Raised to be weapons in their mother’s arsenals, princesses Beatrice and Daphne have united forces and turned against her. But to defeat her once and for all, they must not only convince their allies but the people themselves that they have what it takes.
This is the action-packed conclusion to the Castle in Their Bones series, which follows a trio of princess sisters who, after parting to wed into – and destabilize – three neighboring countries, reevaluate those goals and decide to work against their mother instead. After plenty of budding friendship and romances and discoveries about magic and unexpected deaths and lots of politicking and scheming, we’ve finally reached the end.
As you can guess from that list, there’s a lot of elements to juggle and reconcile. I thought the author did a decent job of managing everything, even if we get a handful of thus-far unmentioned characters and plot elements to make it go smooth. Each of the separate strands related to each kingdom were wrapped up in satisfying ways without making them too easy or neat, especially as there’s still plenty of work to be done in some cases especially.
I also liked how the author chose to wrap up the arcs of Daphne, Beatriz, and Violie, as well as the supporting characters. She does not always go for the most obvious solution, but ones that in hindsight make better sense. You can imagine their lives going on, and how they’ll get to the business of running the new world they’ve set into motion. And, considering how we started off the series, I’m glad we got to see one certain character one more time too.