“I have learned there is one thing a person never tires of, no matter how long they live. And that is being in love. All else is ash and ember.”

I'm pretending this trilogy isn't completed until further notice 😌

This was lovely. Just as cinematic as its predecessors, with the added bonus of throwing the reader headfirst into the world of fae. Being back with the characters genuinely felt like being among friends again. Emily and Wendell's individual character arcs (as well as their relationship) are top tier and genuinely raise the bar for all other series. (This is quite a bit of character development from all parties, as my review of book 1 specifies that I didn't like their relationship lol.)

I will say... this might just be a me thing, but I felt like the pacing was pretty off in this book? Like too many things were happening at once for any of them to get the proper focus, which just meant that everything felt very stationary, somehow. There were a few times I had to force myself to focus because my mind kept wandering from the story.

But overall, this was a satisfying, beautiful conclusion to the trilogy. Some of the lines in here were so beautiful I know they'll stay with me for quite awhile. If you haven't read this series yet and enjoy slow-paced, academic fantasies, I would recommend it - even though I think book 1 is incredibly flawed. It truly only gets better from there.