Rule of Wolves - Leigh Bardugo

OMGOMGOMG. I just wanna scream with excitement! This book is everything I wanted from Leigh Bardugo. She just read my mind and was like, "Yeah, let's give Elke the freaking book she wants". The perfect story and twists and turns and wittiness and omg I cannot keep on raving about it! 

This is gonna be a review full of spoilers because there is just sooooo much to talk about that got me this pumped up!!! So apologies in advance for the use of capslock and the amount of explanation marks hehe.

Woooooow, what a story! I don't even know where to begin. So much to process. I loved A L L of it. In King of Scars, I wasn't the biggest fan of Nina, but oh boy did she bloom! Finally, I felt that she was still thinking of Mattias. I was afraid that she moved on so quickly, but when she encountered the boy who actually killed him I was so happy to see so much emotion in her! And then her confiding in Hanne and how brave she was. OMG, Hanne is just going through life now as a freaking prince? They're so good together. Yes, girls. You are so powerful!!! Nina's character development was everything I wanted from her and she delivered! I AM SO HAPPY WITH THIS. The perfect end for her. <3

And OMG. Can we talk about Zoyalai???? Zoya and Nikolai are just perfect together. 

"I would give you a crown if I could," he said. "I would show you the world from the prow of a ship. I would choose you, Zoya. As my general, as my friend, as my bride. I would give you a sapphire the size of an acorn."

This was some foreshadowing!!! I thought they would marry at the end of the book, or something when I read this quote. But oh boy was I surprised. Yeah, Nikolai is some sort of consort and will probably marry Zoya. BUT HE GAVE UP HIS CROWN FOR HER AND JUST HANDED IT OVER TO HER. Zoya is officially a queen. She already was one before, but now it's, like, legit??? He accepted being a bastard and the fate of not being a king anymore. Come on, how can you not love Nikolai??? Everyone should deserve a man like him. For real! Here is also my favorite quote from him when talking about his seducing skills that had me laughing out loud:

"I have a gift for persuasion. I once talked a tree out of its leaves."
"Nonsense."
"Well, it was autumn. I can't take full credit."

Thank you Leigh for this amazing character!!

Also, Alina and Mal made an appearance??? This book just makes me want to S C R E A M. Honestly??? How do I move on after reading all this???? The Darkling wanted to see her, and we really should thank him for that request because that's exactly the request every reader wanted???? 

Now, Let's move on to elephant in the room here. THE CROWS WERE IN THIS BOOK. All of them. How???? It was amazing to see Kaz, Jesper, and Wylan again! The little heist was so needed and made my heart all fluttery! I looooooved the interaction between Nikolai and Kaz. And Jesper being typical Jesper with Wylan being the voice of reason. Like, how much did all of us need to see them again??? And even though Inej was hunting slave traders and is not involved, we get a glimpse of her at the end and I just cannot. And the freakin' last sentence of the book is this??? 

"Get a message to the Crow Club," she said. "Tell Kaz Brekker the queen of Ravka has a job for him."

I sense a new book coming and this is gonna be the death of me. 

I think I'm gonna explode with emotions of happiness! This book is worth more than 5/5⭐️'s!!!!

Previous Reviews of Leigh Bardugo's books:

• Shadow & Bone
• Siege & Storm
• Ruin & Rising
• Six of Crows
• Crooked Kingdom
• King of Scars

A Sky Beyond the Storm - Sabaa Tahir

 An Ember in the Ashes. Finito now. What a ride Sabaa Tahir took me on... 

Finishing this book has been a challenge for me as I couldn't care less about the story anymore, but the characters got me through. It will be a review with spoilers, so beware! 

Allow me to explain. 

