Crescent City: House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas Book Review Part Two

So, I made the executive decision that my original House of Sky and Breath book review was gosh darn too long to contain in one book review, so I made it two parts 😅.

Part two picks up after the Yrda escape and discovering that Sofie didn’t make it and what that meant for the rest of their search.

After the Yada escape, rebel Baxian finally made an appearance, which was about darn time because he kept following them anyway, so he should have just said he wanted in. But I understood Bryce and Hunt’s hesitations because of his previous reputation (they didn’t yet know he was Danika’s mate), so he could have been testing them/playing to see if they really were rebels. I would have been distrustful too if I had been in their shoes and was in such risky business.

With Sofie being respectfully taken care of by Cormac, it finally came out where Emile. But first, let me talk about how Tharion had the audacity to ask Sendes if she could take Sofie’s body for the River Queen because he needed to show up with something. Honestly, I know Tharion was just asking so he didn’t get chewed out, but still. We need to respect Sofie and she’s not a weapon either way. Besides it’s not Tharion’s fault if he said he didn’t find Sofie, let alone if he came back with the news that Sofie hadn’t made it because that’s not on him. They can’t do anything more.

But I was more flipping my pancakes and shocked with how Bryce said she had been hiding Emile in the Meat Market for weeks. What three me off was how Hunt and Bryce were back at her apartment and going to go celebrate in their room, when he was like, “How about you tell me what the f*** you know about Emile?” Hunt would NEVER talk to Bryce like that. Ever. Unless it was told in a teasing, sexual way, but he sounded serious. When they had went to the Meat Market all those days ago, Bryce apparently made a visit to the Viper Queen to ask her to help her find Emile because she knew that Emile was in Lunathion and nobody would dare mess with the Viper Queen. Also, the Viper Queen had all these people who worked for her who could help her find and hold Emile. So the Viper Queen did find Emile and had been keeping him safe in exchange for the Viper Queen getting to call Bryce in for a favor when she needed it. That favor will bite her in the butt one day, for sure. But I was confused at the part where Bryce went behind everyone’s back to set up this arrangement, and the fact that she knew the whole time that they had already found Emile and yet they pretended to still search for him. Also, I didn’t completely understand why the Viper Queen would just keep Emile safe if he was a very powerful and dangerous kid. If she knew the power in her hands, what stopped her from exploiting Emile (not that I wanted her to) or from backing out of her deal with Bryce? It seemed too easy how everything worked out. I really wanted to find him, find him. Like have all this searching for him be worth it and we find the kid because he had been through Lunathion, but we still didn’t know where he went or what this secret hiding spot was because Emile just went with the Viper Queen. And what made him trust the Viper Queen and Bryce when he didn’t know it? Either the kid wasn’t taught to talk to strangers or he had a good bloodhound sense of people.

But Emile also had no powers. That day when the Omega boats went down, that was all Sofie doing that to protect Emile. So if Emile had no powers, I was confused as to why make it seem like he did? I mean, saying he was a Thunderbird only put more of a target on his back to the point that the entirety of Luanthion was practically searching for this kid! It didn’t make sense. Because if they really had wanted to keep Emile safe, they shouldn’t have given the guise that he had powers and just let him sail off into the distance to live a normal life. But they put a neon arrow on him. I know it was mentioned that Sofie wanted people to care for Emile to look for him, but still. She put him more at risk than gave him a chance of living. Heck, Pippa was even looking for Emile to use as a weapon and that sure as heck didn’t help Emile. Heck, I was also confused when they say Pippa in Yrda and she gave the impression that she also knew where Emile was, and she didn’t care. I mean, she was insistently searching for Emile and just stopped????? Why did she stop? Was he really not that important? She didn’t know Emile didn’t have powers, so if she knew where he was and knew he was powerful, why stop the search? I was a cluster truck of what the heck. I didn’t get it.

So Sofie was a bust and Emile was a bust, so I just didn’t know where we could go from there. It just felt like more than half the book was spent pouring to find these two anticlimactic people who didn’t provide much, especially Emile because he knew NOTHING 😂. I mean, poor kid, he was in a camp for three years so of course he knew nothing and he needed to focus on his survival and health, but darn, it would have been cool if he was helpful 🤪.

I did love how when Hunt saw how frail and fragile Emile looked, he remembered how Emile truly was a kid. I loved how Hunt got all dad-protective on Emile and told Fury to buy him all the snacks and feed him. Fury was going to drive Emile to a safe place where he could start over and be normal. The minute Bryce said she had a place that would take care of Emile, I had a feeling it was with her family because they would take good care of him. I loved how excited Ember was to have someone to spoil and Randall someone to go outside and teach life skills with. I also loved how Bryce had been using those postcards she sent back and forth with her mom and a secret code to communicate with them about sending Emile up there. I loved how she thought of everything to give Emile a normal-ish life. I would like to see their interaction/realtionship in teh future. I would also like to see Nidaros where Bryce is from and for her to actually bring Hunt and Ruhn home. We need to circle back on that.

Because Emile was found too, Tharion had literally nothing to show of himself to the River Queen, which wasn’t good news for him. I really thought he would be more upset or mad that Bryce had found Emile and hadn’t told him about it until later because he was the one who began this whole mission/rebel act with all of them. But he seemed really chill about it, and more worried about how the River Queen would take the news. I laughed when he was talking to Hunt and he made the excuse that he would stay Above as long as possible and really milk the Emile and Sofie search so he would have an excuse to be Above.

Tharion was having his The Little Mermaid moment 😂🧜🏼‍♂️.

But it really showed how he hated home. I loved though when he showed up at Ruhn’s house, which felt like it was becoming a bro house or a house for lost people, and he was like, “Got room for another roommate?” I loved the fact though that Ruhn’s house was a safe place for people who felt like they didn’t belong with their original Houses or species—-a safe space.

Speaking of Ruhn’s house for the lost, let’s circle back to the Mystics and when Bryce talked to the Prime.

In Bryce’s conversation with the Prime, she mentioned how Sabine kicked out Ithan from her pack. The Prime didn’t know that, but when he did, it truly lifted my heart at what happened next for Ithan. The Prime called him and said he admired Ithan and knew he had alpha energy, so he offered Ithan a pack. DUH, Ithan should take a pack because that would give him the purpose and kinship he needed. However, I agreed with Ithan because who the heck would be in his pack 🤪. Not in a mean way, but Ithan didn’t have many connections to the wolves anymore besides Amelie’s sister who dropped him at Bryce’s house. But other than that, a pack of potentially one wolf wasn’t promising. Also, having a pack is a monumental deal because Ithan would lead many people and count on him. With everything going on, I didn’t know if the timing was right for him to start a pack. There was also how Ithan had to consider that if he did start his own pack, that one day Sabine would become the Prime and them Amelie the Prime, and he didn’t want to be an Alpha if it meant that he had to be under Sabine and Amelie’s control one day because I mean, who the heck would want to do that. So there was a lot to think about.

After Bryce, Tharion, and Ithan visited the Mystics, Ithan went back by himself to ask the Astronomer one more question to ensure Connor was actually safe in the Bone Quarter. However, the Astronomer wasn’t there when he went back to talk, but the girl Mystic was. And she wasn’t in the tub because the Astronomer needed a special part for her tub. She was well aware of her surroundings and was talking. When talking to the girl Mystic, Ithan caught a whiff of her and sensed snow and embers, which was a wolf smell, so the Mystic girl was a wolf. The girl said that her family rammed a tundra in Nena with her and her ten siblings and that they had no pack. Usually when a wolf doesn’t have a pack, they go to the mountains and wander aimlessly and create a life for themselves there. When she was around four, her family realized this Mystic girl’s gifts and sold her to the Astronomer. She didn’t know what year she was born or what year she was sold, her families names, or her own name.

I don’t need to be a werewolf to smell a screwed up mess 🤪.

How dare her parents sell her to the Astronomer when she was four years freaking old!!!?!?? That’s insane. A less than fully developed wolf-person and they sold her like nothing—-like she didn’t matter. How could parents do that?! I freaking detest. You know, if they treated her like that, she was better off without them. But gosh she was a nameless wolf who grew up in a tub without really having a life because she was enslaved to be a Mystic. She had no choice over her life and she sure as heck probably didn’t know what was going on at four years old. It broke my freaking heart! She didn’t even know her name. Nameless Mystic was even an Alpha based on the way she spoke back to Ithan with sternness and power, and I trust that Ithan knows an Alpha when he sees one.

You can’t say that Ithan isn’t a passionate and dedicated person that when he has his mind set on something, he goes for it. He wanted to take the Nameless wolf with him away froth Astronomer, but she wouldn’t go with him because he would be killed for it and she was also enslaved to the Astronomer, so she was stuck there. In a rage, Ithan took the Astronomers rings that had all the Sprites. I must say, the more we hear about the Astronomer, the more I wonder who he actually is because that was just the name he gave. I mean, who was he and where did he come from? Why give him this role? And where exactly did the Mystic power come from and how did it relate to other worlds?

I don’t know, what I did know was that when Ithan got the call from the Prime—as mentioned above—-I felt like Ithan was going to one day rescue this Nameless Mystic girl and that he was going to create a pack with her .Or that he wanted to work up to create a pack of packless wolves like him because that would seem like the noble and empowering thing to to do.

“The wolf with no name, trapped in the dark.”

(pg. 458)

I got the impression that Ithan also wanted to help this Mystic Wolf because she reminded Ithan of himself. She was kicked out and abandoned and left in the dark, not really having anyone to guide her. But he wanted to be there for her and all those who ever felt the same way. I liked that I felt the passion return in Ithan, like he finally had a fire underneath him to care and do something more than just tag along with everyone else or do what everyone else was doing.

Because Ithan stole the rings, he had to deal with the consequences. I freaking laughed when Ithan came home with the rings and Flynn and Declan were reeling at Ithan’s idiocy. I don’t blame Ithan for taking the rings because someone had to free the Sprites in honor of Lebedah. Also, just basic human rights. Flynn took a hammer to the rings and freed all the Sprites, but the last ring had a different species in it—-a dragon.

