Ya, I loved it, it was incredible, blah blah blah, we know Veronica Roth would never disappoint us. This is the final book in the Carve the Mark duology so if you haven't read Carve the Mark yet go do that now!!
So, we continue straight off from Carve the Mark. Ryzek is in the basement of the ship that Cyra, Akos, and the gang are fleeing in and there is some crazyyyyy political turmoil going down. Cyra's father Lazmet is alive and just as bad as --if not worse than-- Ryzek. He still harbors resentment towards Cyra for killing his wife and her mother. He is coming back to reclaim the Shotet throne as his own now that Ryzek is being held captive on their ship. Lazmet is ready to start a brutal war but Cyra and Akos will do anything to stop that. Cyra is willing to kill her father to stop it and Akos is willing to die for it. Akos knows that the fate he was told he had was that he will die in service to the Noavek family, Cyra's to cross the divide. In this book we find out what, this all, their fates really mean.
I know I said it already, but I really loved the completion of this duology. The story is really just so interesting and exciting that I never for a second wanted to put it down and that is something that is really really incredible about a book. We got to read from the point of views of Eijeh and Cisi as well this time around which was very cool because it allowed the world and the story to expand a little more. Once again, the world building is just phenomenal which is why I think this reading experience was so overwhelmingly positive. Not only is the story itself so great, where it is set, and how I feel like I can really see it in my head adds so much to it. The plot twists... oh my gosh... insanityyyyyyy. They were so hard hitting and let out at the perfect times. You know sometimes when you are reading and you read a plot twist but it just isn't in there at the right time and you're just like wait, what, was that supposed to be... hold on... and then you have to reread it like eight times and it just doesn't hit right? Ya, not the case in this book. When I read the plot twists I was like OH. MY. GOD. This is insaneeeee. I was so so so engaged in this book the entire time. There was always a sense of urgency in the book and it kept me on the edge of my seat and so interested and so excited about everything. Oh my gosh, I could go on forever about how great this duology is!!
The characters are very firmly established, the bad guys are so horribly, entertainingly bad and things we would absolutely never expect to happen happen. Characters we love don't make it and there is nothing crazier than that. Characters that are seeming innocent are in fact far from that and this whole story is like a game of chess. The twists hit so hard and there are times when I was left there, jaw dropped in shock, and needed to literally take a minute to process what had just went down. Stories diverging from Akos and Cyra were just as important and that expansions added so much to the series.
What I really enjoyed about this book aside from the upfront story was its underlying themes, mainly of resilience and hope. These characters are told their fates, tragic in Akos's case at a very, very young age. Akos had been imprisoned by a waring enemy planet since before he was even a teenager. Cyra has lived her entire life secluded, feared, used, and rejected because of her current gift that she can do nothing about. This is a story about them essentially beating the odds, or at least trying to... no spoilers ;). To really just add the cherry on top, completely unrelated to the story, this hard cover is absolutely the most beautiful book I own.
Veronica Roth, you have done it again! Everyone go read this book right now!!
-C8 ;)