This book was one of the best fantasy romances I've read in a long time. It's extremely creative - obviously the underworld has been done a thousand times, but Broadbent makes it feel fresh, thoughtful, and unpredictable. Her depictions of the levels between the mortal world and the underworld are so atmospheric and so imaginative, and she creates visuals you can really see in your head. Even more importantly, Mische and Asar are incredibly dynamic and layered characters. Mische wasn't that fully sketched out in the first duology of this series, and here we get so, so much of her story and her personality and her burdens and her trauma, and it is so rewarding. Mische and Asar's journey provide so many natural ways for them to confront their demons - the conceits of Body, Breath, Psyche, Secrets, and Soul is perfectly constructed for the ultimate not-forced character growth - and their chemistry is organic and grows steadily and beautifully. I am so beyond eager for the next book and can't believe I probably have to wait more than a year :( 

 

Of course, this book ends in a cliffhanger, but it feels like a real cliffhanger with real stakes that made so much sense for the story. It feels obvious for most of the book that Asar and Mische won't both survive, but I definitely didn't see coming how it happened. But it makes a lot of sense and feels so satisfying - Mische choosing to kill Atroxus is an amazing culmination of her journey to push back against his emotional abuse and the lies he's made her believe about herself, and it sets up an incredible arc for the next book. And Asar being at the White Pantheon feels right, too - we know very little about the gods, so I'm excited for them to be a bigger part of the next book, and Asar's unexplained connection with Alarus is very intriguing.