I have so much to say I don't know where to start!
I think I go with one of my favorite things: there wasn't a crazy love triangle. Book all about her getting to know Arcus and falling in love with him. In the second book, we meet Kai, and she gets to know him... but she doesn't fall in love with him. *shocked gasping and screaming* As soon as she and Kai start getting cozy, I got sad. I love him, don't get me wrong, but I am so tired of seeing the love triangle play out. But here, HERE, she likes Kai, she respects him, she's fond of him, and all that, BUT SHE PICKS ARCUS EVERY SINGLE TIME. I can't even begin to tell you how happy that made me. I really felt for Kai, though, and I hope he finds someone to pour all his love into.
I was also really excited to be wrong in my prediction. As soon as Queen Nalani called her the missing princess, I thought I had it figured out. Since her grandmother was certainly not the woman that claimed to be her grandmother... I was pretty sure the grandmother was actually the mother. I was pretty happy to be wrong, though! It isn't often I find something that can surprise me. Sage/Lucina being there for her as a child was actually pretty cool.
I'm also pretty over the reclusive, mysterious, bad boy that just has this appeal the main character can't resist and doesn't know why... Arcus wasn't quite like that in the end, and it made sense why he was like that in the beginning. You can't exactly walk around telling everyone you're the prince that was thought to be dead. Would kind of blow your cover. After his big reveal and taking the throne, he wasn't as withdrawn from Ruby, which made everything so much better. It made them so much sweeter. Aaaaand, the frost garden he made her. I need a guy like that in my life. Holy shit. I mean, he loves her so much he spent hours crafting the garden. It was so amazingly, fantastically sweet.
The lore was a lot of fun too. You only got it in bits and pieces, and some of the smaller details didn't register right away. It wasn't until later it hit you that damn, all this makes sense. However, with all the build-up of the gods and their backstory... when they finally appear at the end, it was definitely a letdown. They were more like petty children. All of them. Eurus was always a petty child, but I expected the others to be less so, I guess.
Also, I the Minax twist was incredibly intricate. Blake straight up tells you at one point that Eurus tried to create his own race like his siblings did, and it didn't work. It just twisted the humans and broke them. Somehow, the fact that the Minax didn't actually exist, that it was only tormented souls, was still more surprising than it should have been. Watching Ruby go through with helping them all was gut-wrenching. I just wanted to hug her so badly. Especially as Eurus taunted her. The entire scene in that horrible place was so emotional, I couldn't stop the tears.
The only thing I'm a little bitter about was Arcus coming back to life. I mean, they are so adorable together, and I always wanted them to have a happy ending... but I really hate the way so many authors use crazy weird loopholes to bring people back to life in order to fabricate a happy ending. The only reason I'm not angry about it is because it was done with care. Arcus wasn't just magically all better. His soul refused to leave until he helped Ruby (again, so sweet), and then when he did leave, his body had been healed. His soul was able to return to his body as long as the gods looked the other way. I have always felt like dead should be dead. You can't just kill people off and then bring them back on your whim. It feels like such a cop-out. But again... here, it didn't feel like being backhanded. So I'm just a little bitter instead of angry, but overall, that's my only real complaint.
Going back to Kai. I was so over the moon for him when he was named the successor to Queen Nalani. He is such a good guy beneath his flippant exterior. I just want to hug him. I really want to see a novel done in 10 years. I want to see where they are with relations between nations, how the world has shifted (or not), and to see any kids they all might have. The ending felt so complete, though, I feel more than ok with how it left us. This will most definitely be a series I come back to and read again. Probably more than once.
I'm sure I left some stuff out, but I think I touched on the essential things I wanted to say. If I think of anything else, I'll come back and add it later!
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