Thank you to Kensington Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC!

I loved this. I found this book to be incredibly well researched and written. You can tell that the author knows their stuff. I wasn't familiar with the story of Bisclavret before I read this, but I found the story easy enough to follow. The POV changes really work with the story we are being told, and I actually really liked the POV changes, although I don't think everyone will like this. The writing is beautiful and the atmosphere the author creates is so good.

It's a very unique read. Bisclavret is the only named character, and with the POV mix, I was expecting to struggle, but I found it easy to read. It was interesting and kept me hooked. The whole reading experience for this one was just so good. Reading the king's POV and seeing his yearning and then switching to Bisclavret and reading his human POV, which was sad and desperate and heart-wrenching.

It's a slow-paced book but I preferred it. The only thing I think that could've helped a little bit more was more character development. I wanted more from the story and the characters at the end of this book, although I think it ended very well.

I highly recommend picking this one up for the unique reading experience alone. The story is well-crafted and well-written and I adored it.

This was a great conclusion to the trilogy. The stakes are higher, there’s a bit more romance. Although I do think the plot moves along at breakneck speed which means that the characters are sidelined a little but I think because this was the last book in a trilogy the characters were more developed.

I really liked this series overall, I liked the worldbuilding and how neatly it all came together at the end. Definitely recommend picking these books up if you want a space opera romance.

I love love love the world building of this series and I love the characters a lot, but I did start to lose my patience a little around the 70% mark. This is an action-packed book, very similar to the first one, and it felt like the characters were kind of out to one side for the sake of the plot. And I guess it worked, but I really would’ve preferred just a little more character work & development. I do plan to finish this series so we’ll see how I feel after that!

I love reading Cat Sebastian’s books because they’re just so… good. They’re always well researched and realistic and they feel like home, in a strange way.

I didn’t want this book to end. This is a slow burn romance set in the late 1960s in New York. It’s filled with Cat Sebastian’s usual well written characters, and all of them are filled with hope and trauma and grief. The love they all had for each other was beautiful.

Cat Sebastian always writes the most beautiful romance, and I think this one might be a new favourite of mine.

Samantha, this is SO mean.

I'm overwhelmed with the love I have for this series. Samantha Shannon knows how to write such tense, intimate, manipulative, horrifying, romantic, beautiful scenes. I can't begin to explain how much I adored this book. And now I have to join all the other Bone Season fans on waiting for TBS6!

This was a solid read. It’s very action-packed, with lots of twists and turns, and the worldbuilding is clever. The characters were easy to get invested in and the mild romance was sweet. However, this is not a character driven book. The plot moves very quickly, and the characters seem to flounder a little bit as a result. However I am eager to pick up the next book!

Well, this was interesting!

I enjoyed this. It's a solid romantasy, but the romance does not overshadow the fantasy elements at all. I loved the worldbuilding, the religious deconstruction, the quest that the characters go on. I did see the ending coming, but I felt it was executed well.

My very minor teeny gripe is that I found the magic system to be a little bit murky. But I still enjoyed this book.

This is a moody, gothic dream of a book. I'll be picking up the sequel next year.

What a perfect sequel. This book built on the first one perfectly and the ending was incredible. Such a good book, with a great ending.

I loved this. It’s a dense scifi book about imperialism and language and culture. I love Mahit, who has her work cut out for her almost immediately. It’s a smart book, and I adored the investigation plot line that runs through the book, and how it all ties together.

The book itself is intelligent, well-crafted, and I loved the intrigue and political elements so much. The book gives you enough information to piece things together without drowning you in information or holding your hand.

I can’t wait to pick up the next book!

Thank you to Bantam Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC!

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

This book was grounded and realistic and also wildly entertaining. It's messy, sharp, and brutally honest about the years where you feel like you're stuck and can't move forward because you keep looking back at what could've been. This is a tender, realistic look at being 26 and feeling like the world is moving on without you.

Our FMC, Sam, is 26 years old and stuck at home after the pandemic crushed her academic dreams. Drowning in student debt and working a dead end job in a bar, she's lost. She has no confidence, she's involved in a friends-with-benefits situation that's going nowhere, and she's dealing with the overwhelming pressure of having to do SOMETHING. Then, her mother's new neighbour moves in. Single dad Nick, who cares for his daughter, is the opposite of Sam. He is responsible, has a stable job, and is very nerdy.

I really liked the way the author wrote Nick. It would've been so easy to make Nick this ultra-wealthy businessman who can throw money around and get Sam's student loan debt cleared and cover her tuition, and I really appreciate that the author did something different. Nick is a manager at a fast food chain restaurant. He can't solve Sam's problems, financially or otherwise, but he does give her the push she needs to work it out herself. I liked their scenes together a lot.

I think this book will be very relatable for those mid-late twenties folk who found that their goals had to be changed or their plans ruined because of circumstances they couldn't control. Sam could definitely be a bit frustrating at times and I wanted to give her a shake, but I really liked the ending and how she realised that getting it together didn't mean immediately crossing off everything on her to do list. It meant crossing off ONE thing on her to do list.

Also, if I had her father, I also would've had daddy issues.