Seriously, Sarah J. Maas said expansion 😅.

A dragon!!!

I liked that we were seeing more people from the different Houses and exploring that. The Sprites names were Rithi, Malana, and Sasa and they gave me big Cinderella fairy godmother energy. The dragon? Naked and unafraid. Not freaking Flynn relentlessly flirting with her 😅. Her name was Ariadne, but I thought it was pretty darn cool her description of having a scaly body that shimmered red and orange. I also liked how mysterious but fierce Ariadne was because she was entrapped in the rings but she also knew her power and danger. I wonder where she came from and her family? What were the dragons history? How did she end up in the rings? What happened if she used her full power? Could she actually morph into a huge dragon or was she just a human dragon? It was said in a book about dragons that Jesiba had sent over that the fire from a dragon can burn the Prince of the Pit (Apollion’s) dark hide. So that made me think that we had to keep Ariadne in the rest of the series because she would play a pivotal role in the war as an ally. She could burn Apolloin’s dangerous creatures—-that’s significant. But were there more dragons out there and where? Or were they rare?

We also knew that Ariadne couldn’t very well be free because she had the enslaved tattoo on her wrist because she belonged/was sold to the Astronomer and if she flew free, he would find her and drag her back; he could track her down, so she wasn’t really free even though right now she was free. But then again, it just made me more curious as to how she ended up where she was. But this was what I meant by Ruhn’s house becoming the House of the Wandering People or Lost People 😂. They sure were filling up this frat house.

Hypaxia also came to town for Celestina’s ball and wedding events.

I thought we would get more interactions with Hypaxia because she was Ruhn’s betrothed and I thought she was an interesting character in the last book. We only got a few scenes with her but I thought she would have had a bigger part.

I did enjoy her conversations with Ruhn about her coven. Hypaxia talked about how she grew up being taught by the living dead where her mother would raise dead scholars to teach her. So Hypaxia’s only companions and friends growing up were these living dead people and everyone thought she was weird because she talked to the dead. They also feared her because her necromancy gifts were strange or new to them because she was a half-necromancer. So her coven didn’t really like her, and they weren’t as loyal to her as her mother. They were basically out to get her, which sucked because her coven was supposed to have her back but yet they wanted to kill her. I hope she gets a new coven. She asked Ruhn if he or someone he knew could protect her while she was there. I liked that she trusted Ruhn as a friend to protect her because what they shared seemed more like a friendship than a romance, which made sense given they didn’t love each other. But I liked how it wasn’t an awkward or tense betrothal because they respected each other. Ithan and Ariadne were set to protect Hypaxia while she was in town. I loved how seriously Ithan took the reasonability to protect a princess. He really wanted to prove himself and it was nice to see him have a role/responsibility that made him feel purposeful.

I loved loved loved the moment that Byrce reached out to Hypaxia to talk.

Before this, the Autumn King really screwed. Bryce over when he called her and said that because Bryce had been claiming her Princess title as Princess Bryce Quinlan, that meant she accepted her title. It meant she accepted her rule under him. But she didn’t know that when she used her title to make that deal for Juniper’s dance company or when she met earlier with Celestina to free Hunt from his two week punishment for ditching Celestina at an event. So now the Autumn King had a right to control what she did, how she presented herself, and who she could marry because she was officially the Princess. I was FURIOUS for Bryce because she didn’t know and second, she was a free woman, no man should control her just because she started calling herself a princess. That was stupid. And also the Autumn King can suck my toes for taking away Bryce’s name of Quinlan because in no way shape or form was Bryce a Danaan 🤮. Nothing against Ruhn because I love him, but Bryce Danaan doesn’t have a good ring to it. She is not her father’s daughter and nor did she ever want to be. It made my heart sad with how worried Bryce was if he mother found out because Bryce had never wanted the Autumn King to have that authority over her, yet alone become part of his “family.” She did her best to avoid it her whole life and now she felt dumb for having been so careless to slip right under his snare.

It really was more than just a name and title change. A name means and defines everything. Bryce was for sure a princess in the way she honorably carried herself, but she was not close to anything the Autumn King was. He was filth and she was class.

Bryce didn’t know what to do to get out of claiming her title or being under her father’s control, but she wanted to talk to someone who would understand. So she called Hypaxia.

“‘It can be very lonely, to wear a crown,’ Hypaxia said quietly as if reading her thoughts. ‘But I’m glad to have you to speak with, Bryce.'”

(pg. 600)

I really loved their princess to queen conversation 💙. It was just sweet to hear Bryce have a normal conversation with another strong women about the similarities they faced in a patriarchal society, and the issues they felt with being betrothed and feeling like they had no control over their lives. I also liked how they talked about their romance a bit. Something I noticed was how Hypaxia mentioned something that every House and species had been saying so far—-that they all wanted to go back to the old ways because they were more free and powerful. But Hpyaxia said how the magic has run dry and like it has been siphoned into nothing. . . “they only want us to become more subservient to the Asteri” (pg. 598). That also seemed like a common theme—that it all went back to what existed before the Asteri and their conquering everyone. But I enjoyed their conversation because it was a supportive girl talk, a bit morbid, but at least Byrce had someone who understood her and wanted the best. for her.

MY GOSH, when they were walking down the street and Ithan was just you know, hanging back as guard a guard does, a freaking deathstalker ripped his throat 😂. Not that it’s funny, but I just pictured a sunny day and Ithan’s having a good time because he finally had something to do and then a demagorgon thing comes out of nowhere and bashes his throat. Morbid, but funny.

Deathstalkers are the Prince of the Pits most dangerous creatures and they have been appearing more frequently; Hunt has gotten reports of a few recently and didn’t know they were in Lunathion now. But gosh, Ithan’s throat!!! Ithan had to make it!!! Dang. But when Bryce and Hypaxia were like, where was Ariadne? I was like, “You’re right!” This bi*** could have burnt those dang things to the ground and saved Hypaxia and Bryce from being deathstalker meat. Honestly, where was the dang 33rd too 🤪??? Or the Hind or Mordoc? I mean the 33rd really was slacking at their job, no hate to Isiah and them though, but really???? What were they doing? And out of all the times the Hind and Mordoc roamed the streets, they couldn’t have been on this one???

But my gosh, women power to them because they only had one knife between them because it was Ithan’s knife that they grabbed off his body as he was on teh ground and they tried to stave off the deathstalkers. What a bad a** moment when Hypaxia blasted her healing and wind power into Bryce’s star tattoo to help save Ithan and fight back. I didn’t know that necromancers had that kind of power. But Bryce really worked her magic to save Ithan or at least make him not dead and throatless, and they were able to take them down by working together. When Hypaxia also took out her witch broom? Iconic 👌🏼.

After Ithan was attacked, he was taken to a medwitch unit with Hypaxia because she was the best medwitch around. Or I thought she was the best from the last book. But what made my heart want to cry was how everyone was there to make sure Ithan was okay. When Declan and Flynn showed up and Declan said, “When can he come home?” and Ithan started to think about how he had never had a home in a long time, I was in tears 😭. The dude had a home with Ruhn, Declan, and Flynn—his found family. And when they both were so concerned about him and asked him if he was alright, I became the Salty Tears again. GOSh.

“Ithan’s throat tightened. He hadn’t realized how much he missed it—people having his back. Caring if he lived or died. The Pack of Devils and been that for him, yes, but his sunball team, too. He hadn’t spoken to any of them since Connor’s death.

Flynn’s eyes softened slightly, as if seeing something on Ithan’s face, and Ithan straighten, cleaning his throat. But Flynn said, ‘We got you, wolf.'”

(pg. 615)

Ummmm, I can’t function 😭.

I just had so much love for Ithan because he had been hurting and he didn’t have a home anymore. He was kicked out of his house with no where to go and his brother passed away and he lost his love of sunball and his life was chaotic and a mess and here he was finally feeling like he had a place to call home with people who genuinely cared about him from Declan, Flynn, Ruhn, Bryce, Tharion, and Hunt. To know he found a family again 💙🥺. That someone had his back. Like a pack 🥺.

It was also interesting to see Hypaxia and Tharion’s friendship, I didn’t know or forgot that they were close friends. There was a moment where I thought that they would be good love interests because of their camaraderie. This was also the moment where Hunt was told that Bryce was a princess and he knew how much that upset Bryce. But it also freaked him out because he was her mate, and that made him a prince and Prince Umbra Mortis sure has a threatening ring to it. But what was incredibly sweet was how much Hunt knew bothered and unhappy Bryce was by being called a princess, and how he knew that he would do anything for her to make her happy and help her through this tricky situation. He just wanted to be with her and see her happy. And if that isn’t true love, I don’t know what is.

The ball.

I freaking loved loved loved the ball. Who doesn’t like a masked ball?

The way Hunt looked at Bryce before teh ball???? Iconic 👌🏼.

I mean, Bryce was just an icon in general.

She did look like a godess—-regal and stunning. Hunt knew he had a treasure of a woman. But I laughed with how he was soooo funny with being all uncomfortable in his tux 😂.

Ah, out of everything Hunt has done, a tux is his worst enemy.

Honestly, the ball was fun, but nothing ruins a party than having six Asteri watch over them on basically a Zoom 😂.

Really, wow, way to ruin a mood. Party killers.

I mean, they have nothing better to do? 🤪

And when people were like, “Hail the Asteri,” I was like, “More like f*** the Asteri.” Am I right?

They did make a huge show of Celestina and Ephraim’s engagement, but they also fully acknowledge Bryce as a princess, which made me uncomfortable because that meant they noticed her.

