RAHHHH!!!! I think this was my fav of the series so far? I stayed up til 1am to finish it and just about threw the book across the room multiple times (positive)

reading those last 50 or so pages was actually one of the most painful experiences of my whole life. but i don’t remember that happening the first time i read it, so i’m pretty sure it’s just because i knew what was coming. GOD!!!!! i cant believe they’d do this to me. but other than that (which was more my fault than the books, if i hadn’t have known i’d have been gripped the entire time) i ADORED this book!!! i am so easily pleased and this book is yet another victim of this. 

the plot really developed in this one, and i loved seeing paige and arcturus’ relationship grow and prosper. i also loved how the author approached paige’s trauma - it wasn’t something that was just dealt with in one scene and then she was magically fine, it constantly haunted her and followed her around. we got to see how is affected her, and how she coped with it; what it moulded her into. i found her vulnerable moments so touching, and seeing how the people around her helped her through them was lovely too. 

meeting the french syndicate was also fun, and i enjoyed how much character it had. how even though both underworlds are a product of the same overlords, they each have a charm to them that represents the city they are formed it. i even came to enjoy paige working with the domino programme, although i am curious as to what cordier’s role is in all this,, very suspicious. ducos was almost motherly, and i feel paige needed that very badly. she has had pretty much no maternal figures in her life, apart from maria but she isn’t her at the moment. 

the language was nothing special, but it also wasn’t clumsy and didn’t distract from the book. i feel the heart of this series are the characters, and what they are fighting for. the representation in this book is wonderful too. so many different identities and it really brings so much life to everything. the relationships are all so complex and well thought out - no character ever does anything random, and if they do there is a very good reason for it. this maybe sounds weird, but i also appreciate the cruelty in these books. the author doesn’t shy away from it, and it makes us want two things. we want the characters to succeed and destroy their oppressors even more; it makes us root for them violently. but it also reminds us of the kind of things that could exist in the world, the hardships people go through, and that we have the capability to survive it. idk maybe that’s too much thinking. 

anyways, yeah these books are great. the world as a whole isn’t too complex, but i feel that makes sense, as our character is stuck in one place with no way out, no way to experience and know about the outer world. so there’s no way for the reader to know anything about it. it feels like a little bubble that this is happening inside, which is what it feels like for our characters too. i’m very excited to see what the next books brings, this being the first one i’m not rereading!!!