What a finish! I laughed, I cried, I yelled at Morgan Busse (she knows why!), and I’m satisfied with the series.

But I wouldn’t mind a little bit more someday

The Christian nonsense that was in the background of the previous books comes to the forefront in order to ruin the third book. Selene, Damien and the other lords continue to try to unify in the face of the invading Empire. Meanwhile, the "Light" is unnecessarily male while the evil Dark Lady is, obviously, female. Good, Christian misogyny. Worse, Selene's religious conversion and fanaticism takes over the story that otherwise would have been a well paced sword and sorcery fantasy.

5 STARS!!

What a Fabulous Ending to a Beautiful Series!!

Busse had me at book 1 ... and 2 but then 3. Wow. Its like each book got deeper and deeper into my soul. Asking the hard questions and making me think. Each book got better and better.



Selene and Damien both grew so much. Especially Selene! In the first two she had to count on Damien for a lot because she was learning about the light and didnt know much but their growth was so amazing and shows how a healthy marriage should operate and I just adored that. Like can we please just get more wholesome books like these?



Beautiful Right... BRB going Cry happy tears.

Anyway... The war between light and dark was upon them and Damien and Selene had to go in different directions for a little while. They had their own battles to face and things to settle. I loved that even apart they became a powerful weapon to fight in the battle against the darkness. There were so many elements that felt real - even though this was a medieval world. The way they treated people around them and wow if we could get some people in power like these two what a beautiful world we would live in.

This next part may or may not be a spoiler so proceed with caution :P



My favorite part of this entire series was the ending and how instead of killing a certain character, (dont wanna spoil it) - they let them live and brought them over to the light and it was just so different than most books. Usually (this particular character) would have been killed or put in prison because of all of the terrible things they had done. But instead they were offered redemption and a chance to "see" something different. I just LOVED that!

Maybe its your cup of tea- and maybe not, I recommend it but you decide! Go read it...

I never actually thought there was such a thing as Christian fantasy or at least one that I would enjoy reading. I must say I was wrong. This was such a well-written tale of epic adventure, love, forgiveness, and the importance of trusting and relying on others God has a place in our lives.

I loved Selene's growth and progression throughout this whole series. I loved how Damien was shown to be just as flawed as everyone else around him and that he too had things he needed help with, it was refreshing to see him learn that as a leader he didn't need to carry with him the weight of every decision on his own.

Such a perfect ending to an AMAZING series. The redemption arc in this story is priceless.

Like the first two books, this one took a bit to get into. By this point, my investment level was actually pretty predictable. First 20-30 pages, I'm skimming... by the end, I'm crying. Well, tearing up, at least.

This book surprised me in a good way by revealing things I hadn't even realized the first two books were building towards. Like Selene and Damien's opposing arcs in relation to each other. He starts out strong, she's confused and frightened. As she rises out of darkness, he actually begins to sink under the weight of his own fears, guilt, and empathy-related self-absorption (as an empathetic-wired person who also deals with wanting to help and has asked myself the very question of why I have to care so much, I understand and relate to his arc quite a bit). Her discoveries bring her into a stronger understanding of the Light than he had before, and it's her turn to rescue him.

Cry of the Raven also surprised me at several turns along the way, just when I was thinking, "Well, here we go again," by swinging in a quite different direction which provided MOAR ANGST character growth and pleased me greatly.

Also I REALLY like what happened with Raoul and I lowkey want to adopt him?? More than anybody else in the book? He needs some mom-ing *grabs Raoul and moms him sternly*

All in all, while this series is not in my favorites, it's satisfying and thematically beautiful and I'm glad I own it.