But Bryce clapped back. She presented herself to Celestina and Ephraim with Hunt and declared that Hunt was the Prince because her mate. The Autumn King and Cormac couldn’t say anything or cause a scene at the ball, so they had to go along with what Bryce said. Being presented in front of the Archangels as the Prince gave away the Autumn King’s control to Hunt. And because they recognized their union, it was official. I will say I felt bad for Cormac because they should have told him the plan, but then again, after the events with Sofie his character kind of disappeared. But they should have told him because their plan effected him. But gosh, it felt good to give the proverbial middle finger to the Autumn King for thinking he got the best of Bryce. Also, the whole rules with being a princess in how he controlled what she ate, wore, said, and whatever was stupid. I was glad that she no longer had to deal with that because Hunt would let her do whatever she wanted.

Also, the Asteri acknowledged their union so the Autumn King couldn’t do shiz.

“The Autumn King said in a voice so low no one could hear, ‘You little bi***.’

Bryce smiled broadly. ‘It’s ‘You little bi***, Your Highness.'”

(pg. 637)

I was in hysterics 😂!!!!

YEA, You GO BRYCE!!!!

My favorite moment of the book, or one of my favorites was when Hunt and Bryce danced together like they were the only two people in the world. It was so beautiful and magical and everything 💙. I loved how he only had eyes for her—so enraptured by her smile and beauty—-and how they were so unapologetically happy in front of everyone. The way got her and when she was dancing, holding the small of her back and matching every movement because he knew how much she loved to dance.

“Everything that ever happened to me, it was all so I could meet you, Quinlan. Be here with you. I’m yours. Forever.”

(pg. 636)

*Sigh* Where can I find a Hunt 😫💙?

The way he loves her 🥺.

Dang.

They were very cute and funny when they tried to sneak off down the hall to find a closet to get it on. But when they managed to break into a room, it was occupied by Celestina and Hypaxia.

I DID NOT see that coming.

I mean, I thought Hypaxia had a thing for Tharion. I didn’t even know they knew each other. OOOOh, by you could tell Celestina was PEEZED 😂. She wanted to attack Hunt for discovering her biggest secret, and being his boss/Governor was another thing. Hypaxia and Celestina had been secretly seeing each other and loved each other but they both had to make difficult choices as part of being important people to the Asteri. For Hypaxia, Celestina encouraged her to marry Ruhn and that with time, that they could find their way back to their relationship. But then everything with Ephraim happened where Celestina was told to mate with him and provide offspring, it put a rift in their plan because she had to marry Ephraim and go through with the Asteri wanted. I freaking DETEST the Asteri in how they controlled everyone and minimized their freedoms and rights, especially a woman’s. I freaking felt awful and furious for Celestina because it was her life and her body and she shouldn’t be forced to marry someone she didn’t love and to sleep with him for kids. But yet she did so excuse it was her duty, which was so wrong. Having kids shouldn’t be a duty, but something someone should do if they want to. I felt terrible for both of them because I don’t know how progressive Lunathion was, but I didn’t see many same sex couples in power and I didn’t see very much respect for people in general in their freedoms to what they can do with their bodies. They loved each other and should be able to be with each other.

“‘We’re allies. Not only politically, but . . . as females who have had to make some [shizzy], hard choices. As females who live in a world where most powerful males see us only as breeding tools.'”

(pg. 647)

You know, we have to take these dang Asteri down more than ever to allow the Houses and species to return to their glory and for people to be with those they loved.

After the ball and Bryce and Hunt having their prince and princess steamy moment scene, Bryce had an Apollion dream. This guy kept coming into their dreams. He talked to her about how war really was coming—we get it—and gave another history lesson. Theia trusted the Princes of Hel because Adias was her great love. Pelias supported the Asteri and Theia fought and rallied with the Princes. What I kept hearing was how the Princes of Hel were allies and not enemies, but it didn’t make sense yet to me because if they were raising their army to invade Midgard, then how were they allies. But I sure as heck wasn’t for the Asteri. But Apollion came to warn Bryce about how she still needed to touch into her power and to use the Horn with Hunt’s powers to open the door to Hel. So Bryce and Hunt working together was more powerful than anything and they needed that to start their war and have a way in. What I also wondered was what the heck Apollion meant by Hunt was bred to be respective to their kind—-the Princes of Hel kind. That is is good at hunting them. Again, was Hunt a descendent from a Prince of Hel? Who was he? I honestly thought we would get more answers as to Hunt’s family and his background, but we only scratched the surface, and even then I had more questions than answers. Sarah J. Maas got us out here on our toes! I’m still not over how I don’t even know Rhysand’s last name 😂.

I digress.

During the ball, Hypaxia and Ithan had a moment where they worked together to talk to Connor’s soul to truly make sure he was okay. Hypaxia used her necromancy powers on the day of the ball because it was also the Day of the Dead where the walls between realms were the thinnest. She did it as a favor for Ithan protecting her. I really was emotionally preparing myself for Ithan finding closure with Connor and what that conversation would be like, but the freak when the Under-King showed up instead and basically told them to f-off. But my gosh, they didn’t make it better for Connor because now the Under-King had even more of a bone to pick with Connor’s soul, but it wasn’t their fault that he wasn’t just giving them straight answers. The whole part where he trapped them in a bubble thing with dreadwovles and had to escape felt rushed because one minute they were trapped and fearing their life and the next second they were free and telling the CC gang that the Under-King wanted to meet with them.

The Under-King wanted to meet with Bryce, Hunt, and Ruhn the next night, but it was really a trap set by Pippa because she screwed them over by working with the Under-King by saying that he turned them over to her he would get their souls/light. Bryce managed to teleport Ruhn out of there. But also, what a clever woman to use an app modulator to announce that there was an Option attack because it would bring all the Pangera baddies to the side to be on the case. She was so smart because it bought them time to follow Baxian below the throne as I mentioned in part one of this book review. Following Baxian down under where was he made the declaration of being Danika’s mate and the code numbers.

So now, let’s go back to the series of letters and numbers I mentioned earlier.

Those series of letters and numbers were the code to the Asterii Archives. The very Archives that freaking bada** Sophie snuck into to get this dang secrete information.

You know, I have to say, for a very top-secret place, how the heck did Baxian just see Sandirel go inside the Archives and no one thought to, I don’t know, blindfold him or something so he didn’t see the password??!?!?!? IDIOTS. Because when Baxian still worked for Sandriel (you know, when she was alive 🙃), Sandirel went down to the Archives and came out looking ghostly pale. Baxian was in the background and watched the code be typed in and he passed it down to Danika who passed it to Sophie. Danika wanted Sophie to sneak down to the Archives to discover what was so classified that they would keep it behind a big door with a passcode and everything. However, it took three years for Sophie to find a way into the Crystal Palace and to make her way to the Archives without raising suspicions. She had to work her way through the rebels and then by playing an Asterii servant in the Palace to be less suscpisous. And also, Danika couldn’t do the job because her scent was very clear and everyone would know her, however, no one knew who Sophie was or her lineage.

Sophie did manage to break into the Archives—-again, dumb security in this place 😂 ARROGANT losers, they were just asking for the secret to come out. And then that’s when Sophie planned to free Emile from Kavalla because she knew what the secret was and it was game changing, so she knew she had to get her brother and go into hiding or something. I felt like Sophie was also going to. bid her time until she could release the news because she had pivotal information and she could change the world with it. I felt like if Sophie had made it, she would have belt her own rebel group to slowly take down the Asterii where it hurt. Sophie couldn’t relay the information to Danika because Danika had been already killed, but I loved that Sophie was still committed to discovering the Asteri’s secrets because she wanted to take them down as much as the next person. imagine if Sophie and Danika had lived to actually work together with Bryce to take down the Asterii? Unstoppable. I tell you. Unstoppable.

So OBVIOUSLY we had to break into the Archives 🤪👏🏼!!!

I mean, Sarah J. Maas could not just say that there was this secret, confidential Archives that we knew the password to and that had a life-changing Asterii secret and we NOT break into it!!!

If we didn’t go to the Archives, I would have RAGED like Hunt on a lightning spree 😂!

First, Declan tried to hack into the archive system for the room. I knew they were going to ask Declan because he’s their honorary hacker, and I love him.

“‘We owe you big-time,’ Hunt said, sitting on the arm of the sofa.

‘Pay me in booze,’ Declan said. ‘It’ll be a comfort while I worry about when the dread wolves will show up at my door.'”

(pg. 703)

Declan and Flynn are genuinely underrated characters. I love them.

“‘Hey, remember that time you wanted to marry me and wrote Lady Bryce Flynn in all your notebooks?’

Hunt choked.

Bryce countered with, ‘Hey, remember when you pestered me for years to hook up with you, but I have something called standards–‘”

(pg. 704)

As she should 😂.

But they were such fun characters.

Declan wasn’t able to hack into the room, but he could access the cameras in the Eternal Palace where they did see Sofie go into the Archives. I wonder what it was like for them to see Sofie when they mostly knew her by her reputation. Because they didn’t have access to the archives, they were going to the Eternal Palace to break in👏🏼!!!!!

Sarah J. Maas did not do us dirty!!

Everything after the Sofie and Emile really went down hill and was a chaotic mess of what the heck was going on and wait what????

Going into the Eternal Palace with all the Asteri was obviously stupid and dangerous considering Hunt had been there before when he rebelled. He was kept in the dungeons where unspeakable things happened. I felt like going back there for Hunt had to have been the most traumatic and painful for him considering all that happened in his life for him to end up there. There was this moment before they left where Hunt went back to the barracks to load up on weapons. As he was leaving, Celestina saw him, which obviously didn’t look good that he had a butt load of weapons and was leaving. But something about Hunt holding his Umbra Mortis helmet and then wearing it as he flew off into the night, really made my heart heavy because of how far he had come from being the Umbra Mortis and for him to go back to the Eternal Palace as a changed man with the same suit, had to have felt surreal and weird. But I felt like him going to the barracks and donning his Umbra Mortis attire was an ode to who he used to be and where he was going. Because he was such a better man now. I did wonder what being a Prince now meant for his position in the 33rd because he had a new role now.