The story? Well, it was all over the place. I don't understand what the hell happened in the last book???!!! It was too much for me. I couldn't remember the beginning at all. There probably were 10 revelations throughout the entire book and I'm not sure that all of them mattered? I don't even remember more than half of it. And I finished it yesterday evening. Sooooo... yeah, I felt that it was rushed, not dwelled on, and just quickly written. Moreover, some things I wished Sabaa Tahir would elaborate on, she just left unsaid. I'm a little bit grumpy about the story. I couldn't follow 100% what was happening with the jinn? They couldn't die except with the scythe or something and then you had Grimaur (or something) which was a weird thing, and then next to that you have all the attacks of the Commandant, and in between somewhere Laia keeps escaping the Nightbringer. Oh and then you have the attacks on the Tribes people and the Waiting Place that is going to shit while the Soul Catcher is having inner battles with humanity. Confusing much? Yeah, because it was for me. These could have easily been divided into another book with more depth. 

And I was not happy with the ending that much. Though I did feel emotional (and yes even shed some tears) I felt... no closure? Maybe that's what Sabaa wanted with this book. But the characters deserved so much more than the trauma they went through. 

The theme was also clearly 'love', but man. Love hurts like a bitch in this one, doesn't it? 

Helene. Dear Helene. She really got dragged into the mud by the author. She's the main reason I cried in the book. Her ending was too tragic. I wanted it for her to be better. She lost E V E R Y T H I N G. I was sure that in some way she would get a happy ending. Yes, she does stay alive. But what happened with her sister wasn't fair and what happened to Harper wasn't fair. Their deaths were so quick and useless. So undeserved for her to lose again so many people around her. So much death and darkness. I truly admire her character. Because despite all that sadness in her life, she goes on. But it was just heartbreaking. Crying I did for her. Especially when she looked at Harper's corpse and said the following words: 

  “You got there first my love, I envy you so, for how will I endure without you?”

Helene deserved the world and more but ended up the opposite in my opinion. <3

I was a little bit annoyed with Elias and Laia. I somehow expected more scenes with them together. And when they did have them, I missed a lot of the F E E L S... It was, again, pretty rushed or not following through on the promises of a passionate relationship. Elias is constantly thinking as a Soul Catcher and I thought that Laia would get him out of it, but it eventually was Mauth who just said "Yo, you're right. You need feelings to understand the tribe better. Here ya go, enjoy". So yeah, that was just utter disappointing... I did like their ending together, though. They deserve to be happy because Laia endured a lot too.  

There are also some honorable characters I wanna take a look at who should be remembered in this series: 
1. Keris. 
I. Loved. Keris. Yes, give me a good villain who carries through on her promises of being evil, except when it comes to her only child. Yes. Yes. Yes. Ruthless. Dangerous. And absolutely unapologetic murderous without remorse. Her backstory gave a little insight, but I would love to just read everything about her. Give me an entire book to devour! I gladly will! She was incredible and someone I feared more than the Nightbringer. 

2. Marcus. 
Damn, I would've loved to have some more Marcus. I think the was more potential for him to see him go completely mad and seeing the ghost of his brother, but also by being a father now. I think that's a missed opportunity that could've been something great. Anywho, he should've died at the end. But there could've been so much more to him! 

3. Izzi. 
Dear Izzi died way too soon. I think that's also a theme with Sabaa Tahir. She kills the people you least expect. Izzi is having a taste of freedom for the first time ever and within months she's dead. She shouldn't have been. And the way she died also felt utterly useless. Totally by surprise. It was so quick and that's what made it so hard to say goodbye to her. She's set up as a true friend for Laia, which makes you feel that she'll make it to the end. But no. In the middle of book two death sweeps her away. She was funny and careless and brave. RIP <3 

4. Harper. 
I did not see this death coming. yet again, it died just as Izzi's. Quick, that made saying goodbye to him way worse. The reason why is that he is set up in a way that he's got so much unfinished business in the world left! Helene for god sake is his love and he never truly got to say it or the fact that he never gets to properly talk with his brother. I thought that he was gonna make it till the end. But I was wrong. And it broke my heart as I previously mentioned.

Also there were some things that I wasn't too happy with: 
1. Darin. 
The freaking guy who was the main reason the story is starting. We don't get a bond with him as a reader. We barely see the relationship he has with Laia, don't learn about his struggles properly that he had because of Kauf and we don't really know what he endured. [And then, he just died by screaming "Laia, I'm here and the Nightbringer just breaks his neck after that? After all the people saying that he shouldn't go after her????????!!!!!!!! It was so useless. His character was one of the most disappointing. 

