*Spoiler warning. This review and book description contain spoilers for the previous books in the series.
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Strong language; Rape (it was tastefully done without any graphic details, but still hard to read)
Be bright but do not burn. Embrace the darkness but do not live in the shadows.
The
secrets of Kingfall's mage prison, Lockspell, have been buried for far
too long. When mages Quill and Rondo are sentenced to a lifetime of
hallucinations in Lockspell, only their mettle, desire for justice, and a
chance encounter can help them escape. But what they discover in doing
so may leave them wishing they'd stayed.
In the north, King
Jarrod Gaard faces an unexpected threat from the mages at Aeromand.
Meanwhile, his counterpart in Solarii, Queen Rose Ontarii, must combat
an even graver danger--one living within the bounds of her palace. To
the east, Prince Sampson must adapt to the realities of losing his
shadowblade and returning to the darkness, while his lifelong guardian,
Roman, seeks to destroy the blade before it can destroy his ward. On the
Lost Plains, Grym fights to maintain unity amongst the Grizari's
Scattered Tribes as war brews with Avadon.
To the south,
Dragonmaster Dane is reunited with someone from his past, someone from
his present, and someone from his future, each of whom may shed light on
the shadows that have clouded his mind ever since his bonding day.
Unbeknownst to Dane, his bondmate, Dragonmistress Peony launches a
rebellion to retake the dragon throne and tear down the dragon-human
crossbreeds responsible for the destruction of Chrysallis. Finally, Ando
seeks a new life for him and his men only to crash headlong into his
worst enemy yet. Lurking in the shadows are the Thousands and their
Unforgiven overseers. If the creatures that once plagued Kingfall find
the light, none are likely to survive.
It took me a while to get through this book. Not because I disliked it, but because it's over 1000 pages. Going into this, there were some things I was really hoping would happen. Some of them did, but not all of them, and I have to say that I was a little disappointed in the direction things went with Peony and Dane. Minor spoiler here- Mainly, I like them together and I wanted to keep seeing them together, with him being a support for her in her responsibilities with the godblade, but that's not exactly how things went. That's probably more than I should say, but anyway, I was a little disappointed with how that story line is going.
There is also a rape that happens in this book that I was dreading. The author is kind enough to warn us ahead of time, and he even leaves out a lot of details that could have been triggering for some people, so it wasn't as bad as I feared it would be. But I'm not sure knowing it was coming ahead of time was helpful. I feel like I just dreaded it until it finally happened. I knew who it was going to happen to though, because I looked ahead to see who that chapter was about, so that helped a bit. Overall, I'm not a fan of reading those types of things, and I was happy when it was over, and I was able to relax and read the rest of the book.
As usual, I enjoyed reading the chapters about Ando and Peony the most. Ando's chapters are darker, with everything he has been through, but I love his character. I think Peony and Daneus, the dragon have kept me reading this series more than anything. They keep the story from going too dark, at least so far, and I hope it stays that way. They're like a breath of fresh air in a dark world. That's something I need when I'm reading a series like this. If it gets too dark, I can't handle it.
“Peony had been filled with so many feelings then, but at the core
of all of them was hope. Hope for a better, more fulfilling life, a
life full of purpose and opportunity.”
Some of the other characters I like a lot were absent in this book, but we are supposed to get back to them in the next one, so I'm looking forward to that. There were also some interesting revelations concerning the mages, but I have to say, they are not my favorite part of the story.
I'm still sticking with this series, and enjoying it for the most part, but it's a heavy read that I can only do between other reads that are lighter. I'll probably get to the next book in two or three months.
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