The world building continued to draw me in and have me so enthralled as I love an in depth, well thought out world with an intriguing magic system. With Tessa coming into her powers in this book the magic system was truly able to shine and add more information to the reader.
Once again the world building truly shown in this book and was one of my favourite parts, and I loved even more the crossover from her other series with familiar characters to anyone who has read it making an appearance and managing to shine. I loved even the connection between worlds taking place here and am excited for more.
The characters themselves continue to present a bit of a conundrum. I both loved and at times disliked them and it’s so difficult not to feel torn because of the difficult subject matter of the series. As I’ve previously stated, this is a dark series. This means there is going to be some dark as hell things taking place and there’s most definitely morally grey and questionable happenings. I both love Theon and question his motivations at all times. He clearly cares for Tessa, and yet he is keeping her against her will and that’s hard to reconcile. He also sees no wrong in his actions because everyone else does it which makes him hard to sympathize with at times. Tessa on the other hand can be very tiresome as a character, as much as it’s understandable for her to fight back against her circumstances, at times she does it in a manner that makes her so frustrating and not seem much better than her captors. She’s not very likable a lot of the time, and yet I don’t fault her entirely for it because of her position in society and constantly being downtrodden. And yet I also think at times there are better ways, and she also tends to make things more difficult for herself. And then there’s Luka who I just completely love and have no notes for. Axel and Kat also become standout characters in this book and I loved their scenes.
At times the book drags, but for the most part this was another great entry in the series and leaves the reader wanting more, both answering questions and providing more. I’m looking forward to the next!