What I'd like to point out is that I started reading this book in November 2025 and I finished in August 2026. The reason is as simple as it looks, I refuse to DNF a bad book. This was a horrible book. The plot itself was not driven by Violet at all, she was the one who it always happened to. She always miraculously survives with little to no injuries, is able to defend from what other side characters which are then easily discarded cannot. It's just plain ass plot armor of the highest calibre. I'd like to say I was surprised at least once. I cannot even admit that. I dragged myself through finishing this and 2.5 rating for me for this specific book is too generous. I thank myself and pat myself on the back that I'm finished, and I vow I will not continue this godforsaken series of nothingness.

By far, this was the poorest of the series (granted i'm still not reading it chronologically). The only part I kind of vibed with, was their hang out at the end of the story, that got fucked up. Their sex was kinda boring, even with all the kinks included. I don't know what to take from that...

This is exactly what heterosexual dark romances want to be, and what dark romance girlies tell you heterosexual dark romances are...

A brief overview of kinks there are: Pet play Feet kink Degradation Humiliation Body odour kink (sweat, armpits, crotch) Stepping kink Praise kink Dom/Sub dynamics

Content warning for slight homophobia and usage of such slurs.

This was somehow the most disgusting, hottest, wildest and craziest books I've read this year. It had but also didn't have any plot. It was like a fever dream where I couldn't decide whether I liked what was happening, hated it, or just generally admired the writing style.

Reading this and finishing it was a fever dream. I never expected (because I never check glossaries or character profiles) that this would have such gruesome twist. I must admit, I was very bored at the start, it started slow and somewhat nothing important or entertaining happened. Well until way after the first 30ish %. I guess it was because the special naming system that I couldn't devour it as fast as I wanted which robbed me of the shock experience 9/10 times. Because of that, the rating itself is rather low. For me, it had a lot of potential to be at least 4-5* but with the naming of characters, which I struggled immensely to understand and read at one point, and with the descriptions of the environment that were VERY different to any I've experienced so far made me want to not finish, I'm glad I persevered. I really did not expect the ending, and maybe that's because I like to live in my cute little fairy tale version of even the most gruesome stories. Weirdly enough, it doesn't feel, like this series ended on a cliff hanger. It did! Don't get me wrong, there's enough of a cliff hanger that I'm glad I've all the books from the series, but it's not a cliffhanger that'd have me pulling the hair off my legs to read next. Eitherway, I enjoyed it a lot. It was something fresh and daunting. Definitely not my favourite but I will judge as time passes (especially after I finish reading the other books.)

This was I think the most boring of all parts in this series. I have nothing else to say because everything would be a spoiler.

This will be a controversial take, but hear me out: this could have been a light novella.

I understand and I even enjoyed following Nesta (to some extent). But I've been battling between a rating of 2.5 and 4. Ultimately I decided on the lower.

For me, the length of the story was unnecessary, I could have easily skipped all the training sessions and all the sex scenes between Cassian and Nesta. Her struggling and pain wasn't hitting me, and I myself am struggling with the shit she sometimes struggled with. So it should at least reverberate... It didn't. Their bond from even when they first met felt like a thing that was there because otherwise the plot wouldn't move forward and that probably was my undoing in all the not caring for them mindset while reading.

I didn't, surprisingly, skip any of the scenes, although I wanted to, and maybe the ranking is as low as it is because I couldn't attach myself to neither. I always viewed them as dispensable side characters pushing along other characters for the world building, and even though they're not cardboard cutouts, I still didn't care about them at all. The frantic heartbeat, or breathing I can get when reading about a character near death experience didn't happen here and I was praying to anything to reach the end of the book, simply because it took too long.

The story itself with the queen's or the forbidden items didn't move forward, nor were the questions about Nesta power completely answered as I'd hoped they will be. Because of that, ultimately, it could have been a light novella. A filler.

I'm not trying to yuck anyone's yum but I hope you get my drift. I'm hoping the rest of the books will be a bit different than this one.