One of the things that George R R Martin did in Game of Thrones that I have rarely seen addressed by other writers – once you conquer a capital you then have to hold it. If you move on to conquer new places immediately then you leave a power vacuum that will be very attractive to many a hungry opportunist. If you leave trusted people behind to rule on your behalf, that takes manpower and you divide your own forces.
The battle to free the major cities held by the Ascended starts in The War of Two Queens with Poppy conquering Massene in the second chapter. From there they plan to move to other cities but Armentrout doesn’t really address the question of how you continue to keep Massene under control while they are off fighting.
Maybe they’re assuming that once the local population aren’t handing over their children they’ll be content to keep the city under Atlantean rule without too much fuss?
This is the kind of thing I spent a lot of time thinking about after I have finished reading a book.
Also I would like to note that in a story involving dragons, werewolves, vampires, immortals, trees that weep blood, and rules around whether magic healing can bring somebody back to life, it was the mention of cashmere that momentarily dropped me out of immersion.
Moving on.
One thing I have absolutely learned is if a thing gets mentioned in text, especially if it gets mentioned more than once, then it is important to the plot. So I was very pleased to find out that the Joining with Kieran as a thing that happened because I saw it coming a mile away and I would have been really annoyed if I was wrong. The relationship between Poppy and Kieran is very different than the one between Poppy and Casteel and she could never have had that conversation about what to do if she turns into Ilsbeth with Casteel. He would lose his shit just at the suggestion. And Kieran promised her, even though it would not only break his heart but destroy his relationship with Casteel, who he also loves.
I go absolutely feral for a good triad love story.
This is only partially why I very much want Kieran and Reaver to have hate sex.
Another thing I was getting low-key obsessed with was the First Maiden, to the point where I was wondering every time a new female character was introduced. As soon as “The Widow” appeared I wondered if she was the First Maiden. Nope, she’s just a crazy mortal with a bomb spell. In spite of that, I did not see Millicent coming. She’s an interesting character and I have to admit I would like to hear more about her point of view and what it was like living with her insane all-powerful mother.
I would also like to learn a little bit more about Malik. At first he struck me as very similar to Tamlin from A Court of Thorns and Roses in that his trauma response is to freeze. He is passive in Ilsbeth’s court even while she does horrible things. But then we find out he has contacts among the Dissenters and it starts to seem as if he does have some agency after all.
I must admit I found the final battle confusing. Last book I complained about the Atlantean to Deity to God progression and in this book she levels up again and it turns out she’s a Primal, which is bigger than a God. And the Primal of Death is her Uncle and he stole some of Life’s essence and so now he’s the Big Bad? And she’s a Primal of Life? Or of Life and Death? Or something? I dunno, it seemed like a big info dump at a time when normally one would just be having the big boss fight.
I was still very happy that Delano survived.