a solid sequel and end to this duology. we got more shepherd king lore, which I enjoyed reading. him seeing parallels of present day and his past made my heart wrench. I do love Elspeth and his relationship a lot, I almost got emotional when the book was coming to an end. the sequel also focused a lot on Ione and Elm. to that, I had no complaints. loved reading about them and seeing their character and relationship progress. some of their scenes had me giggling, it was embarrassing 😭 overall, a solid cozy fantasy read!