A bittersweet ending to an amazing series. From beginning to end, I loved this journey with the cunning Amara/Timarete. The three books form such a perfect complete story.

This one started out rather slow, to set the scene of Amara's new life in Rome, but once she gets back to Pompeii, it's full on. I was most excited to see how Harper includes the eruption of Vesuvius and it did not disappoint. I don't know whether I foresaw

Amara's decision to start a new life with Philos, and surely the simple life wasn't what she imagined herself having at the Wolf Den, but I think it was the right one. In Rome, she was still imprisoned, just in a much, much nicer way – a pawn living in luxury –, and even though she decided for a peaceful life, we saw at the end that she didn't lose any of her guile. 

I loved how towards the end, Amara used new names for her family, but still though of herself as Amara, until Felix's murder finally allows her to embrace her new identity and be free.

Menander and Britannica being alive was such a nice surprise.

 

I'm sad to have finished the series, but I also feel really fulfilled. It's rare for every book in a series to be this good.