the emotional damage?? this one was way more intense than the first. everything felt higher stakes, darker, more desperate and i was constantly stressed in the best way. the world feels bigger, the danger feels real, and the characters are put through the wringer nonstop.

the plot twists though?? absolutely relentless. every time i thought i had a handle on where things were going, the story yanked the rug out from under me. it kept escalating in a way that made it impossible to relax, like the book just refused to let anyone catch a breath.

small note though: i still don’t like the love triangle (never did), but honestly i’m just relieved it’s over now 😭

overall, i’m annoyed. i’m impressed. i’m emotionally compromised. onto the next one!!!!!

i loved (almost) everything about this book. the worldbuilding is brutal and immersive, the stakes are constantly high and the pacing is so tight that i barely had time to breathe between chapters. it’s one of those books where the tension never really lets up, and i found myself fully locked in from the very beginning.

the characters were such a huge highlight for me; flawed and shaped so deeply by the violence and oppression of the world they live in. i especially loved how the story balances political brutality with very personal, emotional struggles. it made everything feel heavier in the best way.

that said, the love triangle and the insta-love did kinda ruin the experience for me. those elements pulled me out of the story more than once and felt rushed compared to how carefully the rest of the book was constructed. i’m not a fan of love triangles to begin with and here they stood out enough to genuinely frustrate me. but despite that, i still wanted to know what would happen next, so i pushed through and kept reading.

even with that frustration, i can’t deny how gripping the plot and atmosphere are. i’m 100% invested in continuing the series. if the rest of the books keep this level of intensity, i’m in for the long haul.

i honestly loved this so, so much.

this is one of those books that drops you into the deep end and refuses to explain itself right away. for a good portion of the book, i felt disoriented and unsure of what was even happening, but in a way that felt completely intentional. the world is strange and almost cruel in how little it holds your hand, but once things start clicking into place, the payoff is immense.

the writing itself is phenomenal. there’s a quiet intelligence behind every choice, and you can feel how carefully constructed everything is, even when it feels chaotic on the surface.

what really stayed with me were the dynamics between the “siblings.” the way trauma, power, devotion, and resentment intertwine between them is chilling and heartbreaking at the same time. my one real wish is that we’d gotten more of them. more scenes, more interactions, more time to sit with their individual histories and personalities. they were so compelling that i couldn’t help wanting the book to linger on them longer.

by the end, everything ties together in a way that feels earned rather than neat. it doesn’t soften itself for the reader, and i appreciate that. this is a book that trusts you to connect the dots on your own.

definitely one of those reads that stays in your head long after you turn the last page.

i did not have a good time.

the whole book just felt flat for me. like i kept waiting for that “ohhh okay here we go” moment and it just never arrived. every chapter had me hoping something or someone would make me care, but nope. not a single character was likeable.

the plot kept circling around the same beats, and instead of feeling tense or twisty, it just dragged. i didn’t even feel annoyed, just bored, which is honestly worse for a thriller. and when a story gives me nothing to root for, it’s hard to stay invested.

so yeah. definitely not for me.