Having finished the trilogy, I’m just gonna be honest: I didn’t like this one as much as the other two. Which is often a problem I have with series about different characters in each book, I end up liking some more than others. (But that’s good news if you also didn’t love this one, means you might enjoy the final book more!)

I just found this one slow and not very engaging. The description makes it sound like it will be more exciting and entertaining, with all its talk of magic, murder, shipboard romance, and a disrespectful parrot. But the parrot was in like two scenes. The magical things and murders were few and far between. The mystery felt like explanations more than tension. The romance was nice, but I didn’t super feel it.

But the characters were all unique with distinct personalities. Maud felt meek at first, but she grew on me. Violet was confident and fun. I liked Lord Hawthorne and how surly and stern he was, but unable to stop himself from helping sometimes.

The writing in general was very good.

There were some specific moments I liked too. Like when they were reading the erotic stories aloud with Violet and Alan dramatically acting them out in silly ways and Lord Hawthorne refusing to participate.

Overall, not the strongest book in the series for me, not as fun as I thought it would be, but still not a bad book. And I do think it helps to read this one if you’re planning to continue the series, as it’s very connected to the next book and includes the next two main characters a lot.

*Rating: 3 Stars // Read Date: 2023 // Format: Ebook via TTS*