2. Musa. 
What. Was. The. Point. Of. MUSA?! Why was he there? He did nothing really worthwhile? He was written as if going to be a major player in the entire story against the Nightbringer, but he just spies. Oh yeah, and also is the estranged husband of a princess who dangles along somewhere in a kingdom that doesn't want to help and she then just dies so also meeting her and the king were totally for nothing written into the series? The only thing I enjoyed was the humor. But that was it. For the rest, no idea what he did there. 

3. The freaking pace. 
Again. Can someone give me a timeline of what happens when to who? 'Cause I sure can't follow anymore. How old is the baby? How many months have passed since Livvy died? How many weeks is the Blood Shrike fighting in the city???? Aaaaaargh. I could not make sense of it. 

4. Fighting. 
I don't know. I often felt as if it was just Helene and Harper on a killing field, just the two of them against an army of like 1000 men haha. I could not deal with it. There was no imagining that they were standing there with an army. 

5. The Nightbringer. 
What the hell? Can someone please explain his entire arc again? Anyone? No? Okay then. Beloved or something. Whatever... 

Okay, I know I rambled a lot now about everything here, haha, and if you even read it till the end then you're a real miracle! Don't get me wrong, I loved the series. Otherwise, I wouldn't have so passionate written this review, and of course, there are some things that I dislike. But I still liked the story, although nothing could top the first book in the series: An Ember in the Ashes. It was the best with an amazing world-building and great backstories. 

I would like to give this book a 3.5/5⭐️'s (but on Goodreads standards, it's getting a 4)!

A Reaper at the Gates - Sabaa Tahir

Wooooh, where to start???? I have many feelings about this book. I hoped that it was gonna be as good as book nr 1 & 2, but it let me down a little bit. BUT DONUT WORRY. It was still great though! 

I'm gonna try to make this as spoiler-free as possible, but a lot of the reasons why I found it more on the 'meh'-side have to do with story details. So I will put a spoiler warning, just in case. 😉

Sooooo, let's dive into it. 

Elias, Laia, and Helene. They all three are getting more complex by the book. And I still love them. 

Laia doesn't really have a big development anymore. Or at least not in this book. I feel that she has gotten the max already out, though she's the fearless lioness now who does heroic things all the time. It's up to you to decide whether it's stupid or brave what she does. We learn quite a lot about the past of her mother, father, and sister. How they ended up dead and broken. Of course, with the typical Sabaa Tahir plot-twists in between to spice the drama up some more hehe. Something I found sad, though, was that in 'An Ember in the Ashes' & 'A Torch Against the Night' the main focus was on saving her brother. I know that the whole 'Nightbringer'-thing has shaken stuff up, but we barely get to see anything from Darin? I finally wanted to get to know his character and that didn't happen, unfortunately. *breaks a little inside* 

Elias his whole story in this book was just confusing. Don't get me wrong. I.LOVE.HIM. He is brave and makes every girl swoon, but this book messed him up! The whole 'forget your humanity'-vibe was just not working for me at all. The weird dialogue with Mauth, or whatever its name is, didn't go well. And additionally, the magic stuff was also not that clear? What can he properly do with it? Agliugsqmvk. It just annoyed me a little. More so, I know he can travel super fast apparently through the Waiting Place Forest, but then how does every time Laia somehow gets to visit him? Pffff... I was just not hooked on his story in this book. I'm also pretty sure that, now being the Soul Catcher, Laia is gonna anyways remind him of his humanity and he'll go back to normal in the book. Mark my words! I'm predicting it! 

Helene, the little Blood Shrike, is the one who clearly is suffering the most at the hand of Sabaa Tahir. I mean, in the last book her entire family is killed, except for the little sister who married Marcus and is now carrying his baby meaning that she is a target for all enemies of him. What the *bleep*? Helene can not get a break at all. Oh and now she also gets toyed about by the Nightbringer? Out of all of the characters, we're following, she's definitely the most thorough one. The one with ethical struggles. A very grey person. And if you know me, you know I love me some good complex characters who do wrong things in the hope that it's good. Anyways, she's in pain and pushes through, but always ends up being broken again. 'How does she do it?' I keep asking myself the entire time... Poor her. I do hope that the last book of the series will bring her some joy and glory. She's the person who deserves it the most out of the three of them. 