But this was the first part in what I felt like a very long series of goodbyes and tying up loose ends. Like someone wasn’t going to make it and they all wanted to say everything they could to get it out there while they did.

I liked the conversation Ithan had with Tharion because I loved their broship. They talked about their messed up love life with Tharion being tied to the River Queen’s daughter and how Ithan used to love Bryce. But they both found peace by making sure they left things how they wanted to.

For Ithan, that meant going to do what we all knew he was going to do. He had met with Hypaxia who helped him get into the Prime house safely because Sabine would have killed him on sight. He informed Sabine and the Prime about the Mystic Alpha wolf and how they should do something because she was a wolf and it was their duty to protect and be there for other wolves. Unsurprising that Sabine didn’t care, but when the Prime followed Ithan as he left, he asked her what the Mystic looked and smiled like. The Prime said Sabine wasn’t the only Fendyr heir. There was another Fendyr heir alive and this Mystic was it. She was an Alpha Fendyr and could very well challenge Sabine as next in line and that could change everything. Sabine might know that the Mystic is the heir or that there is a hero out there. Sabine also had an elder brother she defeated and took his title as Prime, so maybe that’s where the Mystic descended from because the brother would have been packless. But this Mystic wolf was going to be a key player in the future because she was going to be the one to beat Sabine and take her place as the new Alpha and I believed Ithan was going to fall in love with her and be part of her pack. Or that Ithan would start a new pack alongside her.

I don’t know, but what this all meant was hope—-for a better future for the wolves.

But it also meant purpose for Ithan.

“And this task . . . this task was his.

He hadn’t been there to help Danika that night she’d died. But he was here now. Urd had left him alive. He’d fulfill what Danika had left unfinished.

. . . For the first time in weeks, he shifted, and it didn’t hurt one bit. Didn’t leave him feeling the ache of exile, of being backless. No, his wolf form . . . it had focus. A purpose.”

(pg. 721)

Sarah J. Maas and I were on the same wavelength with Ithan.

He had a reason to keep going because he was kept alive and hadn’t been doing anything, but now he had a reason and way to make the world better. I also teared up at the fact that Ithan was redeeming himself in the eyes of Danika because he hadn’t treated well after Danika passed, and now he was going to finish what she started as homage to all she sacrificed for a better tomorrow. I loved when he texted Bryce that he no longer was going with them, that she was so loving and supportive and said that she would always have his back. Knowing how tense their relationship was the last book and to see the love between them now, was so beautiful. She didn’t even ask questions when Ithan said he needed to do something because she trusted him and that what he was doing was right for him. When Ithan ran off into the night, I felt so euphoric and happy for him because he was a good guy and he had a spark in his eye again for something he knew was going to do good. I was so so so happy for Ithan 💙🥺.

BUT I WAS PEZZED for THARION 😡.

Don’t even get me started.

I’m still mad.

Tharion went back to the Blue Court to tie up his loose ends. So he met with the River Queen’s daughter to finally tell her that he didn’t want to be with her. She knew that he didn’t want to be with her that way and strung him along, hoping that he would change his mind one day about her and learn to love him, but he would never love her the way she thinks he will. I was honestly proud of Tharion because he had been running and hiding from her and the River Queen out of fear. but he took his own advice and said he didn’t want the last thing he left in Lunathion to be that he was still stuck in this engagement he didn’t want anymore. That took a lot of guts, especially because this girl was a petty tattle tale and was going to tell her little mom that the mer didn’t want to marry her anymore. Boo freaking hoo. Grow up sis, he doesn’t want to be with you and it’s better if you don’t marry someone who doesn’t want that ☹️. But noooo, she had to go tell her mom. I COULD NOT STAND HER.

When Tharion was Above, he started to run because he knew the River Queen was going to drag his a** Beneath and force him to marry his daughter or at least hold him captive Beneath where he hated it because of her. When he started to run, I knew who he was running to.

And I HATED it.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

He was running to the freaking Viper Queen.

When Bryce and Hypaxia got attacked by Deathstalkers, Ariadne skirted out of there and found her way to the Viper Queen where she struck a deal where Ariadne would work with the Viper Queen in exchange for using that money to slowly buy her freedom. The Viper Queen knew how valuable a dragon was and was not going to trade or give up this deal. But when Tharion knew Ariadne was with the Viper Queen and no one was going to mess with her, he thought the same thing and ran to her before the River Queen would drag his a**.

Just the fact that Tharion hated his life with the River Queen and was basically selling himself to the Viper Queen—-literally assign her to buy him—shattered my already fragile Tharion heart 😫💔.

“You are becoming a slave. To be free of the River Queen.”

(pg. 718)

He was literally trading one enslavement for another.

THARION.

It pained me to know that he felt like this was the only option for him. PAINED ME. GUTTED ME LIKE THE HARPY GUTTED the Fae.

Tharion hated his life and now he was going to still hate his life because he would be under the Viper Queen’s control and his life just SUCKED and he was in a sucky situation and I was MAD.

He just sounded so desperate for the Viper Queen to buy him as a fighter, and that desperation was so painful to hear. The Viper Queen also could sense his distress and at least didn’t say yes right away, but offered him another deal where she would still own him. So he had to defect by drinking her toxic blood as an oath or tie to the Viper Queen. When he heard rumbling and knew that the River Queen was coming to sweep him out, which I mean, did she just blast water in search for him? That seems wild. So Tharion had no choice but to swallow his freedom for another chain to the Viper Queen because the River Queen wouldn’t dare mess with her. After he drank her blood, I honestly felt like a part of the happy, bubbly, wholesome Tharion we know and loved died because he just wanted to be happy and free.

He wanted to live Above and be free, but now he was stuck fighting for the Viper Queen and doing her biding because she owned him and a part of her was in him.

*insert the world’s biggest, most frustrated sigh*

I felt so sad 😭.

If we could free Brittney, we need to free Tharion 😅. #FreeTharion

If Tharion isn’t a free mer by the end of this series, I will revolt on his behalf. I just want Tharion to be free and happy.

Then Ruhn had his whole goodbye with Day where they had their sexy time, but also he told her that he was going to the Eternal Palace. And then she said something about how she couldn’t’ protect him if he was there and something about they know and the dungeons before she was taken away into her real life. Honestly, sis didn’t need to leave us hanging like this!!! What trap and who was they and what about the dungeons????

Ruhn and Cormac’s prince-to-prince heart to heart was also an unexpectedly special conversation I loved 💙.

It’s kind of morbid how they related to having shizzy fathers who used to beat them up—mentally and physically. I wanted to hug Cormac when he asked Ruhn how Ruhn didn’t let the Autumn King break him 😢. Cormac felt like he was broken down so much by his father that it got to his kindness, however, Ruhn was an incredible person who the Autumn King didn’t seem to have effected his humanity. But that’s not Cormac’s fault because he was doing the best he could to be who he knew to be and when you don’t have a model for kindness or don’t know what it feels like, it’s hard to know how to act kind. That’s not an excuse, but I understood him. Ruhn had his mother and all these loving people who kept him grounded and gave him a reason to fight with honor, but Cormac had never had that before. I liked that moment when Ruhn truly saw his cousin and how he wasn’t a bad guy, but he could have been if not for the hurt and pain he harbored from his dad. Generational trauma and hurt is real.

“‘When all this [shiz] is done, . . . I want us to start over.’

‘Us?’

‘You and me. Prince to prince. Future king to future king. Screw the past, and screw that [shiz] with the Starsword. Screw our fathers. We don’t let them decide who we get to be,’ Ruhn extended his hand. ‘We’ll carve our own paths.’

Cormac smiled almost sadly. Then took Ruhn’s hand, clasping firmly. ‘It’d be an honor.'”

(pg.736-7)

I loved loved loved this moment 💙.

Because they were both people raised by hatred, pain, and anger, and yet they had so much heart and love that they both believed the worst in themselves. Seeing Cormac believe himself to be a villain, made Ruhn think about himself and how he painted the same picture of himself because he thought he deserved it. But Ruhn saying this to Cormac was powerful in how they were choosing to be better than their parents and rising above the shiz they’ve been dealt with—that prince-to-prince and future king to future king, that they were going to do better. That there was hope for them to be better and to create a better leadership, which went back to all the other conversations they had.

There was also the short conversation Ruhn had with Bryce before everything happened where he told her about his fate and how he hoped that she would be Autumn Queen instead of the dad. He wanted Bryce to start a fae coup for her to become queen because she was more powerful and she could obviously take the father down. I loved the sound of Autumn Queen, but also I loved how much Ruhn believed in Bryce to become queen. I also loved how Cormac also voiced how much he believed in Bryce as a queen and he circled back to the conversation with the Oracle who told him that their union would bring prosperity. But he retracted how maybe it was never about a marriage union but working together as allies. I mean, I really did like Cormac now and he wasn’t a bad guy. I would love for them to work together You know, if Ruhn doesn’t get his happily ever after and make it out alive of this series I will need to bill Sarah J. Maas for my therapy. Because she keeps alluding to Ruhn not making it or how he’s the last in his line and I feel like she’s trying to mentally prepare us readers for Ruhn to not make it but I will never be mentally prepared for that day 🥺.

Bryce and Hunt also had their moment with verbalizing how scared they were to go to the Eternal Palace. It felt authentic to see Bryce’s fear because what they were doing felt like a goodbye in someways or like a high-stakes moment they couldn’t come back from. I loved how Hunt also said he was terrified because of the stakes, of possibly losing her, or whatever was to come. They both could feel their fear and go through it together. I also loved the moment Bryce looked at the picture of her and her friends and how much sh elves them, but also feel like she didn’t know them or that the person she was back then didn’t even know all she knew know. That’s a feeling I feel al to when I look at past pictures of myself, thinking how much in pain I was and yet at the time, I also thought I was okay. But there’s this sense of nostalgia or an out of body experience to reminisce about who you sued to be because you know the hurt or emotions you felt back then that no one saw through but you, how desperately you wanted someone to see that version. Sometimes I cry for the person I was and how much she was hurting and no one saw to help me because that girl deserved so much better. But I also mourn the fact that I could have had something better if people cared enough to see my pain. If only that girl knew though how much she would grow into the person she is today, doing and feeling things I never thought I would feel.

