited to see where it goes, but at times he did come off a bit flat. 

the plot itself was great. there felt like there were just enough losses to balance out the story where one clan didn’t feel too overpowered or that who would “win” the war didn’t seem clear cut. i’ll be honest and say a lot of the politics did fly over my head unless there was an explicit explanation, but that’s a personal issue. hopefully now that i have a better grip on the universe though the rest of the series is a smoother read for me. but who knows! we shall see. either way i am dying to see my baby grills shae and wen again <3

oh and obligatory fuck doru