It’s a testament to how enthralling each separate point of view is that I was completely immersed in Gabriel’s first part of the book with his testament of events following the devastation at the end of the previous book when so many details were left a mystery to the reader.
With the big reveal at the very end of Empire of the Damned, I came into this book desperately needing answers on it, and yet as soon as I started Gabriel’s version of events which took the story entirely away from said answers, I completely forgot about that need and was so immersed into the story that I forgot all about the jaw dropping moment and the answers I had desperately been craving previously. Jay Kristoff is a master of making you forget what had you completely in disbelief as he enthralls you with an entirely different part of a story until you’re irrevocably sucked into a whole new side of the story before you even realize it and certainly before you get those necessary answers.
An unexpected bonus to this last book in the trilogy was getting the opportunity to hear more about Celene’s story. Beyond being Gabriel’s sister who was turned young and the very evident strife between the two siblings, she has been a bit of an enigma with her mission to see the Grail succeed being basically all that’s known of her. As a character I’ve not known how to feel about throughout the series, it was really insightful to finally get more of her story from her own perspective beyond just her time with the Grail. Her backstory made me truly feel for her more and feel conflicted on my own feelings for her as a character because you get to see her more human moments from her past, and it’s tough to only see her as the backstabbing traitor she has been to Gabriel at times. The conflict this made me feel on her character is the perfect example of how phenomenally written the characters of these books are, that they still manage to make me feel and blindside me with these feelings even three books in when I thought I already had everyone’s measure.
Sadly, once again, no horse is safe in this book. I don’t know what horses did to Jay Kristoff in the past, but there clearly must be some trauma as their survival rates in this trilogy are not it. RIP all Empire of the Vampire series horses.
This book is emotional. It wrings the emotions from the reader at every turn, both when expected, and in shocking moments that leave one staring at the page in utter disbelief. I felt such a wide range of emotions from one chapter to the next, from heartbreak to joy and through all the feelings in between. This book still managed to do so much to me, even after two books of sheer devastation at every turn and I can hardly manage to explain my feelings on it. The fact that I can feel so strong about characters despite knowing that no one is safe and the short time some of them are even in the story is wild. I’m always taken by surprise by these characters when I realize just how much they’ve managed to burrow their way into my heart and the gamut of emotions caused by the horrors they must all endure, even with the bright moments in between however fleeting.
Then there’s the fact that this book is so hard to put down. Just when I would be approaching the end of a chapter or a part of the book and think I’m well set to pause my reading for a time, the entire story would turn on its head with a twist so savage, or just a break in the story so impossible to stop, that I would have no choice but to keep going because there was no way I could not continue on for some kind of clarify or answers. Jay Kristoff is so masterful in the way he makes the a book impossible for the reader to put down until reaching the very last page because the hooks just keep on hooking.
I could wax poetic about this book and series for the rest of time because it is an absolute masterpiece of writing and I have been enthralled by it from day one but alas, I must stop at some point. So to wind things up, I’ll say it was a bittersweet, tearjerker of an ending and I was so caught up in the story from the first page that it was difficult not to blast through it. It is a must read and I highly recommend both this finale, and the series in general and I’m both satisfied with the clarity the ending has brought, and torn up by the knowledge that it’s now all over. Absolutely Jay Kristoff’s best series yet.
