The Spirit War by Rachel Aaron

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Strong Language


 
Eli Monpress is vain. He's cocky. And he's a thief.
But he's a thief who has just seen his bounty topped and he's not happy about it. The bounty topper, as it turns out, is his best friend, bodyguard, and master swordsman, Josef. Who has been keeping secrets from Eli.

Meanwhile the Spirit Court has been usurped by the Council of Thrones and someone calling herself the Immortal Empress is staging a massive invasion. But it's not just politics --- the Immortal Empress has a specific target in mind: Eli Monpress, the greatest thief in the world.

I read the first three book in this series a few years ago and liked them a lot, but I got busy reading other things and never finished it. I'm happy that I finally got back to this series and with the fourth book read, I only have one left.

Previous books focused on Eli, Miranda, and Nico. This one focused on Josef. I enjoyed reading his back story, finding out who he really was, and how he obtained the sword. I would say that was the most enjoyable part of this book. Other characters were sparse, Miranda became slightly annoying, there wasn't enough magic used, and the series as a whole has taken a decidedly darker turn, with the ending feeling a little depressing to me. The previous book had some darker tones to it but they were balanced out pretty well with the lighter parts. This book was missing a lot of that light-heartedness. I definitely preferred the light-hearted tone to the previous books over this one.

All that being said though, I didn't dislike this one. Like I said, I enjoyed reading Josef's back story and that alone made this book worth reading. Because this book ends on a big cliffhanger I'm definitely anxious to get started on the last book in the series.