“But . . . I know how if feels to wake up one day and wonder how you got so far from that carefree person you once were.”

(pg. 733)

They both understood how it felt to not really know others and lose yourself, but I feel like that’s life and people and situations grow and change.

Their life was going to change.

I loved their whole game plan scene with the whole gang because it gave me some Kaz Brekker, Six of Crows vibes 😆. I loved it though. The game plan was for Declan to turn off the cameras as the made their way through the Palace, and Flynn would be Delcan’s back up for support. Ruhn was going to sneak off at one point to save Day if he could find her. And then Hunt would wait for Bryce while she wen into the archives. Tharion and Cormac would cause a distraction in the Pangeran Labs with the mech-suits, that way the Asteri pour their focus on the raid in the Labs rather than what was going down in the archives.

It truly did feel like a las hurrah.

“Team F*** You, remember? We’ll kick a**.”

(pg. 745)

I LAUGHED. We love team F*** You 😂. I need that on a t-shirt please.

Everything after is where I really had no reading chill and my brain hurt.

First, let’s talk about Tharion and Cormac’s side of the plan: the distraction.

Tharion and Cormac got to the labs and they both decided to blow everything in the lab up because why not—-team f*** it, am I right? Then they encountered Pippa and things kind of went to shiz. The way Tharion described Cormac’s unhinged energy didn’t seem weird because I mean, he was a prince let off his leash and he could finally say f*** it to the Asteri. But when Tharion realized that Cormac was going rouge because he never intended to get out of their alive, it all made sense and I was pained!!!!! PAINED, I TELL YOU!!

Cormac really said I was going big and leaving with a bag 😭.

Oh, darn, was that too soon😂.

But when he had that conversation earlier with Ruhn about starting over and he shook Ruhn’s hand with a sad look, it was because he planned to not make it back and he knew he was falsely promising something to Ruhn. Also, Cormac sacrificing himself for the greater good made sense to his morals and values of how he kept saying in the beginning that he would give up his life for a better world. And here he was doing just that. Tharion ran off because part of him had to since he was tethered to the Viper Queen. But I really did want Tharion to have stepped up and at least try to help Cormac and not let himself just sacrifice himself. But Cormac blazed bright as a ball of fire and he burned that whole thing down with him and Pippa in it. It took me a few minutes to process if it was real or not if he made it out 😭. He made the sacrifice he wanted for a better world. He could have been better with Ruhn and Bryce as future kings and allies.

But now he was joining the love of his life, Sofie, as going down with the cause and I could not 😭.

I never thought when I first met him that it would break my heart to see him go.

He was a good guy 💔.

Bryce, Hunt, and Ruhn had a really somber tone on their end of the plan.

You know, if Bryce could have teleported inside the Archives, then why didn’t we think of that sooner!! My gosh, I thought the plan was for her to punch in the code or somethin, not teleport in. But my gosh she was in. The Archives had a stairwell and hallways and doorways, Bryce went down a hallway that had plaques of the Asteri names: Hesperus, Polaris, Eosphoros, Octartis, Austrus, Sirius, Rigelus. What she saw was how there was firstlight that ran through the ground and through pipes into these screens that showed the percentages of each Asteri. The Asteri’s power basically worked like a an external charger and they had to be charged to function—like a freaking phone!!!!!

“All the Drops made, the secondlight, the dead handed over . . . All the power the people gave them . . . it was gobbled up by the Asteri and used against its citizens. To control them.

. . . They were all just food for the Asteri. A never-ending supply of power.”

(pg. 751)

This was the SECRET!!!

The Asteri weren’t made out of stars, they were powered by the light that the citizens gave them—the people kept them in power and they used that power to control everything the citizens did to continue to make sure they were in power, which was some messed up shiz if I ever heard any. But honestly, it’s not really surprising in the way that powerful beings used the citizens powers to keep them in line. It sounds like American power in how America keeps the rabble in line by feeding us lies or keeping us complacent while they continue to do things that aren’t right but they control us still because we let them keep us in line and complacent. They use and abuse their power against us. I mean, the secret shook me, but the reality of the secret hit home. Because this whole time they were lied to that Asteri were powerful beings when they weren’t. They were vulnerable. So it made me wonder who exactly were these Asteri and who selected them as the most powerful? How did the Asteri form? Why them?

If the citizens stopped making the Drop or giving them firstlight, then the Asteri would be weak and then we could take them down. But also shook me was when Bryce found a door called Dusk and she walked in and found this room with stars and planets. As she looked at the stars and maps, she saw red dots of planets and places that said the parent name, the year and whether or not that planet had been conquered. In those labels she also saw why that conquering didn’t work out. The Asteri had been around for years and had been conquering all these planets and people and terminating them!?!!?!?!? I don’t understand if they meant like they terminated the entire planet or just the people and system they established them. Most of the reasons the Asteri terminated a planet was because people found out about their Asteri secret or the planet was not as inhabitable as they thought. If all these planets were figuring out their secret, you think they would have learned to, I don’t know, freaking lock up their darn Archives better 🤪!!! IDIOTS.

The Asteri were conquerers and they fed on people’s powers!!!!!

The Asteri had lured them all to Midgard and the people of Lunathion were all travelers from a different world but they were farmed and fed to make them easier to rule.I was getting the sense that the Asteri brought them to Midgard as an experiment to breed certain qualities out and then when they did, they had this somewhat perfect world of people they could control and keep in line (pg. 757). In what Bryce read, it also sounded like there were two types of Fae with the Avallen and the Valbaran. The Valbaran Fae were from an Isle with permanent twilight, so maybe a land of dusk??? Project dusk 🤔!!! A land of permanent darkness made me instantly think of Velaris and the Nightcourt because dusk, night, potato, po-tah-toe 😂. But wouldn’t that be wild though if Valbaran Fae—what Bryce and Ruhn were—-came from Velaris? Ruhn had the winnowing power and shadow power of Azriel and Bryce had the star power similar to what Feyre had. I mean, it wouldn’t be far off. But then wasn’t there another island in the ACOTAR war that sunk or was lost and that could be the Dusk Court 😯.

Then there was the Fae shifters who used to be stronger like everyone was talking about, but they were bred out because the Fae shared a form with an animal. Shifters who are Fae reminded me a lot of Rowan from Throne of Glass 🤔 because he could shift into a eagle? haha sorry, it’s been years since I’ve read ToG, I know he shifts into a bird. But Rowan was a shifter and a Fae, so were we saying that the people of Midgard came from the ToG world???!??!?!?! The Asteri bred out the shifter Fae’s pointed ears, which also was a hint to Aelin and Rowan because they had pointed ears as Fae. But they were also breaded out because the Asteri didn’t want two magical Fae beings that could beat them.

What Bryce also discovered was how Hel was invaded by the Asteri but they saw past the Asteri and they rose up against the Asteri and they won, so they abandoned the Hel realm. Reading how Hel was lost to the Asteri, made more sense to me now because it goes back to what Adias and Apolloin had been saying this whole time or the whole book had been hinting at—-that the Princes of Hel were not the enemies, they were the allies. If anything they were all preparing for a war against Midgard and that was what Adias and Apollion were warning Hunt and Bryce about, that they were coming and were going to start a war with the Asteri and end them, and they wanted Hunt and Bryce to be on their side and to use their powers to their full extent. Even if Bryce and Hunt weren’t on their side, I felt like they wanted worthy opponents they could fight I guess. But they weren’t the bad guys, the Asteri were. It made sense to me now.

Bryce was teeming with fury and looked at the maps to find the original planet the Asteri had come from, but that’s when Rigelus decided to announce he knew Bryce was in the Crystal Palace because very thing had been a trap and orchestrated by him. Everything from the past book to now was orchestrated by him. Rigelus knew Danika was onto him with the origin of the Asteri from her bloodhound powers and researching her lineage and being curious about where the Asteri came from. That lead Danika down all her research paths including meeting with Sofie and discussing their powers and where they came from. Because Danika was so close to discovering the Asteri’s secret, they called it Project Thurr, which didn’t make sense to me. A Mystic was able to see how close Danika was to the information and how Danika was also working with the Ophion rebels, that Rigelus was the one who plated the idea of synth in Micah, which in turn pointed him toward Danika. So it was never really MIcah’s fault for what happened, although it was, but this whole time Rigelus knew what Danika knew and manipulated everything to push Micah into acting on his behalf to get what happened to Danika to happen—-for Danika to use the synth against herself. It really boggled my mind and I could only imagine how betrayed and furious Bryce was to know that after everything she hadn’t really killed the person who killed her best friend. That person was sitting on his high throne, watching all these people do his biding for him.

Bryce teleported out of there before Rigelus could get to her, but when she went back to where Ruhn and Hunt were supposed to be, she saw Hunt in shackles with the Harpy behind him 😫!!! I was terrified for Hunt. Ruhn had winnowed or went off somewhere to go find Day because that was a big part of his role—to save the love of his life. However, when he went to find Day, he was met by Mordoc in the hallway.

So now they were all trapped in the dungeon and I just felt this overwhelming sense of doom and helpless!

NOOOOOO! Hunt was captured, Bryce was captured, and Ruhn was captured and they had Gorsian manacles and Tharion ran away and Cormac . . . Oh, don’t even get me started on Cormac. I mean, no one could literally save them besides Ithan who was off doing his own thing. And Fury and Juniper had left the city.

I was like, what now?!?!!?

The Harpy was going to gut Ruhn first, and I was not here for it. When Bryce pleaded with the Harpy and Hunt also told the Harpy to go for him, my heart could not. They all loved Ruhn so much to sacrifice themselves in place of him. But then the Harpy was going to make a move until something hit her on the back.

