I don’t even know where to start with this review.
Cebelius is at their finest with this book. Unlike previous installments in the series, the tension is racked all the way up to 9. It’s a dark, deeply saddening story, with a cast of characters that you can’t help loving.
Cebelius is known in the genre for their lifelike characters, and this book is an excellent reason why. The motives are all unique, interesting, and aren’t handed out at the start. We’re still learning about them up until the very last page. Not just the MC, either. Everyone feels real, their motivations authentic, and their hopes and dreams even more so. And the villain… not going to say anything else about them but holy shit. Heartbreaking.
The plot is another strong suit of the story. Everything is moved along at a pretty rapid pace, but it doesn’t feel rushed or overwhelming. I found myself genuinely surprised at many of the developments throughout the story, even more so than I have been for the past books in the series. Cebelius does a fantastic job of subverting what the reader expects the story to be about in every book of theirs I’ve read, and it really shines in this one. The last few chapters alone left me giving up on guessing what happens next and just reading as fast as I could to see where everything was leading. All the while the author develops the overarching narrative. Slowly tying the previous books to this one, setting up future plot points, and leaving little easter eggs for more loyal readers to pick up on.
Speaking of the plot, a warning: as previous mentioned, this book is dark. It covers some heavy themes and there is a good bit of fighting, gore, and death. The series hasn’t exactly shied away from that so far, but this is a massive step up in this department. If that’s a big no-no for you, skip this one.
The one thing I will point out with this story is that I don’t think it should be read as a standalone novel. I appreciate that Cebelius has tried really hard to make each novel its own contained plot, but this one falls a bit short of that. I truly feel that reading this without reading any of the previous books in the series would be a major detriment to your enjoyment. There’s just too much that the audience is expected to know about the main antagonist and overall world for it to be a 100% standalone novel. I don’t dislike this, though. I feel that, for this story to be told as well as it was, it was a necessary sacrifice. I only include this as a warning for anyone who might be deciding to start with this book for some reason.
Overall, this story surprised me. I love seeing the world develop in bits and pieces with each book, and I look forward to the next one.