The last book in what is currently a series of five. I’m led to believe that another sequel is in the works.

This is Nesta’s story. I am positive I am not alone in saying this book took her from being the character I had absolutely no time for to one of my favourite in the ACOTAR universe.

At the start of the story Nesta is called to task for spending some crazy ass amount of money on one night of boozing. Given that she usually frequents some of the cheaper pubs in town this is a major accomplishment. Also given that Mor and the bat boys frequently roll into the townhouse with the express purpose of raiding the wine cellar, I suspect that the cost of the alcohol is not really the issue here.

It has already been established that Feyre pays her rent. On the one hand I am sympathetic with the idea that you don’t have to get along with your birth family and you are entitled to have a life that doesn’t include them if that’s what you want. On the other hand, if you really want to have your own life – you do what every queer teenager with an asshole family does, you get a job, save up some money, find friends, and you move out. Velaris has shops and galleries and restaurants, she could get a job slinging beer. Hell, she could make a living as a card shark. Or move to another town, another court, where nobody knows who her relations are.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch Cassian has been tasked with making nice with Eris and the Band of Exiles? Which is just plain dumb as far as I’m concerned, the man can barely control his temper. I know Rhysand thinks of him as somebody he can trust, but also you really need to give people jobs that play to their strengths and Cassian literally misses entire conversations because he’s too busy fantasizing about beating people up to pay attention. You can pay somebody enough to be loyal to you, I promise that human governments do that all the time.

But Rhysand trying to run an entire court with three people aside, this book is about Nesta. She starts off as somebody who deliberately antagonizes other people so they will hate her as much as she does and gradually progresses into finding her own strength and worth. She even makes friends! First with the house (and I love that they bonded over books, that’s a hilarious detail) and then by reaching out to people who don’t have any history with her or her family, people she can let down her guard with. And honestly, I think the development of her relationship with Gwyn and Emerie is as important (if not more important) that her relationship with Cassian. The love and support of other women was so essential to her growth.

Nesta’s real superpower isn’t what she got from the Cauldron, it’s that she shakes up the status quo. Cassian explains the Illyrians to her by telling her that since fae live so long change comes really slowly for them compared to humans – at the time I assumed he meant just generational changes in customs and traditions. But then you meet the priestesses, some of them afraid to talk to strangers after eighty years of being in the library and it becomes clear that individual change is also really difficult for them. Then Nesta walks in the door and only a few months later she has women stepping outside for the first time in decades, seeing the sky and learning to defend themselves.

The scene where she is on the hike with Cassian and she finally breaks down and tell him every fucked up mistake she’s ever made – that legitimately made me cry. I’ve had those 3 AM conversations with myself and – yeah. That rang true.

And now I’m going to talk about the part of the book I hated.

Feyre’s pregnancy.

First off I don’t believe for one second that fae don’t have abortion. Every human culture that has ever existed has had abortions, even when they try to ban it. I also find it difficult to believe that a healer who could rebuild Cassian after an injury that left his intestines hanging out of his body couldn’t handle a cesarean.

But even if I accept those two things the fact that they didn’t tell Feyre about the danger is extremely fucked up. She should have been the one sitting down with the healer and discussing her options, not Rhysand. He dismissed the idea of her shape-shifting to deliver because it might hurt the baby, even if they baby is absolutely going to kill her if she doesn’t. How is that in any way his decision to make?

And not one person in the court tells him how fucked up that is. Honestly that whole story line pissed me off so much.

I’ve seen people talking about the promise of a sixth book in the series and I’m really interested in seeing what she does to resolve some of the hanging plot threads. There are now not one, but two Troves – I am sure that will be important some point. The ongoing situation with Eris and Beron. The Band of Exiles could be the source of some great world-building, and of course Koschei is still out there causing trouble.

And you know who I really want to see more of? Balthazar, the Illyrian who offered to share shelter with Nesta and said, yeah I’m not here to make enemies, I just want to get through this is one piece. I really want him to show up in some future story. Because people who go against all their culture and training to make their own decisions are absolutely my jam.