Review: A reaper at the gates

"In this fiery hellscape of a world, this mess of blood and madness, justice exists only for those who take it. I'll be damned if I'm not one of them." 1) An ember in the ashes ★★★★ 2) A torch against the night ★★★★★ 4.5/5 ★★★★★ First things first: nothing will ever be as badass as Helene covered in blood fighting with her war hammer Anyway, A reaper at the gates was fantastic. Everything came full circle (even if there's still one book left) and some little things that didn't make sense in the previous instalments were finally explained. Yes, I didn't give it five full stars and that's because imo the first 30-35% of the book is veeery slow and sometimes even hard to follow. Plus, even if I still love him with my whole heart and think that he deserves a future full of rainbows and jam with Laia, I didn't enjoy Elias's storyline. But leaving those two things aside, the book is perfect. The first two books were more character driven but this one is very political with a heavy focus on the war. Our three protagonists, Laia, Elias and Helene, are on their own journeys doing different things but they all have the same goal, to protect their loved ones and the world in general. As for the romance, being A reaper at the gates a plot driven book, it's in the background. But when it's there it's painful as hell. I know I shouldn't (because this series will likely end in tears and suffering) but I ship Laia and Elias so much. Every time they're together you can feel the love they have for each other and I hope they're going to get the future of their dreams. And I ship Helene and Harper, too. Their chemistry is off the charts and they both deserve some love in their lives. I ship Helene and her war hammer, too. Speaking of Helene, I wasn't the biggest fan of her character in the first two books but in this one she totally won me over. She was my absolute favorite here, no doubts. And goddamn the plot twists. Sabaa Tahir is the queen of the unexpected. We finally get to know, through visions, Laia's mother, who turned out to be another very morally grey character, we find out who Cook is, we get inside the Nightbringer's head and we finally find out what the actual hell Keris (The Commandant) wants and what object is the last piece of the Star (another fucking amazing plot twist and heart wrenching scene). I can't wait to get my hands on the last book, hopefully these three souls will finally get the happiness they deserve.