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May 11, 2020librarianjessica rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
I am speechless. No words can accurately represent the emotions I'm feeling right now. I'm so happy, yet so full of pain and loss and sorrow at the end of this series that has seen me through so much in my life. This conclusion was everything I could've asked for and more, everything I didn't even know to ask for, and my heart is bursting and breaking. There are so many perspectives in this novel, and yet, I never once found myself dreading a POV. We get Aelin's perspective, Rowan's, Aedion's, Yrene's, Chaol's, Dorian's, Manon's, and literally everyone else's, and no matter whose head we were in at the start of a chapter, I was excited to see where they were at and what they were doing. This is such a strength of SJM's; she's a master at crafting characters who feel so real that you can't help but get attached to them and want to know how they're doing. I'm still reeling at the thought of not getting to catch up with them anymore. Plot-wise, this was absolutely exhausting. It's one long battle sequence interspersed with heart-rending quiet moments and torture that I can't even think about without getting angry. I took my time with it because I had to psych myself up to pick it up for about the middle 500 pages. I wanted so badly to know what happened, yet it was completely and utterly exhausting to read. This just made it feel even more authentic, though, and the last 300 pages had me flipping pages like crazy. I just can't believe this series is over. It holds such a huge piece of my heart. It was my companion no matter what was going on in my life, through university and graduation and breakups and moving and everything in between. Aelin feels like my sister. I am so sad to see her go, but so very, very satisfied with her ending.