Third sequel of the world known fantasy series by Rebecca Yarros filled with magic, dragons and even more villains than before. Promising world building and plot twists will take us in the middle of a war for the continent; where almost everyone will be pushed to their limits.
More actions, more dragon species, more details of the continent’s history and more parts of the plot where nothings interesting was happening… Romantic souls could live up to their standards of a man completely in love. All this is being promised with this book and more.
The story starts precise where the second book of the series ended. The plot is quite fast evolving, we even get a bit of drama, fighting and some dead bodies. It kind of sucks that you survive a battle but then are murdered in the infirmary. But we must start strong. Violet as the main character is getting more and more plus points from my side. She uses all the things her father made her learn and she actually uses her brain. Thinks constructive and works with her friends. That is something a reader appreciates, you don’t meet with that often in other books. Violet grows as a personality from a young, frightened girl to one of the most powerful and strongest women in the continent’s history. She is a real power duo with Xaden, both strong, intelligent and natural leaders, not to mention their impressive dragons. Both capable to be independent and achieve many great thinks on their own, but as a couple there are without a doubt unstoppable. Besides the power duo, the writer knows exactly what her readers like: a man who worships and will do anything for his woman. The quote: „I will use Tyrrendor for your safety, not you for the safety of Tyrrendor” is something mainly the female readers appreciate. A male character burning down the whole world for his love. It is heroic, it is romantic, but when he says something like this for the tenth time, it is becoming cliché. At least for me. We get it Xaden, you would do anything for her, but you don’t have to mention how much you love her, how jealous and whipped you are in every third sentence that comes out of your mouth. This was bit much for me, to some point I missed his grumpy character from the first book.
What the author mastered is Xaden’s slow change from human to Veneni. His inner fight against his loss of control. Small continues leaks of his power made him more interesting and lovable for the female eye. Since his way how to regain his consciousness back was to think of Violet. Not to mention that he would never hurt her, even as Veneni. That’s how you show your endless love. But for the whole plot I can say that Xaden went bit in the background in this book. The story was more concentrating on Violet, Andarna and her friends. I dare to say, he was even more emotional compared to Fourth Wing and Iron Flame. Was it because we saw deeper into his personality or was it because of his change to Veneni? Hope, we receive more of his „screen time“ in the following two books. I missed his personality and input. Next worth mentioning is his relationship with his dragon, Sgaeyl. Finally, someone showed us, that it is not just all about the partner you love, but also about other family members, who would do anything for you and were there for you long before the beloved ones came around. His decision to save Sgaeyl was a nice touch to his character.
One relationship I would like to highlight is between Violet and her sister Mira. They loved, helped and supported each other not just in this book, but also in the previous ones. Again, we see that the partner is just one pillar in your life, even though it’s the biggest one, still family would do horrible and unimaginable things to save you. Both Xaden and Violet have strong pillars (their families), which have been holding them above the water from the beginning and just from the start of this series.
The book is very well written, and it is easy and fast to read. I appreciated mainly the parts where we learn about the history of the continent and the dragon species. Sometimes I found myself drawn into the history, when I was forgetting it is all made up and I am not talking with my friends about some long-lost history of our ancestors in the library and preparing ourselves for a test. I had the feeling, that I was the main character from the movie “The Libarian” . We even get some drama during the visit and meeting with Courtlyn. After a longer time of nothing interesting and dramatic happening, it was highly welcomed. The author showed she has some horror moments hidden for us, as for example the cougars were fed with human flesh. Sometimes you receive more drama and horror in older editions of young adult’s books, but basically books for twelve years old. I was shocked to see how easily and fast Andarna could break her bond with Violet, even without any remorse. Let’s blame it on puberty… One sentence to Sloan, she and her magic will be important, I am guessing she will be the key to the cure of Veneni. The ending and the well awaited climax of the story was uninteresting in my opinion. Sorry for that. Somehow tension and the final blow was not existing for me. Still, I cannot wait to read the following books in the series. Overall, it is an entertaining fantasy story filled with magic and dragons produced as a „filling out the plot“ book.