Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the early copy of this book! All opinions are my own.
This book was my most anticipated read of the entire year, but I was super nervous because my track record following authors from YA into Adult hasn’t been great. Thankfully, Marie Lu has yet to disappoint! This book made me reevaluate whether the other books I’ve rated as a five star read this year were accurate.
Marie Lu has brought her talent for richly developed worlds, with characters you can’t help but cheer on, and irresistible relationships to the Adult audience. This felt like everything I’ve ever loved about one of her books, but met with the maturity of writing for adults instead of teens. This book was unputdownable, and may have just kicked every other romantasy I’ve ever loved down a spot in my rankings. I really loved that we took the first third of the book to get to know Sam and Ari, and deeply care about them and their relationship. I loved getting to really deeply understand why they made the choices they made and what choices were available to them.
If you’re a friend of childhood friends -> enemies -> lovers, where the love is always an undercurrent running through the entire story, this one is for you. If you’ve ever fallen for one of her couples and wished you could’ve seen even more of how the relationship blossomed, this one is for you. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like if Day and June had met before the Trial, this one is for you.
As a loyal reader of over a decade, I’m so pleased with this book, and I’m so excited to see her audience grow! This was an absolute masterclass of a reminder of exactly why I love her stories so much. I can’t wait to read what comes next!