Contains some mild-spoilers be warned!

I don’t even know how to process how this book made me feel properly. It completely pulled me in from the very beginning—the opening was gripping, intense, and set such a strong rhythm for the story. While I adored the journey overall, the pacing did stumble at times, but we’ll just forget about that.

That said… the action, the twists, the characters? I ate it all up. Fisher absolutely stole my heart AGAIN. His possessiveness, plus that moment of gentleness towards Saeris had me spiralling. He truly shone in this book, and I was unwell about it in the best way. I tandem read this with an Audiobook, and the narrator, Anthony Palmini, is outstanding. I’m screaming and throwing all the peppers around!

Saeris was great in this one, with clear growth and so much potential. Still, I can’t help but feel Kingfisher’s presence slightly overshadowed her slightly, but she really did have some solid character development in this book. She was capable and important in ways she wasn’t in the first book, but I feel more crafting attention was given to Kingfisher that you can really tell she’s lagging. Then again, this is really just nitpicking!

Let’s not forget the side characters, they were a delight, especially Tal, Carrion and Folly, all of whom added significant relevance to the angles of the story. I can see various tangent openings for a spin-off story for each of these characters, and I hope there will be. That said, I am a little annoyed that we didn’t really get a proper reunion between Saeris and Hayden – like what was that!

Now the romance… I’m screaming! Huge credit to Anthony Palmini and Stella Bloom in those romantic moments, and there are plenty! The chemistry between Kingfisher and Saeris was realm-shattering. Fisher’s filthy mouth, coupled with his tender words and devotion – it was timed perfectly. I think because of this element, I felt that Saeris’ dialogue lagged behind him. Do I still need to talk about the spice?

The book delivered another revelation, and then I looked at the time remaining… and cursed! WTF, why must you do this to us, Callie Hart? This series got me good, and I got it bad for “You know who” at the end.