Summary
As the kingdoms prepare for war, unexpected visitors and a horrifying murder throw everyone’s plans into disarray. Amidst the chaos, Jael must find a way to lead her warriors to victory against King Haaron and his sons, watching as Eadmund drifts away from her, powerless to save him.
In Hest, Jaeger Dragos has found the long-sought-after Book of Darkness, but he needs his father’s dreamer to unleash the dark magic trapped within.
Left behind on Oss, Edela is locked in a deadly struggle with Evaine, trying to keep Jael and Eadmund safe, taunted with terrifying visions of the darkness that is coming to claim them all….
My Thoughts
So many moments in this book were uncomfortable. Not a bad uncomfortable. The kind of uncomfortable where you just know things are going to go so far sideways.
Plot
Oh this book is a hot mess. Not the hot mess you just want to put down and never pick up again, the kind you want to keep reading but also don’t necessarily want to be around for all the dirty stuff.
Eadmund comes back with the girl he got pregnant, and his son. Jael of course, has issues with this. Jael has her own unwelcome visitor though. Aleksander, who she loved before leaving her home and marrying Eadmund, comes to help with preparations for the war.
Aleksander and Edela have come up with an idea for the sea battle where they basically create a burning sea.
Possible spoiler alert, so skip this paragraph if you don’t want anything resembling a spoiler. We’ve seen the dreamers have dreams of King Erik’s death. Well, we see it happen the night before they head off to attack Hest. Since we know his death is coming, I consider this a minor spoiler. If I wanted to fully spoil things, I’d say who did it. But this is something you will have to read to the end of the book to find out. You may be able to guess, but there are a few suspects, one main suspect, but will your guess be right?
Characters
I love these characters. Like Jael, I was sorry when King Erik died. There are a few other deaths here, obviously we go to war. But, the deaths of the characters we know and love won’t necessarily happen while the battle is happening. One big death, I somewhat cheered for, but the way it happened has kind of caused problems for the rest of the characters who are still dealing with the issues caused by factors around Erik’s death. There is another death at the literal end of the book, that may have you crying. I went into shock at the death, rather than crying. Not that this was a conscious decision, but it was just so unexpected.
There is a lot going on with following things happening with the battle, and the aftermath. To give us the information we need, there is a lot of jumping around. With the jumping, there is some developments happening. Some people we may have previously hated, or weren’t sure yet whether to love or hate, you get some information in this round to make a decision. There are others, you may decide to love more, or hate further.