reign of the talons by sophie kim
It's been awhile since I've had to review a book for a publisher instead of just myself, but the publisher of Reign of the Talons reached out to me to review the finale of the Talon trilogy, and since I reviewed the first two books and absolutely adored them, I was glad to accept.
As the end of a trilogy, I'm a bit hesitant to go into a brief synopsis of the book. But I think it's safe to bring up that this is a story that takes place in a world pretty different from our own, but seeped in Korean folklore. The gods, their stories, and names have their origins there. As do the monsters and not-so-monsters alike. You should probably read the synopsis of the first book, Last of the Talons, somewhere else if you're interested when I'm through.
This book was absolutely phenomenal. It was exactly what one hopes for in the finale of a trilogy. The characters remained compelling, tensions remained high, pacing wise appropriate for the direction the story took, there are things to be surprised about, and most importantly of all, it was necessary for this third book to exist. Not every trilogy can boast the same.
I remained completely enthralled with Lina and Rui from start to finish. Kim manages to show us new sides of every single character without bogging the story down. In fact, seeing these new sides is an absolute must that brings us to the conclusion of their stories. Readers of the previous books will know that things ended pretty rough in the second volume, and the third book jumps right back in at full speed. It's emotionally charged and passionate and fierce. And these are exactly the things that made me fall in love with these books and these characters in the first place. My heart clenched with theirs, I felt their agonies and sorrows, and it was a joy being with them from start to finish. Kind of a weird thing to say, I know.
I will admit that since I read the first book in the series, that these books have felt mature for their YA categorization. They aren't necessarily going to be suitable for the younger readers in that marketing bracket—the book warns of this openly at the start with a pretty robust content warning and that warning should be taken seriously. But I'll mention a few of the basics here for anybody who hasn't read the previous books and who sees this review and maybe wants to give them a try. This series is bloody, full of death, has minimally (I think?) descriptive sexual content, murder... I think you get the idea. Also snakes. Definitely skip if you can't handle fictional and very creepy snakes.
This book and series as a whole aren't going to be for everyone. The content warnings that I mentioned above are strewn throughout all three books. The main character is an assassin after all. However, this is one of the most passionate, spunky, and raw books that I've ever read. And if that's something that you're interested in, then this book and series are very likely for you.
Updated 6Â months, 2Â weeks ago