Date: 2023/05/27-2023/05/27
Genre: Fantasy, Romance

Rating: ★★★★.

Spice rating: —

Age rating (I think): 15+

Publication date: 2023/06/06

TIGGER WARNINGS: death, language, death of a child (mentioned ), blood

· Fairies and mortals

· Various magical creatures

· Fast-paced

· Unique world structure

· Betrayals & secrets

· Past present

· Morally gray characters

· Good ending

· Tragic & enjoyable

· Action

· Damsel in distress

· No one is who they seem

· Multiple POVs

· Intrigues & power plays

· Plot-lead

· Emotional & dark

PRELIMINARY:

At this moment I finished the second book and honestly I'm trying to recover from it. I don't really know what to say, but I know that I expected something different, something very different. I can't decide at the moment whether this is good or bad.

I'm trying to figure out what to do with myself, but the truth is, I'm so confused I can't even say my name right now.

It was a completely different line after the first book, not only because we got new characters, but because now we got to go on stage and see the whole game.

Zeyna remained one of my favorites, but Asherian, for whom I'm totally in love (despite everything he's done, I think he has a heart), has also been added to the list.

ATTENTION SPOILER (if you haven't read the book, scroll down at your own risk)

Zeyna, I honestly don't know what to do with her. She's such a complex character that I still can't really define where or who she wants to belong to. But be that as it may, she has carried too much weight and my heart bleeds for her, she deserves rest and happiness so much. If she doesn't get these things I will rebel for her and because of her. She went from a human to a champion, then from a champion to a monster and then to a lover, but her heart remained in place all the time and this is something that we can learn a lot from.

I have even more mixed feelings about Daemos than I do about Zeyna, I hate, love, support and despise him at the same time. In short, it's quite complicated, more complicated than in the previous book. Everyone saw him as a monster and in the end he really became one, but I understand why he did it and I appreciate that he tried so hard to break free from the bonds of slavery. He deserve life, he deserve all the happiness of life.

Cassia, well, I've already expressed my opinion about her, but I want her to know that I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for what happened. She may have been terrible, she may have had her faults, but at the end of the day she did everything she could to protect her court and her daughter. Her presence has been so natural until now that it almost hurts to miss her, I'm so used to her that it's strange to continue all this without her. She was a dragon, but sometimes even they are touched by fire. It touched her too.

Margaret has changed a lot and in both positive and negative ways, while Zeyna is starting to get out of the brand of fate, she is slipping into it in a way that I honestly understand. I know she was motivated by revenge and needed the destruction to realize that it doesn't always bring peace, not to her, but even then she shouldn't have let it get this far. Nevertheless, I love her with all my heart, perhaps more than anyone else, because she had to grow up too quickly and learn too quickly what others spend years practicing. Anyway, I'm incredibly curious about her fate, since she became a queen.

Asherian, well he is a dream and a nightmare at the same time, light and darkness itself. And undeniably one of my favorites. I wouldn't call him evil, because he's not, he never was, but the fact is that he did many things that questioned his moral purity. But I still understand, I understand him, because outcast characters hold a special place in my heart. They hate him for something he didn't do, he is ostracized for something he never had a say in. No matter what anyone says, but in my opinion he deserves redemption and happiness, at the end of the day he is just a soul who needs to be saved from either the world or himself.

Gair was something else entirely in this book, a monster, a broken leader, a vanquished fairy. I don't completely think that he is corrupt to the core, but the fact is that he masterfully mixes the threads of fate and even if he carried out his plan for a short time, which is why, let's admit, he is a rare figure.

Fairwyn & Bram simply added to the story but also taking away from it. Basically, I understand Bram's motivation since he was betrayed, but since then centuries, if not millennia, it was no longer about revenge for him, not always, rather just as proof of what he can do because what they did to him. And Fairwyn (or the Mother) honestly tried to improve the situation and I feel that even though so much time has passed, full of scars and so many betrayals, they still loved each other very deeply inside.

I'm in huge trouble with this because my heart has shifted towards Asherian & Zeyna and I don't really see Deamos & Zeyna anymore. Okay, he's a two-legged red flag, but my god, everyone has flaws. I've always been rooting for them at the end of the first book, but even more now, so I'm sad that it hasn't worked out for them yet (I know the problem is with me, I always fall in love with the wrong character). Despite this (along with my guilty soul) I still love Deamos and Zeyna, because they both got from the same poison and both carry the same traumas. I can't wait to find out what happened to them.

The plot was a bit confusing for me this time (especially towards the end), but it's not impossible to follow. But the pace was just right, we moved at the right pace all the way through to ensure the right excitement.

I think the wording was even better than the previous one, somehow I liked it better.

I liked that the past and present were mixed, which helped me understand the bigger picture and made the book even more enjoyable. I was hungry for the past and I got what I expected, in short, I loved it.

In my opinion, the ending was a fitting conclusion to the second book, but I have so many questions that it's unbelievable, I can't wait to read the third part and get answers to them.