Jess’s Reviews > Mirrored Heavens > Status Update

—I think some of the character journeys were great. But the final actions + the resolutions didn’t make sense or feel fleshed out

—even matter anyway. All this set up for her to fight Balam, & she didn’t even do it at the end????????? On that note, I feel like Balam had little to no interaction with our protagonists, which disserviced him as an antagonist. I did find his sections interesting, but the conflict between him & our protagonists felt out of place, incomplete, & like “why should I care? They don’t even know each other.”—

Ok so. Yes I liked this. I’m a Naranpa stan, however. We can’t see her get out of the coma? Her + Iktan’s happily ever after? I liked them bc they were the older, more mature characters. But also… she didn’t do much in this book. Outside of her relationship with Iktan (which I enjoyed) she didn’t drive the plot or contribute to the final action. She set Tova on fire… for some reason. That didn’t—

So Xiala & Serapio are reunited, together again for the first time since… the first book… it’s the last 100 pages of the third in the trilogy. I LOVE the writing & world building. These two characters in particular I just don’t care for much 😭 Naranpa & Iktan? Yes. Okoa? Yes! Hell, I’ve even been more curious about Balam’s arc

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So I’m supposed to sympathize with Serapio, who manipulates, kills, & physically assaults innocents? Okkkk

—both traumatized & that was their first proper romantic connection. But still? It’s been like, what, over a year? Since their month together? Where they were holding each other at arm’s length? Not to mention, I don’t really like Serapio as a character — I think he’s meant to be complex, but I personally can’t wrap my mind around it.

I love Roanhorse’s writing style & enjoy both character driven & plot based books (as well as books with a healthy dosage of both). However, this is a more character driven trilogy — & some of the characters have lost me. Xiala’s side plot feels almost irrelevant; I’m not that interested. The only thing tying her to the main plot is Serapio — a man she knew for a month… like sure, they’re—

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Get his ass Iktan 😾😼