I was one of the few people who genuinely didn't know that this book existed until I saw it in the shop, so I didn't have any expectations for it before reading. On that note- if you're browsing through comments and reviews on the book in order to figure out whether or not you should read it, get off your device right now and just read the damn book.
IT IS NOT THE HUNGER GAMES. There will be no Katniss, Gale or Peeta. However, there are multiple references to different aspects of the trilogy which are obvious and not so obvious, and each made me feel like squealing like the inner fangirl I can sometimes be, with lots of jumping up and down.

This book is, to put it quite simply, about President Snow (Coryo to his cousin) before he became President Snow. Some people find it boring or slow, but I personally think it was well-written, not trying to skip over everyday things, and focusing extremely well on the finer details of Snow's personality, how it develops, and the different relationships which end up shaping him as a person.
I'm giving it 5 stars because unlike the majority of the books I've recently read, it doesn't feel rushed, and there are so many finer points to the story that I'm happy with the idea of rereading it without getting bored.

I'm not usually down for mystery books. They normally sit, gathering dust at the bottom of my 'to-read' pile, until a day in the middle of the summer holidays when I'm too bored to read anything else and happen to find a copy of the book in the public library. The copy is usually worn and filled with reviews on the front and back instead of a blurb and I read a few pages every few hours, my attention being grabbed by wasps surrounding my ice cream or a zombie apocalypse which waited until I started reading to begin.

These books (so far, fingers crossed for the third) are nothing like this. I love the characters and how they have developed, I love the writing, I love how various plots and solutions are presented throughout. If a zombie apocalypse was to have started while I was reading, I would have shown the zombies my fully packed calendar and suggested the same time next year.

Summary of this strangely written review; I love these books so far, can't wait to read the third one and highly recommend them to anyone who isn't put off by my five star rating.

Bad summary: Near perfect Bard tells the story of their life to someone who really wants to write about it. For some reason he was expelled from the University, a whole bunch of people want him dead, his love interest is MIA, and he has a hot fae student but neither of the two first books explain how or why. The writing is gorgeous though.

LOVED this book; as someone who plays an instrument, and also likes to sometimes read about a near-perfect character.
It's a bit of a shame however that I didn't research the trilogy before borrowing it from the school library. I've read this book and the second one so many times now it's unhealthy... at this point I want the third book to come with gold-lined pages and a signed five paged public apology from Patrick Rothfuss for taking his bloody time writing it. To quote my dad; 'that's alright mate, I'm just sitting here and waiting for my health'

3.5 stars; this was a good book but it was really slow paced in comparison to what I usually read and the switching timelines took a while to get my head around. The storyline picks up in pace in the last quarter though, and the way that this book finished makes me really excited for the next book.

TW (for all three books): Death, drug use (nonconsensual), murder, pedophilia (referenced), rape, sexual abuse, sex slavery, torture, violence, whipping, abuse, suicide, incest (referenced)

All the warnings. Because of a lot of the TWs in the first book I didn’t feel like I could accurately rate the book. There wasn’t too much of a storyline in the first bit and some scenes were a bit much but the story kicks off near the end and from then on I couldn’t stop reading.

I really really really liked this last book (I thought that Kanej was slow burn my goodness) and as a whole will definitely remember this trilogy but I’m fairly sure I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.

I’m going to need to go back through all of these books with sticky notes, a highlighter, a pencil, and a wall with photocopies from the book and red string.

This trilogy as a whole is so incredibly dense with information. The layout (I don’t know the number of times I was literally spinning the book to read something). The drawings. The posters. Everything. Was just *chef’s kiss*.

I will not be over the ending ever so if you need me I’m off to go and cry in bed because this incredible trilogy is over.