Read my reviews of the previous books set in this series/world:
Diviner’s Game series | Shattered Pawns series
Some books are easy to review, no matter the genre. These things happened, the characters were like this, and this is how I felt about it. Some books, on the other hand, are the culmination of half a dozen previous works and involve multiple storylines, nonlinear storytelling, and multi-dimensional characters. And while I loved pretty much every bit of this book, including the difficult parts, I feel like it’s cheating to just stick a Kermit flail GIF here and call it done.
Honestly, don’t try reading this book without reading the main novels set in this world first, starting with the Diviner’s Game trilogy. I was already impressed by how Cody overlaps multiple events while always revealing new surprises, and this epic finale kicks everything up a notch. I was satisfied by the endings for each character involved, and every hero more than deserved the happily ever after they finally got. Especially Den and Slean, who might have been the original instigators of everything that went down, but never quite turn into the villains they think they are. A difference exists between villainy and pragmatism, and I understood their desire to lean into the former to deal with the emotional impacts of the latter.
Slean was more of a new character here for all of us, but I’m fascinated by how Den’s character develops from what we see of him from Monet’s manipulated perspective and again from how we experience his convoluted and difficult past. If Qis was my favorite character before, Den more than supersedes him. After all, Den is basically a TARDIS, and I do collect them.
Now that I have the full story, I can’t wait to go back to the very beginning in a few months and read everything all over again. Cody may have made up everything as she went along, but it’s a fascinating way to experience the storytelling process of a truly creative mind. Meanwhile, I can’t wait to dive back into one of the other worlds by this author I’ve also grown to love.
Disclaimer: I received a digital review copy of this book from the author.