Bryce Quinlan, half-human and half-Fae, has been revealed to be Starborn, and life has changed completely with it. But everything is not smooth sailing for her and Hunt after the dangers of the last book, for they have made powerful enemies, and their unbalanced world has dangerous secrets.
After how much I enjoyed the last book I am a little disappointed. But first the good. The writing remains enthralling, the world-building exciting, and some of the twists and turns made me gasp aloud – while others made me feel very clever for guessing them. I enjoyed how the relationships between Bryce, Hunt, and her friends and family continued to strengthen, adding depth to the story. I also enjoyed the way the mystery and plot expanded in this book, and appreciated the new characters that were introduced to us.
However, I also found the plot somewhat slow. Not aimless certainly – Maas knew where she was going – but it takes a long time for the plot to really ramp up in the way that it did in the last book. I missed those moments of in-you-face emotional gut-punches that we had in the last book. Sometimes characters (especially Tharion!) did rather foolish things, which got to be a bit grating after how clever I had seen them all be before. I think these were mainly just growing pains as the focus of the book broadened, so I’ll not hold it against the book overly much.
Now, that ending! The revelations about the Asteri were suitably momentous and gut-churning, but I’m curious how the things that happened in the last few pages will work out. Will those characters be a big part of the next book? At least there is more Maas out there that I evidently need to read anyway to stave off the withdrawal from Crescent City! But I am still hungrily awaiting the next book.
