5/5 stars
Recommended for people who like: multiple POVs, morally gray characters, schemes, court intrigue
Stardust in Their Veins review
The book opens with Daphne at the Frivian court where we left her, now solidly against her mother and making plans with Violie, Leopold, Cliona, and Bairre. Beatriz, on the other hand, is in a bit more of a bind. Having been captured at the end of Stardust in Their Veins, she now finds herself back in the Cellarian court to be wed…this time to Niccolo. Things are tense for each of them for different reasons, and the distance between them makes planning their mother’s downfall all the harder. It’s kind of difficult to tell the timing of the book, one character makes a passing mention to it having been “only a month” since the end of Castles in Their Bones but that feels….distinctly wrong. The events of the last book definitely felt like they took more than four weeks to occur, and this one picks up immediately, so I’d say at least two months after the ending of the first book, if not three.
It’s difficult to say whose book this is. If Castles was Sophronia’s book, Stardust was meant to be Beatriz’s (and we do see that, but in hindsight I think a lot of it was for Daphne too), then this one is probably meant to be Daphne’s book. However, I think this book does a good job splitting itself between Daphne, Beatriz, and Violie. Beatriz grew a lot in the last book, but let’s not forget Daphne also broke away from their mother and she had much stronger ties to her.
Daphne is still struggling with what it means to be against her mother, but not so much from a will-she-won’t-she perspective, but from the perspective of needing to know who she is if not a loyal daughter. Daphne definitely brings out her strengths in this one, and to my surprise, we also get to see her trusting people more too, which is decidedly not one of her strengths. The relationships she’s been cultivating in Friv are ones she feels confident leaning on, and her and Bairre get a lot of development over the course of this book. I really liked seeing who Daphne became and enjoyed her storyline, especially since she started out in book 1 as my least favorite sister.
Beatriz also gets to grow and in this book the focus is on her finding her own way out of binds by relying on her cunning and diplomacy rather than magic, bloodshed, or other people. Triz really shows herself as a well-rounded force to be reckoned with, and she also shows just how much her siblings have shaped and guided her–she draws strength from Sophronia and Daphne at different points. I was pleasantly surprised by some of the decisions she made in this book and think that it really shows a great deal of growth for her, even though she still calls herself emotional and impulsive.
Violie feels like much more of her own character in this one, which I liked. She feels responsible for so many of the things that happened in Temarin, and particularly with Sophronia. She was a POV character in the last book as well, but I feel her voice really comes out in this one as she establishes herself and her place. She can be ruthless, but that ruthlessness comes out in a way that belies care for the people around her and for the state of both Bessemia and Temarin. It’s clear she regrets her past choices, but now that she’s chosen to take a stand, she’s willing to fight for it with everything she has, just like Sophie.
Bairre, as expected, does have to make some tough decisions in this one and tbh he kind of feels like a new man. He’s just as loyal to Friv as always, and he’s still determined to see the rebellion’s goals through, but he also listens to Daphne far more than before and is willing to put blind faith in her, something I don’t think would’ve occurred in Stardust. I liked getting to see him interact with a wider group of characters and enjoyed getting to know him more.
Leopold is another character who really comes into himself in this one. While he was already developing into a stronger character, and stronger king, in Stardust, we see that development further in this one. Temarin, let’s remember, is currently occupied by Empress Margaraux’s forces, and that doesn’t bode well for the country. Leo has the opportunity to really step up and it was such a fantastic transformation from who he’d been in Castles, I loved seeing it come to fruition.
Pasqual and Ambrose both come back as well, though they’re absent for most of the book as a result of the events that happened at the end of book 2/the beginning of this one. Pasqual is Triz’s number one supporter and is ride-or-die for her. I cherish their friendship so much and love how Ambrose is more than onboard with Daphne.
We also see Cliona again and I really like her as a character. I feel like maybe I didn’t like her as much when she was introduced, but she’s a clever and funny character, and I liked that Daphne had a friend. She also sets a nice foil to Gisella who….makes very different choices when faced with it.
There are so many threads set up for this book and it was wonderful seeing them come together. Several things from book 1 pop back up, and I liked getting closure on some of the conflict that was left open from that book. Likewise, some new things that popped up in book 2, both character- and plot-wise, were resolved in this book in some pretty interesting ways. There was a lot that needed closure by the end of this book, from the minor mentions of the previous empress to the big things like the current empress, and Sebastian does a good job of having everything come together.
The showdown with the empress is a longtime coming, and there are several smaller showdowns with her along the way. It was definitely tense because I knew while reading that Margaraux was in no way going to go quietly, but I wasn’t sure just what she had planned. Goodness is it hard to win against her. As the girls say, she has spies everywhere, and we get to see just how extensive that network is and just how good she is at planning ahead.
Overall I enjoyed this book and thought it was an excellent conclusion to the trilogy. There is room for character growth as well as flashy showdowns, and most, if not all, of the loose ends are tied up by the end of the book. We even get more of Sophronia.
Reading Queen E Reviews 