Just as the book was about to end, I started enjoying it. I made it through the first half by convincing myself that it just serves as a prelude to the fourth book. Boy, was I wrong. That ending was everything. I had goosebumps all over me. I love the way the author writes her antagonist. They are so unhinged that they frustrate me to the point where I have to keep my book down and verbally scream at them. I lack empathy, and I want them to die a gruesome death that is deserving of the awful things they have done. I should have been happy when Marcus died, which I was happy but I also wasn’t. 

Although I understand that it pushes you to turn the page, I didn't really enjoy how each chapter ended on a cliffhanger because, by the time I would return to a character, I've either forgotten about them or grown more concerned about another character. It's particularly the case when there are three different points of view. I love multiple povs, but I would have preferred to read a couple chapters from the same character's point of view back to back. 

 

Now for the characters,

I found Laia to be unlikable in this novel. Her story was the dullest of all. Her plot seemed boring because Helene and Elias were in the middle of so much action. Although I knew she couldn't do anything, She continued to cry for her people while taking no significant measures, which irritated me even more because I had admired her in the first book for being such a badass when she attempted to save Elias. I hate that I didn’t get to see more of that instead. Though I love how, in the end, she underwent a minor character development and finally evolved into a leader that Musa was begging her to be. 

Words cannot describe how my I love Helene. I could write paragraphs over paragraphs with just her praise and it won't be enough. Harper, you have a competition right here because I’m as much in love with her as you are. She is such a badass character like she comes in the same category as Jude Durate, and that’s saying something. I won't lie; I would much rather have her than Laia. Her story has so much nuance. All the suffering and humiliation she had endured as the only female student at the academy, as the Blood Shrike. Despite experiencing so much, one might assume that she would grow numb to pain, but she doesn't; instead, she fights until she can no more. Literally. In the end, she decided to ask for the Nightbringer’s help so that she could stop the enemy and her people could get a safe place and in return he made her go through the pain of taking off her mask. She is much stronger than she gives herself credit for. 

I'm not sure if Helene's story or Elias's is more depressing. The saddest part of Elias's story is that he wanted nothing more than to leave Blackcliff Academy and stop being an emotionless bastard whose job is to torment and bully the helpless in the name of serving the empire. However, when he finally leaves, he is forced to be that same person, only this time as a soul catcher. As if everything had come full circle, and its like he never really escaped his fate.