Let's be real — we are all only here for Mare and Cal and some Evangeline action. Thus, it was a bit of a pain to get through all the other stories but the last ones do deliver. 

You can tell Aveyard is immensely invested in this world and manages to finally answer some questions about it's history in a way that doesn't seem forced. It was a good recap of the last books, so you could really easily get into the story again.

I really enjoyed Elane finally learning how to stand up for herself against Evangeline and her scenes with the Samos siblings were great fun. While I'm still unsure whether this book was really needed, it is fascinating to see the aftermath of a "usual" YA war in a last book — because it certainly isn't over after that last fight. Evangeline still has to come to terms with no longer being royal while also learning to appreciate the life she's now able to live. We get similar thoughts in Cal's chapters but they feel more refined for Evangeline.

It isn't easy for Cal and Mare to get back together and in the end, everything isn't solved either. They have work to do but it was nice to at least know there is something to work toward instead of them leaving each other at the end of War Storm.

The ending is satisfying for the series and the book is certainly a nice add-on for Red Queen fans but not a necessity, if that makes sense. Good for history buffs such as myself, though 😉

- queen song: heartbreaking
- steel scars: heartbreaking
- world behind: romantically optimistic
- iron heart: an elane pov!
- fire light: ship satisfied
- fare well: made me more of a maven-sympathizer and i don't like that
- the artifacts: loved the historian pov and the different sources of material!

The perfect endings for all of the characters and I loved reading Julians research, the end where we found out what happened when they grew up and the summaries. I’m actually devastated to be done with this series. I’ve loved it so much ❤️