This actually reminded me a lot of the ending to Throne of Glass; I had similar issues with it. But ultimately, this was a pretty good finish to the series. I definitely didn’t like it as much as I liked the second book. It was much messier, structurally. She just really isn’t great in my opinion at writing that end of series final battle book. She relies pretty heavily on deus ex machinas, and a lot of the intimate character growth we got last book was put on the backburner in favor of battles and dramatic meet-ups and reunions (and a lot of unsexy sex scenes).
But mostly I did like it! I was very invested in what would happen to all of Feyre’s family, and adding Nesta and Elain to the mix gave it an extra oomph. Nesta is a piece of work. I also really liked Lucien coming over to the other side and seeing what it was really like. I wish there had been a bit more of a resolution with Tamlin, though. He just sort of lets her go in the end, but we never get the sense that he really understands why she left him. I was also surprised that Maas actually had some queer people in here! This book wasn’t nearly as heterosexually lobster-like as the ending to Throne of Glass turned out to be. And I know that there are more books planned with non-Feyre POV characters, but not everyone was even in a couple at the end here. And there was a thing at the end that in retrospect brings the series pleasingly full circle.
Book two is definitely the strongest of this series, but this was still worth reading. And I am excited to see what happens to Lucien, Mor, and Cassian in particular in the future. Oh, and Azriel. Poor Azriel.