Okay, you know the whole Asteri Archive secret was surprising and valuable information, but the thing that really blew my mind was the fact that Day was the mother trucking HIND!!!!

I was shook.

My mind was literally blown.

Out of everything in this book, I was reeling.

How was the Hind, Day?

It made no sense to me, but it did. It was so weird to see a different side—a gentler, vulnerable—side of the Hind talk to Ruhn and the gang in that dungeon room and that she had gone there to rescue them. Dang, the way that the Hind went full throttle on someone who was her ally and took her down like nothing was astounding and epic. I was holding my breath the whole time because wow—-just the power and anger these ladies exuded.

I had my heart broken multiple times while reading, but nothing prepared me for when Ruhn said, “Day,” and the Hind responded “Night.” 😢.

It’s a sad day when love dies 🥺.

I just . . . my gosh, I felt for Ruhn. He loved Day/Lidia/the Hind, but to discover she was a lethal killer who murdered all these people for years and had this killer reputation, that had to hurt for him because it felt wrong to love someone who was a bad person, but there was also this visceral tug I knew he felt because he still cared.

“How he could abhor her, and need her, be drawn to her in the same breath.”

(pg. 776)

I felt like this quote encapsulated how Ruhn felt perfectly. I mean, he felt guilty for loving a monster who had all this blood on her hands and he knew what kind of things she had done. And the way he looked at her after he discovered she was a monster, broke my heart. It probably broke her heart too because she loved him back, and feared the way he would perceive her and she was right to fear that. All the thighs she did couldn’t be looked past just because she was a decent person to him in some dream world. I genuinely never thought I’d say this about the Hind, but I don’t think she’s a bad person either if all these years she had been rebelling and using the Asteri knowledge against them. I think part of her hated how she grew up and how it turned her into a monster and she wanted to better to create a better world, so she became a rebel. I wonder when that switch happened for her? I also wondered how she become the Hind/how she got her reputation or fell into her line of work? I wondered more about her upbringing because that morbid Snow White story was her story in someways but she wasn’t a witch, but she did have to change who she was a lot and at the end she saw herself as a monster, which made me sad. I mean, why did she feel like she had to become the Hind? I was really interested in learning more about her because there’s so much to dissect in her actions.

She did all she did for duty and to rebel, but I wondered if it was worth it to her to have become who she was and if she recognized who she was? Which I guess she didn’t because of what she said in her conversations with Ruhn. I just sensed some good left in her, and I wanted to tap into that more. Also, when she drowned Sofie and went after the CC gang on Yada, that white stone she dropped was a actually a calling stone—a beacon—that summoned the Ocean Queen and that’s why the Depth Charger rescued Sofie’s body and the CC gang both days. So Lidia had been helping all of them in secret. She was truly not the person I thought she was.

She even pretended that Bryce, Hunt, and Ruhn had killed the Harpy and managed to get her down when Mordoc walked into the room—she was still playing a spy.

Mordoc walked all three of them to Rigelus for his evil monologue 😂.

I could not though with this cryptic Sarah J. Maas foreboding of when Hunt said that this was the last time he would hold his mate’s hand. The Hind had whispered something to Bryce and unlocked her shackles, but Bryce still pretended they were on for show. But Byrce and him held hands as they walked. But I could not stop thinking about why Sarah J. Maas would say that was the last time Hunt would hold her hand unless she meant it 😭!!!!

You know, in the beginning of the book, Hunt and Bryce asked this:

“You’d almost think this was planned by the Gods. They probably have a special task force: How to F*** Over Byrce and Hunt in One Day.”

(pg. 67)

This moment brought me back to this quote because that god was Sarah J. Maas and she would not let them find peace and happiness 😫!!! Sarah J. Maas cut these people a break!!!!

I can’t.

In his evil monologue, Rigelus reveled that Celestina was aware of Hunt’s secret activities with the lie that Bryce needed Hunt to visit her parents and when Hunt left the barracks with all those weapons. I guess she would always be an Archangel first, but I also understood she needed to protect herself and Hypaxia because her safety came first. I just thought Celestina was different and wouldn’t go to the Asteri about everything.

Rigelus also faked being Adias that day when Bryce was in her apartment and Ithan saw the cat. He shifted as Adias to get Bryce to rebel and point her towards exploring more of her powers so that she could open the gates between worlds. He kept testing her powers throughout the summer with the Death-stalkers and the Bone Quarter to see if she was ready. Apollion was real because he again, wasn’t the enemy. It was Rigelus who was trying to open the gate—or Bryce to open the gate—so he could attack Hel. That was why the Princes were readying themselves not to fight Midgard, but defend and protect themselves. When Queen Theia sided with Adias in the war, she managed to close teh gates to the other words and that was why the Asteri were stuck in Midgard and couldn’t go to other realms, but using Byrce’s Starborn and Horn power could. Bryce’s star tattoo also was powerful in how it was a beacon from the world the Fae originally came from and it glowed near the Fae with the most clear/undiluted bloodlines. So that was why her star glowed around Cormac. But the star also glowed for the persons’s most loyal companion, so Hunt. The star would lead the Asteri back to the world and the Asteri wanted to exact revenge on the people who overthrew their brethren because their original attempt was spoiled by an ancestor who also bore the star tattoo on their chest. I was wondering, where was this original Asteri homeland and where did they want to go for revenge besides Hel? Are we talking about the ToG world?

Bryce like any hero made a deal that she would help Rigelus open the portal if he let Ruhn and Hunt go and leave them unharmed forever. I didn’t want her to go through with the deal, but I didn’t understand why it felt so final. I mean, wasn’t she just going to open the portal and return back to Ruhn and Hunt? Why were they saying all these final goodbyes?

And why was Sarah J. Maas torturing us again with Hunt saying this was the last time he’d see her?? Why all these dramatic goodbyes to Ruhn too??? When he told her long live the queen and gave her the Starsword???

Was she not coming back.

I was sobbing. What was going on????😭

“I love you. I wish I’d said it more. But I love you, Quinlan, and. . . . Our love is stronger than time, greater than any distance. Our love spans across stars and worlds. I will find you again. I promise.”

(pg. 785)

Are you combusting or am I?

What do you mean he would find her????? Where is she going?

Bro, it was like they all knew what she was going to do before they walked into that room—-everyone but me 🤪. Ruhn asked if she was ready and Hunt knew the signal and then it hit me. She was going to go to Hel alone so she could bring back the armies to fight the Asteri. Instead of opening up a portal for Rigelus, Bryce blasted Rigelus with light and ran backwards towards the Gate she saw in the room, the Gate she was supposed to open. She teleported fast to the gate because Riglus was on her, she kept going and going and then she fell through the gate and let it swallow her whole. When she fell through I literally didn’t know what to do with myself or what to think.

Hunt said that his love spanned across stars and worlds because he knew Bryce was going to go to Hel and that was the journey she needed to take alone, but he would find his way back to her. I just didn’t understand why they all couldn’t go to Hel like all the characters in The Mortal Instruments did 😂? Like, I’m serious. Why couldn’t they go with her? I’m pretty sure if they jumped in at the same time they all could have gone together, and they wouldn’t’ have had to say goodbye and endure the utter agony of being left behind.

MY GOSH.

I thought I was done feeling immense pain from Hunt and Bryce and Ruhn all saying goodbye to each other. Wait, let me take a second to acknowledge how much I loved how Sarah J. Maas selected these three main characters to go through the pain of the last scene because these are the core three characters in the book because they have the most history and love, and for them to endure that goodbye and this hardship together was a special moment that attested to the love they had and power they would have. They trusted each other that they would get through this together, and for them to share that was absolutely beautiful. Painful, but beautiful.

But back to what happened. With Bryce who knows where, Hunt and Ruhn were still in Rigelus’s clutches. I didn’t know what he would do with them. What would happen to Ruhn? Oh, and Baxian was there too and they knew he was also a rebel who tried to help team f-it in his won way.

But when Pollux made Hunt get on his knees and instead of beating Hunt, Pollux touched a hand to his forehead . . .

I. WAS. OVER. IT.

Sarah J. Maas 😫!!!!!!!

What did Hunt ever do to you??????

WHHHHHHY!!!!!???

He was just free and then now he was enslaved again and he had this dang halo of thorns on his head again and oh my gosh I can’t even describe the ache in my heart for how loud Hunt screamed like it was a phsycial burn on his heart to be back to where he was all these years ago. I don’t even know what to say. There really aren’t words for the hurt I feel for Hunt or the anger I have for the Asteri. My Hunt😭.

I need therapy.

But when he recovered from the halo on his forehead, the way the life seemed to ooze out of him and he said his life, his freedom, his future with Bryce was gone . . . What do you mean it was GONE???

All gone.

No. No. NO. No. No. No. No. I will not and refuse to believe that Hunt honest get his life, his freedom, or his future with Bryce back because if he doesn’t, Sarah J. Maas will have a million fans who will need her to pay for their therapy, mines included.

I don’t think so.

#FreeTharion and #FreeHunt and #FreeBaxian and #FreeRuhn.

Honestly, free them all 🤪.

I’m so upset.

Later, Flynn and Declan called Ithan where Flynn sounded so haunted and lifeless. He told Ithan Tod about what happened with Ruhn and Hunt being taken prisoner by the Asteri, Tharion running off, Cormac being blasted to bits, and Bryce disappearing into a different world. The utter pain I felt from Flynn was surreal because he was usually flirty, but he seemed so devoid of life and hope.

“‘We need you,’ Flynn said, and his voice was full of an authority that people outside the Aux rarely heard. ‘We’re friends now, wolf. Get your furry a** over here.'”

. . . ‘Please . . . My friends need me. My . . . my pack needs me.'”

(pg. 801)

We left off with Ithan telling the Mystic wolf in the Astronomers building to wake up because his pack needed him. He called team F*** it his pack 🥺.

The world rested on Ithan, Flynn, and Declan’ shoulders.

