A reaper at the gates – Sabaa Tahir (review!)

Title: A reaper at the gates (An ember in the ashes #3)

Author: Sabaa Tahir.

Format: Hardcover.

Publisher: Razorbill.

Page count: 464.

Release day: June 12^th 2018.

Genre: YA, fantasy.

Rating: 4 stars.

*This is book three! See my review for book 1 here, and book 2 here!*

What is it about? (Summary from GoodReads)

Beyond the Empire and within it, the threat of war looms ever larger.

The Blood Shrike, Helene Aquilla, is assailed on all sides. Emperor Marcus, haunted by his past, grows increasingly unstable, while the Commandant capitalizes on his madness to bolster her own power. As Helene searches for a way to hold back the approaching darkness, her sister’s life and the lives of all those in the Empire hang in the balance.

Far to the east, Laia of Serra knows the fate of the world lies not in the machinations of the Martial court, but in stopping the Nightbringer. But while hunting for a way to bring him down, Laia faces unexpected threats from those she hoped would aid her, and is drawn into a battle she never thought she’d have to fight.

And in the land between the living and the dead, Elias Veturius has given up his freedom to serve as Soul Catcher. But in doing so, he has vowed himself to an ancient power that will stop at nothing to ensure Elias’s devotion–even at the cost of his humanity.

Rating:
Characters: 8/10
Atmosphere: 8/10
Writing: 8/10
Plot: 7/10
Intrigue: 7/10
Logic: 7/10
Enjoyment: 7/10
Average: 7.43 (which means 4 stars!)

My thoughts:

I have no idea how to write this review.. It has been a couple of days since I finished this book, and my mind has been somewhere totally else in the meantime..

I had really high expectations for this book since I was absolutely blown away by the first two books. And I have to say that I was a bit disappointed in this one. Not saying that this was a bad book, I did really like it, but it was just not as good as the first two. I still rated this book 4 stars, meaning that I really did enjoy it!

My favourite part of this book was by far Helene! I just love reading from her perspective, and to me her storyline is the most interesting! And in her part the most politics are included, which really interested me!

I did like Laia and Elias’s part as well, but I would have liked it if they would actually have been together. Also Laia’s part confused me a bit at times, since she was travelling all over, and I got a bit confused about where she was at times! There were some reveals about her, and they had me shocked, did not see them coming at all, but they did make sense! I really like how we see Laia grow throughout this series!

I do think Elias’s storyline was my least favourite, it felt a bit bland at times. I do hope his part will be more interesting in the last book!

I really like that Tahir doesn’t hold back, there were quite some cruel scenes, which I can really appreciate!

The ending though! It was great! I loved it! I need the sequel!

Overall great sequel, it just wasn’t as great as the first two. I think that is mainly because it is a build up book for the grand finale we will probably get in the fourth book!

I’m actually kinda happy that I did not read this series sooner, since now the wait for book four is not that long anymore!

Have you read this book? What did you think?