Amazing how fast these books are coming out yet still manage to maintain quite a high level of quality. Like, I'm pretty sure all books of the Spires series I've reviewed so far have been rated four stars or up by me? Which is great especially considering how fast they're coming out. Ah well, spoilers ahead for this book!
Now having left behind the Spires, the remaining packs seek shelter at Sylvia's mountain. Duchess finds out a difficult truth about herself, she's now a "fleshstealer", an eudaemon, capable of slipping out of her own skin and wearing another dog's. She befriends a fellow eudaemon called Burn, and together they discover the Empire ruled by its Emperor, Erlik. Duchess is determined to get him to aid the packs in need, but Erlik might have ulterior motives.
To me this is easily the best book in the series. It was an emotional roller coaster that kept on giving. The whole premise already is pretty harrowing, with us finally abandoning the main setting of the series so far and all packs being homeless. But then the revelation that Duchess is now an eudaemon as well? And the awesome Empire which is way more technologically advanced than the packs and has their own lore and motives? Just some really cool shit.
I also just love the concept of the eudaemons and how despite how they were initially portrayed as monsters they're essentially also just "people", or dogs in this case. They're not all awful, Burn is actually pretty damn genuine and seems to be at odds with herself due to a large amount of self-loathing. Duchess meanwhile accepts being an eudaemon pretty quickly and even thinks that Burn is beautiful in her own way.
I also just am living for the bond these two share. Whether you interpret it as romantic or not, they share a really genuine connection and my heart just broke during the final climax where Burn gets accidentally really hurt by Duchess, resulting in the breaking of their friendship. There's also definitely the possibility to see it as more than friendship, the eudaemons themselves even talk of love several times and Duchess mentions how beautiful she thinks Burn is at at least one occasion. But even if you just see them as friends they definitely have some of the best chemistry and interactions out of the entire series so far. I really hope that in some way or form Burn and Duchess do manage to reconcile in future books.
As for the Empire: yes, epic concept. The whole lore behind them and what they believe in, them having an Emperor and an Oracle, their level of technology and tools being more advanced than those of the Spire packs, their colosseum where gladiatorial combat takes place... Super awesome and I love the twist regarding the Emperor (which is so good I'm not even going to spoil it here). I just love this change of setting our characters get to explore.
Overall this is just my favorite out of the series. It had the best characters (I love Burn a whole lot) and interactions, the best villain so far, the most intriguing and awesome concepts... If I do have one gripe it's that I think I spotted one or two minor typos here and there but that's literally it. I can't think of anything I really didn't vibe with in this book. Super excited to see where things go next now that we have an awesome new villain.
Rating: 5/5
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