Honestly, I have some thoughts that we’re going to get into.

But Bryce. Where did she go?

First, when she saw grass, I was like okay. Then a winged figure who was beautiful and had a nice voice seemed okay too. I had no idea Byrce spoke a different language from the people in this world because she spoke English to me, but they couldn’t understand her. But then they blindfolded her to a nice house that smelled like roses and bread and instantly my mind went to the Spring Court because roses, bread, grass 😂. But then Bryce kept saying Prince Adias and asking if she was in Hel and I kept cracking up because ovbisuly she wasn’t and these people thought she was crazy. Then and small, woman with almond eyes who looked like Fury showed up. My brain went to Amren. And then the female Fae next to Bryce’s captor wielded a sword similar to the Starsword, and called it Gwydion. My brain went to the guy must be Cassian and the girl Nesta *screaming on the inside*. But when two more people came in the room, a “lovely female and a male with short black hair with leathery rings and violet blue eyes like Ruhn” came in, I don’t know if I screamed or what because I was speechless.

WHAT.

The.

Fudge.

I could not with Bryce continuing to ask if she was in heck. And then Amren translated what Bryce was saying and how Bryce language wasn’t a language spoken in years. When Bryce mentioned her mate and her world, I was like, Rhysand and and Feyre and Cassian and Nesta know all about mates.

Because it was freaking Rhysand and we were in Velaris!!!!!!

Nothing is more iconic than when Rhysand introduced himself.

I’m still processing.

I don’t know what to do with myself or what to think

What a game changer.

If you look at my ACOSF book review in December of 2021, I literally talked about Sarah J. Maas opening up the Sarah J. Maas multiverse and SHE DELIVERED!!!!!!! 😱

She either read my blog post 🤪 or she had been working up to this multiverse her entire career.

Don’t even get me started on my theories I have.

Because literally anything could happen now. I mean, are we going to get the fifth ACOTAR book first and what will that be about or are we getting CC three first and what will that be about? Or are we getting a merged version of all those books to eat two candies with one mouth or something? I don’t know. But she literally merged to active plots together, which is wild and insane and wow. I cannot believe she actually made the multiverse. I feel like she had been working up to it though, which is insane. To continue to remember the plots of all the worlds she created and have them line up across space, time, and worlds. That’s insane.

That’s queen level sh** 👏🏼.

I’ve read books where there were spin-offs and fantasy novels that took place in the same world but at different times, but never a series that opened up a multiverse of trying to merge characters, worlds, and plots. I mean, I think the end of House of Sky and Breath happens after the end of ACOSF because Nesta had just created Gwydion, which is her sword. Also, I remember in Kingdom of Ash, how Aelin fell through the realms and she flew by Velaris where she saw Rhysand and Feyre gazing at the sky with her baby bump. And in ACOSF, there was the harp of the 26 or 27 worlds that Sarah J. Maas talked about where if you pluck the string, you go to that realm. So were the other realms that Bryce named in the Dusk room, the other planets? Also, how were Gwydion and the Starsword related.

I love the idea of merging the stories and the multiverse, but now my mind is a cluster truck of trying to remember all the plot lines and figuring out what makes sense and who the Asteri are and what will happen next.

I mean, first let’s talk about how I’m excited to see Bryce in Velaris. I truly am. I think she will get along with the Inner Circle because Bryce will bring the sass 😂 and they all have a mouth on them. I’m so hyped for their banter and interactions. I have a feeling that Bryce will get along well with Nesta or either butt heads because they are two strong, fierce women. But I also see Bryce training with the Valkyrie 😆!!!! I really can picture it and I am HYPED. I think Bryce fell in Velaris to harness her power and to discover the similarities between her Starborn power and Feyre and maybe Nesta’s power because maybe they are the same. I also want to see Cassian teach Bryce how to tap into that power like he did with Nesta. Maybe Bryce can also be given more reign over exploring the Horn power. Is the Horn power similar to the three special trove items Nesta found? Is that a thing? I don’t know. But Bryce’s Horn power will for sure help her open a portal again to hopefully get back to her realm, where I hope she brings the IC to help her take down the Asteri butt. Man, this is like some Avengers: Endgame shiz with their individual worlds and them all coming together for the big battle takedown of the Asteri. Impinge Hunt and Rhysand interacting!!!!! When I first met Hunt, I envisioned someone who kind of looked like Rhysand—not going to lie—and knowing that there is a high key possibility that they will meet and interact, gives me all the euphoric giddiness. I can’t wait. I just can’t wait to see these characters merge and interact because I LOVE THEM 💙. They are all sooo good and I would cry to see how they get along. I am crying.

But the question is, are we going to tie in the ToG world? You know, the Shifters and everything. I read some theories about how the original Asteri world was the ToG world because of the Shifters and it seems like the ACOTAR world descended from the ToG world with similar powers, which would make sense. But imagine Aelin, Feyre, and Bryce KICKING A**!!!! ICONIC 👏🏼!!!!

I’m so ready. Like if we brought all the worlds together with Manon with her wyverns and her teaming up with Hypaxia and maybe Celestina and maybe also Yrene and Chaol because Yrene is a healer. Or Dorian would team up with, I don’t know maybe Ithan or Ruhn and Lysandra teeming up with Tharion and Ruhn, Rowan, Ryhsand, and Hunt all being bros together to fight back. UGH, ICONIC. I can’t wait for the day if Sarah J. Maas is going to write that. I don’t know how she will do it, but I am so curious and here for it.

I also want to know if Ruhn is related or descended from Rhysand because they have the same eye color and powers. They both had shadow powers, and honestly teleporting is basically winnowing. I also want to know why Byrce said Fury looked like Amren. Amren has always been a mysterious character because we don’t really know who she is and where she came from, which is similar to Fury. So are they the same? Why could Amren understand Bryce and no one else? What exactly is Amren’s backstory again 😂? Because she’s ancient and probably knows the Asteri and what could also take them down. You know if Bryce knew that the Asteri could be taken down by getting rid of the firstlight against them, wouldn’t it have just been easier to hit there than portal to a different realm? But I guess she couldn’t just run rampant on the streets saying the Asteri sucked their power without people thinking her inebriated so she needed to form her army to fight back.

I have so many questions.

Let’s start with where do we go for CC3 and my hopes and ideas, then I’ll talk about hopes and ideas for the multiverse (even though I’m very aware I already talked about some of my theories).

For CC3 specifically, we need to see Hunt, Ruhn, Tharion, and Baxian be free.

That comes first and foremost in the Lunathion world because I will not be happy if my favorite guys are not free and doing their thing. I think because the main guys are prisoners (in their own ways), Declan, Ithan, Flynn, and the Hind will have a bigger role because they are going to work together to free them and then Hypaxia and Celestina will also play a role to maybe free Hunt again from his enslavement. They also need to free Baxian from the horn crown around his forehead as well. If Hypaxia was able to do it once, then I’m pretty sure she can do it again, right? She has to. I also think it might drive a rift between Celestina and Hypaxia because Celestina seems more about her duty because she has more responsibility as an archangel, however, Hypaxia would be more likely to rebel to save Ruhn, Hunt, and Tharion because she knows them a lot better. Also, maybe Isaih and Naomi will have a bigger part n saving Hunt and his friends because they are close with them too and they should look out for their friends. Heck, we should just let everyone join this gosh darn rebellion. But with all these characters as prisoners, it does feel like other characters will get the chance to step up and show how powerful, clever, and amazing they are as characters.

We need to free Hunt fist and foremost because he will go all lightning berserk, trying to tear the world apart to find Bryce. I think he needs to find her and then he needs to go to Velaris 😂. But he will keep his promise and find his mate, and I think that he will explore his powers more to be able to open up a gate or fall through it the same way Bryce did, and then their mate bond will draw him to that world. Hunt might get more dream things with Apollion or other Princes to help him hone his powers to be at his best. I ned to also know more about where Hunt came from—who his family/parents are, how he got his powers, why is his powers different, what did Apollion mean that Hunt was bred to hunt Hel’s creatures? Who is this dude. The other option fo Hunt finding Bryce is that Bryce will open up a portal for her to go to her mate because they have that bond. But finding Bryce while also possibly leading the war efforts is what Hunt is going to do; he’s going to rally and ally people to prepare his war effort so when Bryce comes back or he finds her, they will be ready. He already participated in two rebellions and led one, he can lead another 😂, and this time it will work because he will have Velaris, Hel’s creatures, and the different Houses backing him up. The whole shebang. I believe Hunt is going to team F*** it up!

But first, he needs his woman 👏🏼.

Also, I think he will become closer to Baxian and we will explore more of his redemption. I think that would be super fun. I don’t think Pollux or Mordoc will ever change because they are too far gone from having a decent bone in their body, but if anything I think it would be epic to see Baxian go against Pollux and take him down. To see two partners tear against each other—-good over bad.

For Tharion, his freedom is a bit different. I think we still need to find a way to free him of the Viper Queen and the River Queen and that Hypaxia is going to help him do so. They are close friends and Hypaxia has power and connections to Celestina so she would help her close friend find freedom. Also, I feel like if Bryce came back into Lunathion and she did take up her title as queen—-knock the Autumn King from his position—-that Tharion should swear allegiance to her because Bryce wouldn’t be a tyrant and controlling. She would allow Tharion to do as he pleases and to also provide him space to wet his toes to still be a mer. But I like the idea of Tharion finding solace under Queen Quinlan because they are already friends and in some ways he wouldn’t feel as trapped in his situations. I just want Tharion to be happy. I think he might follow a darker arc in the third book and that we might explore more of his family and sister background because that is still a mystery. If we’re going by House names for each book, the House of Many Waters is next, so it would make sense if we explore Tharion’s character a lot more and the whole ocean network with the four River Queens and the Ocean Queen. Maybe we might even see Sendes again. Honestly, yea, let’s see all these other ocean creatures because we only know about the Mer and the otters, but there are many other ocean people. What is that network Beneath like? I want to also know why the River Queen is so threatening and how she got to where she is.

