I have been waiting on this one and was excited to dive back into this world. I didn’t reread the series before this, but Tracy Deonn does a good job of both getting straight back into it and grounding the reader just enough to trigger their memories and/or remind them of the major items they need to remember. Before I dive too much further, one more point – I assumed this series was going to be a trilogy and that this would be the final book. It is most definitely not – I’m not sure if the plan is 4 books or 5 or a completely different number but this isn’t the last of Bree and her two side kicks, Nick and Selwyn.
While I am usually not a huge fan of a partial amnesia plotline (hello season 3 of Alias), Deonn manages to make it work by finding a middle ground – the novel shows Bree making a deal to help her train her powers and get past a block, and the result is that she loses parts of her memory- she still has knowledge of the events but the people are a blur. Now, instead of feeling intense guilt or other emotions when she tries to access her power and turning it off, she can train, unhampered by emotion.
After this, the novel spends about decent amount of time with other perspectives – I really enjoyed the new POVs. Bree has spent so much time lately questioning herself and beating herself up over her choices, it was great to see how others viewed her and the hole she left behind. Primarily, these alternate points of view are William (which is how we also see a bit of what Nick is up to) and Mariah but there are also chapters from Sel’s mom with updates on her progress or lack thereof in helping Sel heal and find his balance after the events of the previous novels.
When the novel returns to Bree’s perspective, it is months since she made the bargain and she has made great progress in her training and abilities. Additionally, she is seeing a different perspective on the demons, adding more depth to the overall world building. Based on the various clues the characters have and quests they find themselves on, several paths end up converging at a mysterious auction around the midpoint, and Bree has to face people who know her but that she doesn’t recognize.
This novel is a little bit light on Sel but it really did make me appreciate Nick; we also find out a bit more about how Lancelot’s power manifests. But more important than any boys, it was great seeing how loved and appreciated Bree was by everyone around her as told from their perspectives, and to see Bree start reaching more of her potential with her powers. We have already learned about the corruption at the heart of the Order and this novel also let us see more of the demonic world and order. I don’t think we are getting a complete flip here of good and bad but there is room for complexity and ambiguity.
