Just as good as it was when I was nine.

This trilogy is everything.

Dark Triumph picks up where Grave Mercy left off, but this time the story is in the capable hands of Sybella. Unlike Ismae, Sybella doesn't waste time telling you about the court intrigue or worrying what people think of her: instead, she throws incest, murder, rape, and gut-wrenching terror at you until you find yourself hoping that she lives, let alone triumphs (but the title of the book can probably tell you whether she does). LaFevers does an amazing job building up a world where people still believe in old gods and takes it one step further by making them real. Would recommend for someone looking for a tough heroine fighting for her family and a country at war.

Ismae is what I want my historical ladies to be: true to the time period, but still tough and capable. She spends most of her life in the company of solely women (albeit strong, determined, assassin nun women) and this upbringing informs her instincts to kill rather than hold steady, and add weight and tension to her growing romance with a guy who is surprisingly realistically likable. This book is fascinating in its discussion of historical intrigue (and had me leaping to Wikipedia to look up the true events of Brittany in the 1300s) and I loved the interplay between the old gods and the new and how Christianity was slowly turning pagan gods into saints. Would recommend to anyone looking for a unique, mesmerizing story of strong women and court intrigue and historically based fiction.