A few things that did fell of were the following: 
1. Why did Laia have the power of invisibility and it rarely gets used? I know it has something to do with the Nightbringer, but that just seems like a loophole for the author to make Laia look 'weak' at the moment of an action-packed scene. 

2. The chemistry between Laia & Elias. Don't get me wrong. I love them because book 1 made me believe in them. But I just wish some more time between the two of them to see the relationship grow some more. They are now apparently in love, though we barely have any scenes with them since Elias basically left in book nr 2 to go and get Darin out? I hope and wish, that the finale of the series will be grand for them and their romance. 

3. The FREAKINg timing. Please someone give me a timeline of this book because I don't know how many weeks or months have passed, okay???? Somewhere in the first couple of chapters, it's revealed that Livvy is pregnant and by the end of the book, she's giving birth. I. Had. No. Clue. How much time passed. Especially on Helene's end. It often said '4 weeks after arriving in city blablabla' or 'The commandant will arrive in 2 weeks. Does the time jump then also apply to the other characters? 'Cause, what are they doing in the meantime? 'Cause Laia spends a lot of time than with the Bee Keeper (or whatever his name was) and never makes any more friends????

4. New characters. Who are they? Why do they come in & why do they leave so fast again? We meet some characters like the Musa & the weird king and princess, but they only are there for a small period of the book. I do have hope that they'll play a big role in the ending, but momentarily, I did not understand their arcs.

All in all, I enjoyed the book a lot and will still give it a 3.5/5⭐️'s. 

On to the next one!

A Torch Against the Night - Sabaa Tahir

 A Torch Against the Night is a good follow-up book to An Ember in the Ashes. It was action-packed, was emotional, and had a lot of plot twists. 

The story starts immediately where it is left off in book 1. The escape of Blackcliff and Serra. Elias and Laia are now officially on the run to Kauf prison where Darin, her brother, is kept up locked away. They want to break in and get him out. 

The world-building of this book was 'thicker' than compared to the last one because they now travel over the entire empire. You get introduced to new cities and characters further along with the story. Everything was written out beautifully. Sabaa Tahir knew how to create a vibe in every city, area, or woods they were.

As for the characters... instead of following just Laia and Elias, we now also follow Helene. Helene her setup of this story is an interesting one. She starts off being tortured because Elias has gotten away and then afterward gets send on this quest to catch him and bring him to the emperor so she can prove herself as a worth 'bloodshrike'. This is an internal struggle because if she fails, her family will be executed, and if she wins, Elias will be executed. Helene has her own crew who go with her with one new addition Avitas. He starts out as an 'open'* spy for the commandant, but the relationship between him and Helene change in some way. It was interesting to discover her thoughts and to see how she views the world around her. What are her morals? What does she stand for? What is she fighting for? Character growth is there, but not as much as I hoped for, though I expect that the next book will bring that about... 

Elias's story in this book is tricky. He promised Laia that he would help break out her brother, but during their escape from Blackcliff he got poisoned by his mother. He has a side story where he gets dragged in and out of the 'Waiting Place' which is a place where ghosts dwell who don't want to move on yet. Though not dead yet, he knows he has borrowed time and decides to shut everyone out. Including Laia. The ending also has some interesting reveals about his personal life (but I won't spoil that for you just yet), so you deffo have to read this book if you love him! 

Laia, the little lion as she is, is still determined to get out her brother. She gets reunited with Keenan and Izzi and the four of them (including Elias) set out together. Although she has feelings for Elias, he is shutting her out which somehow is drawing her closer to Keenan. So the love triangle in this book is really present. But of course, revelations will be made that will keep you on the edge of your seat for wanting to read the next book! 

This was a good one too, although not as good as the first one (which is unfortunately often the case with book-series) it's still worthy of 4/5⭐️'s!

xoxo, peace out
Elke 

*they basically know he reports everything back to the commandant.