I want to know if the River Queen will challenge the Viper Queen and that causes some tension in Lunathion. But probably not because nobody messes with the Viper Queen. I wonder why people are absolutely terrified of her though.

For Ithan, I believe he’s is going to take more of a leadership role because he is a natural born alpha as the Prime sensed. I think he’s going to lead everything with Declan and Flynn because they are his pack, but they are also equals. I know Ithan is also going to work with the Mystic wolf to find a way to challenge Sabine’s authority and to build the Mystic’s wolves strength and power because she had been in a tub since she was four. We’re also going to learn more about the Mystic wolf’s lineage in what Fendyr she is and hopefully her name. Maybe she’ll give herself a chosen name, which will reclaim her power. I think the Mystic wolf will beat Sabine because Sabine is day old garbage and then the Mystic wolf will have a pack and Ithan might have a pack or he might still with his found family pack, but either way, Ithan will have a purpose. I also want Ithan to have that conversation/closure with Connor because I think we need it. I think Bryce should also have that conversation with Connor too if she can (you know, make it back to Lunathion). But I think it would be powerful and break my tear ducts to see Ithan speak to his brother about his fears and worries and his brother reassure him that he was proud of Ithan and the wolf he was becoming. Also, we didn’t really get closure with the whole is-Connors-soul-safe thing because the Under-King kept saying he was in some sort of isolated holding place, but was he okay. Ithan might actually still find a way to rescue Connor’s soul so that Connor can live peacefully because he would want that for his brother. I think he might make another reappearance to the Mystic house and the Astronomer. Also, for the Astronomer, we need to shut down his business eventually, but I want to keep him around so we discover more about the multiverse and gain more answers.

I think the sprites that Ithan, Flynn, and Declan freed will be useful when gaining more allies in the war. The Sprites already allied with Bryce because she was friends with Lebedah who was the last Sprite in her line. So things are looking good on that front, but I think they might have a medium role to play because sprites are very clever and they fun. Ariadne is also going to have a huge role. I think because Tharion and her are both under the Viper Queen’s power, they are going to get closer—-possible love interests?—-and bond over the pain of feeling like a captive most of their life. I want to know where Ariadne came from and if there are more dragons and where. I also want to know how she came to be in the Astronomers rings. I also think we should explore her power because if she can burn Hel creatures, that would be useful, but then again Hel was the ally. What else could she do? We also have to free her from the Viper Queen as well because she should be a free dragon to return home and fly free or whatever dragons do.

Celestina and Hypaxia might rebel because their love is stronger than the Asteri and they shouldn’t tolerate being played as pawns or breeders because they are women. We need to take down this Midgard patriarchy. In the great words of Taylor Swift, “F*** the patriarchy.” 😂 But seriously, I just want them to be happy as well. Ruhn definitely needs to call off his engagement with Hypaxia.

Speaking of Ruhn, I want to know what his dynamic will be like with the Hind/Lidia once he gets free. Will he start to trust her more if he helps to free them from the Crystal Palace? I think that they will still meet in their mind to discuss tactics to get out of the Crystal Palace and to rebel against the Asteri. But they will probably also have more difficult conversations about what their relationship is because Ruhn doesn’t know if he should look past all the monstrous things the Hind did, but there’s a part of him that does. I think the Hind will explain herself and we will get more answers to who the Hind is—-who Lidia is and how she came to the cause. Ruhn and Lidia will be another power couple for sure, and it’s interesting how both see themselves as not good enough but they see each other as better—-Lidia sees herself as the monster and Ruhn never thought that as Day, and Ruhn sees himself as nothing and Lidia never thought that as Night. I want Ruhn to find love and make it out of this series alive and that he won’t be the last in his line.

I believe Emile could have a part in the next book. I like to think that finding and introducing his character meant something, so maybe he will surprise us in having a bigger role. Also, Ember and Randall’s reaction to Byrce not being there anymore, will tear me up. I. also have a high hunch that more information about Danika will present itself because this girl had a lot of secrets and I refuse to believe that we had learned them all.

I’m just really excited to learn more about these dynamic characters and where their story lines take them.

I think that the Princes of Hel will make more an appearance as allies with the CC gang, which will be interesting to see that dynamic. I actually want Adias in this book. I also want Jesiba and her knowledge because she definitely keeping away and hiding something.

For Byrce, like I mentioned, she will probably train with the Valkyries!!! I mean, how bada** would that be!?!?!

I’m shook just thinking about it! That would be SO cool. Bryce really is going to tap into her power there.

I also thinks he will find a new dynamic with the Inner Circle, and get more answers about their world, which might help her understand her world. She might also visit other courts and see other people—-really explore the ACOTAR world. I think someone needs to use some magic so her words are easily translated because I doubt Amren is just going to sit near her all day to translate. I wonder what Rhysand and Feyre are going to do with Bryce in their world and their court because she’s literally from another world. Are they also going to learn about all the other worlds from Bryce and that’s going to blow their mind? I want them to join Bryce in the fight against the Asteri and take them down because we need some action up in here 😅. But Feyre does have her baby to think about, so I don’t know if she would fight or not, but we’re not going to fight in Velaris (I hope) because we already trashed it before with everything else, so we need to bring the fight back to Midgard and Lunathion. I think Bryce will open up the portal again to her world and then come as a big entrance with all the IC characters and more. I think that would be Avengers: Endgame level of epic. But she will probably use her Horn and Starlight power to do so, or she will use a combined power with someone in Velaris with similar powers. We also need to explore how Gwydion is similar to the Starsword. I know that in ACOSF, that there was a sister sword to Gwydion but it burned or something, I forgot 😅, but I know it no longer existed. But could the Starsword be that sword or is the Starsword just the Midgard variation? Ugh, not me using the word variation. Someone call the TVA 😂. I want to know if using the swords side by side is lethal. Imagine Nesta and Bryce fighting side by side with their powerful swords—-bad a** 👏🏼, I tell you!

Now, the multiverse blows my mind.

Honestly, I love the multiverse idea to see all these characters and worlds come together, but I’m not going to lie, it’s a lot. And it confuses me 😂. But I love it. It’s just there’s soooo much to consider and think about and my brain doesn’t really have the storage for all the things I read of Sarah J. Maas. Like I know the general idea of what happens in the Sarah J. Maas multiverse, but not the details and I think the details are important to piece together how everything makes sense. But for context, I started reading Throne of Glass when I was 14—so eight years ago. A sis has read a plethora of books in that time and I try to remember the general feeling and detail of all the books I’ve read. And not to even say the amount of academics and life changes I’ve been through since I was 14, so I don’t remember every detail and I don’t think unless you reread all the books, you remember all the details. I’m thoroughly convinced I need to go back and reread all the books now because one) it would be fun and I love Sarah J. Maas and two) it would be different to read the books now that I’m older and I would hope, I understood everything more. But also, her books are 800+ and ain’t nobody got time for that 😂 unless you make time. I really wish, but being an adult sucks 🤪 because you don’t have time. I’m joking it doesn’t suck being an adult, sometimes it does, like everything, but you know, as a reader you really wish there was more time to read. Anyway, point is, I am not the best person to give multiverse theories.

But if I were, I do think that the Shifters descend from the ToG world and the CC powers and characters descend mostly from the ACOTAR world based on what I know. I don’t think Rhysand and Ruhn are related, but I think they spring from the same Fae power. I also think that. we might use the Harp to open a portal to the ToG world. Because I think Aelin closed the portals with the Wryd keys and now it can’t be opened, but maybe it could? I don’t know if I remember correctly. I think Amren might be an original Asteri/Archangel thing based on some theories I read, which I will link so you can read them too. But maybe? I think Midgard is the most recent planet the Asteri tried to conquer, but why do they need firstlight to live? What exactly is firstlight? If Bryce did make it back to Midgard, she’s going to have to get rid of the firstlight and maybe the Drop to stop their powers.

I don’t know what else to say because I don’t know what to say, but I like this theory:

Honestly, I’m just hyped for the Sarah J. Maas Multiverse.

I may not fully understand it until I do, but I am here for it.

A. big shoutout to the Queen herself, Sarah J. Maas for writing such a complex, dynamic, funny, and captivating story. But also for having the capacity to write all these books with a multiverse in mind and to think of all these strings that are attached to this world. That takes some major brain power and creativity and I think you are the absolute bestest and coolest. Also, thank you for creating books since I was 14 that I have constantly fell in love with and that gave me hope even during those sad scenes and moments, your books have given me hope and an escape. Books are so powerful and I love the way it has also connected a community of people who I can talk to about them, so thank you too 💙.

Anyway, what was your favorite part of the book? Least favorite part? What did you think of the book? What are your theories? How do you feel about the multiverse?

What are you most looking forward to seeing in CC3 or the multiverse?

Let me know below in the comments as I love hearing from you all 💕

I hope you have a beautiful day whenever and wherever you might be reading this 😊.

And as always, with love,

Rating

5 Full Bloom Flowers FOR SURE

Characters: Bryce is the sass, fierce queen who I would love to channel energy from because I need more attitude in my life 😂. But I also just love all the characters because each is so different and have so many hidden depths that we got to explore and hopefully will continue to do so. I also loved how not one character didn’t surprise me in the best way.

Plot: I was confused half the time because there’s a lot more information to take in with HOS&B compared to HOE&B (in my opinion), and that’s not a bad thing. But I enjoyed learning more about the world and the Asteri because it sets the whole multiverse up, which still blows my mind.

Writing: I don’t know how Sarah J. Maas does it, but she writes with humor, passion, love, creativity, drama, and mystery while all balancing a plot-heavy book that’s full of magic and love.

Romance: Byrce and Hunt better be endgame. I don’t want this to be a Tamiln and Dorian situation 😂. I’m still a Dorian lover.

Action: Not many fighting scenes per say, but there sure was a lot of adventure and great escapes.