THE ENDING!!! i’m literally itching to start the third book!

i love that hobb didn’t just expand on the world but also gets deeper. we learn more about the wit and the skill, but we also started to explore the elderlings. we get to know more about the characters that we’ve met before, but we are also introduced to a plethora of interesting new characters such as nighteyes (which kinda steal the show imo) and little rosemary. it’s amazing how this is told in first person pov but you get to care about all of these characters. i personally grew really fond of all the female characters; patience, ketrikken, molly and even lacey and rosemary😭

fitz is a little older now. he is not just an obedient child anymore, things that happened in mountain kingdom + his puberty really changed him. he has a bit more bite to him (wink wink), he is a little more hot headed, he talks and fights back and he is yearning for love particularly molly’s. as i’ve come to realized a lot of people don’t vibe with the romance sub-plot but i actually really like it and i do think it’s important for fitz character development regardless of my opinion about their relationship in the end.

(speaking of romance, i would do anything to read more about patience/chivalry/burrich😫😫😫😫)

there are more tension, more intrigue, more drama, and more action in this book. i actually think this one is more fast paced and action-packed. fitz get to experience the battle first hand, we fight raiders now and the forge ones are more gruesome than in the first book. the political plotting is also more insidious, you feel like you can’t trust anyone. i feel anxious whenever i’m starting a new chapter, the first book feels like a cozy fantasy in comparison.

i don’t even know what i was expecting before i read this book but it definitely exceed that. this series is starting to become my hyperfixation, i genuinely can’t stop thinking about it

this book made me cringe and got me feeling like i wanted to rip my hair out of my scalp but in the best way possible!

one thing about me is i love unlikable character, so when i learned the premise of this book i’m interested right away. from the prologue, lilian is already a very interesting character. and despite her being an obvious satire of a narcissistic person, you can help but feel like you can relate to her at some level; from the desperation for love and thinking that maybe if you do everything your partner wanted to they will granted you everlasting love, to her grumpiness toward her boss and co-worker.

i found myself rooting for lilian at some circumstances. she didn’t always have an easy life, growing up poor with a single mom, she didn’t get the help that she needed for her mental illness. yes, life is unfair, life is kinder to people like nora and henry, and because of that i can empathize with lilian. but self-victimization gets to a point bcs she actually lives a pretty decent life.

her co-worker are nice enough to wish her happy birthday and shower her with care once they learned about what happened to henry. her boss, though might be annoying, is actually very understanding to her circumstances. jamie is a SAINT for staying friends with lilian despite lilian treating her like shit. her mom, even if she is a bit ditzy is very caring too. even her roommate elise is very understanding of her circumstances when she broke up with henry. people are not perfect, but lilian always try to nitpick every bad qualities from people around her to justify her shitty behavior toward them. it frees her from taking accountability. as i was reading this book, i was a bit concerned at how i can understand and relate to lilian thought process. it definitely becomes a reflective moment for me, a reminder to not fall into her footsteps.

i actually enjoy reading this book. it’s silly, it’s funny, and it’s a bit tense in the end too👀