Enjoyed it from beginning to end! Jaren is so swoon-worthy and I loved that Kiva's character wasn't this perfect, unrealistic person. I kept expecting her to

suddenly discover she has powers

, but luckily she wasn't turned into an invincible Mary Sue. The ending blew my mind, but honestly, I should have seen it coming, especially because I did suspect that

Kiva would turn out to have healer magic.

The only thing I would have liked was more information about the elemental powers - how they work, what they do, etc. An explanation about why

a Corentine would be asked to complete the Trial by Ordeal since they have healer magic, not elemental magic, would have been nice as well.

That would have brought it up to 5 stars for me. 

I was so thrilled to see that The Silence of the Girls had a sequel because I loved it so much. I'm not sure about this one, though. The writing felt very different and I don't know if it's because it is or because it wasn't the right book for me to read at this moment.

I'm just conflicted about this one. I wanted to know more about the women, but I felt like it was still rather focused on men. I kept waiting for something to happen, but it felt like everything was dragging. I feel bad even writing this review because there's no doubt that Pat Barker is an amazing writer, but there's no denying how I felt while reading. 

Difficult read because of the subject matter. If reading about injustice and abuse towards other people makes you angry, be prepared to be enraged. I genuinely wish everyone would read this so they would have more compassion towards child celebs because what goes on behind the scenes is atrocious and nobody deserves that, least of all children who have no say in the matter.