C. J. Daley
I picked up the trilogy omnibus on audio so I wanted to roll right through all three at once. The fact that they’re all great helped of course, and the narration by Rebecca McKernan was awesome. I love how she somehow molded Ilanna’s voice from a child on and it still felt like the same person for three straight books.
Book three takes off mere minutes from where book two left off. The area of the city where Ilanna’s house is—as well as Ria and her son—is on fire. And strangely, the fire is green, unnatural. Meaning that someone did something to cause it. Someone…well truly anyone involved, is going to pay. Dearly.
The novel that follows meshes so much anger and grief and violent revenge together that this one flew by for me. And this things is ALL GAS. Peloquin does not take his foot off the pedal for a single second. Any scenes with dialogue are filled with lies, deceptions, betrayals and deaths. Even in its quieter moments, which are few to begin with, it has shifted into a sort of pseudo ‘political’ intrigue, where Ilanna does her best to keep her head above water while shifting the tide in her direction/favor.
The Bloody Hand has infiltrated the Night Guild, and while they were repelled at first, the hostile takeover attempt has left too many dead and wounded. With many of the heads of houses killed, as well we their leader, Ilanna has lost many of her friends in high places, and much of the blame is thrown her way. The years of blackmail the author has sprinkled in have finally come into play as all of a sudden there is heaps of evidence condemning several actions by Ilanna. While some of the claims are of course true, the guild should have known better than to believe she’d leave genuine evidence…With little hope of staying free on her own, and even less hope of saving the guild, Ilanna must turn to the least likely, and perhaps most dangerous, person for help within the city.
While I previously remarked on how dark and jaded these books are, and how I usually space out my grimdark reads, this one evolved into something even further. At the supposed loss of her son, Ilanna has become less jaded and more so detached. Her motivation for the entirety of book two was stolen from her, so now there is truly nothing holding her back. We see her become more unhinged, taking to torture and murder to get the answers she requires. She has killed before, but there is no room to argue about self defense here, she is the one that has become the agitator. And for me, that shift worked in her development, although there is less hope than ever. Book three is a natural progression for the building tensions and has almost become a military story in many aspects. The author handles it well, and I enjoyed how the POV still stayed on her, but she wasn’t necessarily the driver, as we know she isn’t a soldier.
I did guess the twists at the end, or at least see them coming, but they were both well plotted, well intertwined, and revealed in really satisfying ways. I think if you are not accustomed to mystery or thrillers this will be a really nice one for you. The second one, which I am purposefully being mum about, felt earned. It was time for a shift in bleakness, and actually it made me want to read even more…which there is a follow up that works as a standalone titled Traitor’s Fate that I will have to get to.
A fantastic grimdark trilogy filled with loss, anger, and so many deaths, but also strength, hope, and borderline preternatural perseverance. Deeply threaded secrets and intricately wound characters make this an absolute must read.
I picked up the trilogy omnibus on audio so I wanted to roll right through all three at once. The fact that they’re all great helped of course, and the narration by Rebecca McKernan was awesome. I love how she somehow molded Ilanna’s voice from a child on and it still felt like the same person for three straight books.
Book three takes off mere minutes from where book two left off. The area of the city where Ilanna’s house is—as well as Ria and her son—is on fire. And strangely, the fire is green, unnatural. Meaning that someone did something to cause it. Someone…well truly anyone involved, is going to pay. Dearly.
The novel that follows meshes so much anger and grief and violent revenge together that this one flew by for me. And this things is ALL GAS. Peloquin does not take his foot off the pedal for a single second. Any scenes with dialogue are filled with lies, deceptions, betrayals and deaths. Even in its quieter moments, which are few to begin with, it has shifted into a sort of pseudo ‘political’ intrigue, where Ilanna does her best to keep her head above water while shifting the tide in her direction/favor.
The Bloody Hand has infiltrated the Night Guild, and while they were repelled at first, the hostile takeover attempt has left too many dead and wounded. With many of the heads of houses killed, as well we their leader, Ilanna has lost many of her friends in high places, and much of the blame is thrown her way. The years of blackmail the author has sprinkled in have finally come into play as all of a sudden there is heaps of evidence condemning several actions by Ilanna. While some of the claims are of course true, the guild should have known better than to believe she’d leave genuine evidence…With little hope of staying free on her own, and even less hope of saving the guild, Ilanna must turn to the least likely, and perhaps most dangerous, person for help within the city.
While I previously remarked on how dark and jaded these books are, and how I usually space out my grimdark reads, this one evolved into something even further. At the supposed loss of her son, Ilanna has become less jaded and more so detached. Her motivation for the entirety of book two was stolen from her, so now there is truly nothing holding her back. We see her become more unhinged, taking to torture and murder to get the answers she requires. She has killed before, but there is no room to argue about self defense here, she is the one that has become the agitator. And for me, that shift worked in her development, although there is less hope than ever. Book three is a natural progression for the building tensions and has almost become a military story in many aspects. The author handles it well, and I enjoyed how the POV still stayed on her, but she wasn’t necessarily the driver, as we know she isn’t a soldier.
I did guess the twists at the end, or at least see them coming, but they were both well plotted, well intertwined, and revealed in really satisfying ways. I think if you are not accustomed to mystery or thrillers this will be a really nice one for you. The second one, which I am purposefully being mum about, felt earned. It was time for a shift in bleakness, and actually it made me want to read even more…which there is a follow up that works as a standalone titled Traitor’s Fate that I will have to get to.
A fantastic grimdark trilogy filled with loss, anger, and so many deaths, but also strength, hope, and borderline preternatural perseverance. Deeply threaded secrets and intricately wound characters make this an absolute must read.