It's 1am, I stayed up to finish this because I absolutely could not put it down, and that was the best possible decision because I am so overwhelmed with how fantastic this book was!

There is just so much to comment on. V. E. Schwab does not pull her punches and within the first few pages I was an emotional wreck. The characters somehow got better, the world building is still incredible, and I'm so glad this was so long because I wouldn't have settled for anything else. All my ships sailed, there were enough character deaths for the threat to be very, very real, but never so many that it became unnecessary.

LOWDOWN:
Kell: There are still so many unanswered questions that I really want to know the answer to about Kell, and I'd totally be down with more books *throws everything I own at V. E. Schwab in payment*. As a character he never disappoints, he's truly wonderful. The complex relationship between him and Holland really made this book, and I can't really think of a good comparison. Brilliantly done!

Lila: Where do I start?! I love that her obsession with her knives continued and that she never lost her Grey London thief roots throughout it all, but still grew enormously as a character.

Rhy: SPEAKING OF CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT he's come so far since the first book, and it would be interesting to know how much V. E. Schwab had planned out from the start. His story-arc in this book was incredibly moving and powerful, and he deserved so much better. His strength is pretty incredible and utterly believable, which is the best combination.

Alucard: I WILL HOLD HIM CLOSE AND PROTECT HIM FROM ALL HARM FOR THE REST OF TIME. In book 2, when we were introduced to this cocky pirate captain, I had no idea that this is where his story would end. At the end of the last book we saw hints of his more tender side, and within the first few pages of this one my heart was going out to him.

Anoshe.

Make that a 4.5 stars...

I wasn't blown away in the way that I'd hoped but this was still absolutely fantastic. The characters are brilliant, and the concept was awesome. It's one I'll definitely be thinking about for a long time!

This was an absolutely fantastic addition to the vampire genre. What made it so brilliant was that it wasn't necessarily about vampires; it was about what happens to humans who are made immortal, given the power to take life, and expected to use it. It was fantastically dark and often quite twisted but never in a way that felt forced or unnecessary. In many ways I felt that Anne Rice was building on the themes that are alluded to in Gothic classics such as Carmilla or Dracula; namely, the use of vampires as a way to explore 'sexual deviancy'. In that way, it is very much a product of its time; much more explicit and its intentions in its implications than the books written a century earlier, but with somewhat outdated attitudes towards homosexuality. From a queer studies perspective, it's very interesting to look at the attitudes in this era. The time between Stonewall and the HIV crisis of the 1980s is a critical and fascinating one, so it's interesting - if at times demoralising - to read something which keeps these themes mostly as prominent undertones.