Will my magic save the realm… or drive me into madness?

In the wake of an uprising of illicit sorcery, my men and I find ourselves on the run—determined to clear our names by protecting the kingdom.

But to face off against the psychopaths who want to remake our country into a realm of chaos and brutality, I’ll need to tap into my wild magic. And the god who’s watched over me expects me to stand on my own now.

If I can’t overcome the odds against us, the lives of the men I love are forfeit. But how far can I go without becoming what I’ve feared most?

It appears that I read most of book 2 in 2024, forgot about it and then came back to it to finish it but in that time, I never wrote a review.

I started this book – the third in the series – duing my lunch breaks at work. It may not be strictly safe for work but reading on my phone guarantees most others can’t see what I’m reading.

I admit that I did start out feeling a little confused because I couldn’t remember much of what had happened in book 2 and only really retained the last 3^rd of the plot in my head.

I tried to go into this with an open mind and though it was a slow start as my brain remembered what was happening, I quickly found myself back in the middle of the plot and the characters.

There is a change to Ivy in this book that has been missing in the previous, in that she gets more direction on how to control her magic. Of course, she has done remarkably well with controlling her magic through the books and also through her life before the books (from what we’ve been told). It added a certain level of depth to her character because in understanding her magic more, I was able to understand her character more.

The rivens themselves, have been vaguely explained through the series which I suspect is a choice to make it more mysterious and to allow the story to develop unhindered.

Ivy’s relationship between Alek and Cas remains on steady ground and it is good fortune that is the case. They have a good sense of comradery now that allows for good interactions between the three of them.

With Ben out of the picture, Stavros takes centre stage and honestly, I was almost done with waiting patiently for their eventual coupling. At one point I wasn’t even sure it would happen and there have been many moments between the start of the series and now when I’ve wanted to jab his eyes with something sharp. Stavros had the most to overcome in terms of what Ivy was and what her magic could do. It was the correct move to have his relationship getting to know Ivy be tumultuous because it meant that when they finally came together, the ground was steady and even.

Being ‘on the run’ in any fantasy book is always going to see a fair amount of peril and I was expecting that from the moment they left the college. Every author is going to write that scenario differently. What was different for me, is that by this point in the story, the characters are a united front, so there is no turmoil between the 5 as they navigate life away from their home familiarity.

We should now talk about Rheave. Rheave was a puzzle I didn’t know how to solve, and I had many thoughts about him from the point I met him to the end of this book. He is, for the most part, the carefree character that became the unintended glue to the quintet. His joy at the simple aspects of life and his overwhelming devotion to Ivy was interesting to read and watch develop. I didn’t think the group was missing anything until I saw how well Rheave fit in with them. I can see that he is clearly here to stay. I’m sure his character will add much mischief and possessiveness to the group of five and hopefully, come the end of the next (and last book) he will find his place in the world.

Ivy and her magic encountered many hurdles in this book. I think it is easy to forget that her character can be vulnerable because as the reader, all I’ve witnessed is what fantastic control she has on the magic that consumes her. So, seeing her struggle to the point of closing herself off and becoming despondent was powerful to read about. It’s clear that her magic is a destructive force, but I don’t believe she is the harbinger of death and destruction that she seems to think she is. I’d rather believe there is a purpose to her magic that just hasn’t been uncovered yet.

There is one thorn in this book. I expected the ending. And that pissed me off. It’s a theory I’ve been thinking of since the beginning of Book 2 because it made the most sense. But in this instance, I was hoping I was wrong and the ending would go off in a direction that wasn’t as obvious or easy to untangle.