I loved this third volume! But I swear, if this story gets any more intense, I might die from emotion overload. The action barely let up here, and when it did, we were immediately assaulted with delicious angst without a single moment of respite. For me, these books are impossible to put down. I foresee a great deal of suffering in my future, waiting for the fifth book (but that’s what I get for thinking this series was complete).

Flowridia’s character development over these three books has been simply spectacular. She continues to amaze me with her strength in the face of all that’s happened to her. I don’t think the naïve girl she’d been at the beginning of this epic journey would recognize the woman she was forced to become — but that was the price of getting her heart’s desire.

Though the cost of her return was extremely high — and poor Lara didn’t deserve such a fate — Ayla is finally back!!! New and improved, and more powerful than ever before, the better to tear all of Flowridia’s enemies to pieces…

I should also mention that I absolutely adore the new couple, Etolié and Khastra, even though their difficult situation breaks my heart. What can I say, I’m a sucker for tragic love, and these two are just lovely. Hope to see more of them in the next book. ( )

hum, idk i liked this one less than the first two. i think, generally, that was mostly because of spoiler shit, re: ayla and lara, so, spoilers! i honestly am not that into the idea of florwidia bringing back alya. like, i am ALL for complex characters and fucked up dynamics in my ficton, i really am. a character is a murderer? yep that can be morally complex and interesting. another character loves that murderer and needs to reconcile with it? also interesting!! but honestly, since we found out that ayla isn't just a murderer, but a gleeful murderer and torturerer of children, who likes to flay ppl alive for "experiments" i was honestly kinda out on her as the main character's love interest.

like, i GET that the themes of this series seems to be like, monsterosity and love and redemption? and like, how to become a monster or unbecome one, etc. but that isn't actually super clear in the narrative, at least to me. like, is the main theme of this story ACTUALLY flowridia's story about becoming a monster herself? or is it about the love between her and ayla? idk. i'mmmm pretty mad about the lara of it all and lara's death. i liked her a lot since she was first introduced as a character and i'm frankly, annoyed by her death and even more so, how it actually happened. i hated the whole lead up to flowridia deciding whether or not to kill her, i LIKED the complexity of it at lot! don't get me wrong, but i was hoping that it would lead to flowridia actually falling for her and deciding not to bring ayla back after all instead. but in the end, making flowra not even be the one to choose to kill lara, killing her senselessly after lara basically throws herself at the biggest monster to save florwa, AFTER she already admitted to her shittiness, really rubbed me the wrong way. if you're gonna write a story about a girl becoming a monster, at least own it. make her BE the monster.

i think me not buying into flowra and ayla's love story might be the main disconect, for me. i get it, it's kinda like a hades/persephone dynamic (usually, a theme i love!!) but i think in the earlier stages of them falling in love in the first book, it... didn't quite do it enough for me to buy into it, two books later. i say all of this knowing FULL WELL that i will be reading the next books in the series, because i do like this world and i DO love stories about monster girls, and i absolutely want to know what happens and like the characters so i don't want this to feel entierly negative, i liked a lot of things about it, unfortunetly, the main bag isn't quite working for me, but, who knows, maybe that will change with the next book.

(also, just because i'm very confused, and read the first sea and stars book before reading these ones, which series is first in the timeline of the world?? because in those books, Khastra works and lives in Solvira, and in these they mention that happening previously for her. so, do they come before these ones? do these ones come first? i've googled and i cannot find that answer anywhere). ( )