3.5 stars.

This is a toughy. I love this series, but... This book. :( I found it hard to get through, and I stopped at page 563 and skimmed the end to give myself a rest. It could have benefited from a lot of editing. I likely would have enjoyed it more as audio.

Why so much Cela, Abel and Jianyu and yet no real plot? Is it just lead up for book four? They really needed more actual stuff to do in their POV (the only plot they had was interacting with Viola.. so that's not really worthy of their own chapters imo, they could have been in Viola's POVs). I JUST set the book down.. and I couldn't tell you what their plotline was. :( Which is a shame because they have so much potential.

Why a Jack POV at all? Hack all those. And who's the villian? Jack? Paulo? Nibsy? Thot? Sheshat? The Order? Everyone has a villian, it's tough to know where to place your attention.

There was a lot of filler that could have been chopped to help get us more invested in the story lines that mattered.

I loved seeing Harte meet his brother, and again in 1950, that was sweet.

I really don't mean to deter anyone from reading this series, I say all this to say: this book was a tough read due to pacing and length. Which is sad because I love these characters. I hope that doesn't turn anyone away from this great story.

I hope the next book turns it around!