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3.5/5
Non-Fiction
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Rating: 5/5
Started: 1 January
Finished: 3 January
Summary:
True war is brewing. Keris Veturia has taken over the empire and has forced the Blood Shrike and the young Emperor into hiding. But Helene is determined to give her nephew his blood right and save the empire and all the people within it.
The Soul Catcher has finally given up his humanity—his love—in order to do his job. But when the doomed augur Cain brands the memories of Laia, Helene, and Keris into the Soul Catcher's mind, through his armor of unfeeling magic, he begins to understand that humanity might be necessary to win the war.
Laia wants Elias back. She wants the Scholar people freed. She wants her brother to stay safe. But she needs to kill the Nightbringer, and is willing to do so at any cost.
As magic and war converge, death and suffering will prevail, but stories and sacrifice for love hold a hope that means life after destruction is possible.
Thoughts:
This book is on another level compared to the rest of the series. Every sentence is art. Every action, whether successful or a mistake, has an air of urgency and forward momentum to it that makes even the worst actions so readable. More than that, though, this book is defined by relationships. Helene and Harper, Elias and Laia, Laia and Helene, the mother-child relationships, the Nightbringer and his wife. There is so much more life in the characters in this book. Helene is so much better in this book. She finally understands that Keris has a plan, and she needs to circumvent the trap rather than walking right into it. Her pain at all of the death around her kills me, her sweetness with her nephew is super adorable, even though I kind of would have found her being terrified by a child to be more believable. But it is her friendship with Laia that made me happiest. The moment where she starts to get mad at Laia for insulting her, before realizing that what Laia said was a genuine compliment, is the absolute best.
I smiled and laughed at the character's successes more and, to my surprise, I cried for the final fifty pages, again. The end is sad, but then again, the whole series is sad. It's the beauty and love and sacrifice within the suffering and the storm that are truly incredible. I cannot emphasize how much I love this. I wish Sabaa Tahir could understand how gorgeous her words are, and how much of an effect they have on me. There is so much power in her words. She is one of her Kehanni's, because her story is absolute magic. The final battle is so powerful and devastating, and the scenes of return to life after are so normal, and that contradiction makes them more treasured for it. Frankly, the domesticity of the very end of the book has (temporarily, at least) made me reconsider my dislike for the normal-marriage-and-kids situation. Elias and Laia make it so beautiful.
The themes of motherhood were super interesting, with Keris versus the Cook, but the theme of forgiveness felt more controversial for me. Specifically, when Laia forgave the Nightbringer. I understand that he was just and injured soul, but he hurt so many. So, so many. How many injured souls did he create in his search for vengeance? And was Hitler also probably a hurt boy as a child? Trauma and pain explain the causing of pain in others, but they do not excuse it, and so I think that Laia forgiving the Nightbringer, rather than just understanding him, was a little too much. But I don't want to take away from the feeling of reparation in the whole book, so I'll just say that it made me uneasy but was Sabaa Tahir's choice, and so is how the book goes.
I am sad that I will probably have to wait for a long time before being able to re-read the series, because it is so freaking incredible, but I feel so genuinely lucky to be able to witness this art that it is okay.
To finish, here are a few quotes that I adored. First, an amazing one:
"You are broken. But it is the broken things that are the sharpest. The deadliest. It is the broken things that are the most unexpected, and the most underestimated."
And finally, as is only fitting, the last paragraph:
"A thick layer of cloud rests atop the eastern horizon, and the sky pales, the deep orange glow of an ember breathed into life. High above, the stars whisper their goodbyes and fade into the depthless blue dome of the firmament."
Words:
Glaive (n) a European polearm, consisting of a single-edged blade on the end of a pole.
Arduous (adj) involving or requiring strenuous effort; difficult and tiring
Mien (n) a person's look or manner, especially one of a particular kind indicating their character or mood
Rancor (n) bitterness or resentfulness, especially when long-standing
Dissemblance (n) lack of resemblance
Inundated (v) overwhelm (someone) with things or people to deal with
Capitulate (v) cease to resist an opponent or an unwelcome demand; surrender
Coruscate (v) to give off or reflect light in bright beams or flashes; sparkle; to be brilliant or showy in technique or style
Verdure (n) the greenness of growing vegetation; vegetation itself.
Firmament (n) the vault or arch of the sky