This was not my cup of tea. Maybe I need to come to terms with not liking cozy fantasy. I liked the idea of a 29 year-old protagonist coming into her magical powers, but I did not like the writing or the plot that much.

Hurrah and huzzah in Jean-Francois' undying words.

I continue to absolutely love the grimdark hopelessness of this world, and the beautiful characters within it. The first and second book had my expectations insanely high, and I think they were like ~95% met. Which is to say that this book was fantastic, despite a couple of small grievances (barely diminishing the glory of this book don't you worry) that I won't further elaborate on so that this can stay spoiler free.

Small note on writing. I am amazed at Jay's ability to make the language and rhythm of Gabriel's storytelling was so distinct that by the end of this book it really has a life of its own and there are phrases you will never forget. For example, every time something crazy passionate or murderous happened and Gabriel uses the words "they met like powder and flame". I low-key loved that because it gave us a very human protagonist, who isn't the most perfect storyteller using Thesaurus to dictate his tale, but goes back to some of his favourite imagery and turns of phrase over and over again, feeling very familiar by the end of the book. The framed narrative was also so exciting, and rarely done this well. I loved the seductive dynamic between Gabriel and Jean-Francois throughout this series, and it was nice to be kept guessing about the plot since there wasn't an all-knowing narrator voice, or some in depth introspection going on, just whatever the storyteller decided to share with us. The mysteries, secrets and plot twists kept my eyes glued to this book from start to finish. What a ride! Fantastic series.