*I received an ecopy of this book from the authors. This has not influenced my review.*

This has become one of my favorite series, and it was so easy to sink right back into the lives of these characters I love.

This one seemed so much sadder in tone than the others. Jasper was really struggling with the emotional trauma of everything, and I felt so bad for him. His thoughts and feelings and fears were realistic, and I like when trauma is acknowledged in books, when characters sometimes can’t just shrug things off. I don’t think Crimson quite understood why Jasper was struggling, he just felt like Jasper was unhappy with him, and I felt for him too. They still loved each other, but it affected their relationship, they no longer had the same easiness and sweetness together.

A little less sad, one of my favorite things about this one was getting to meet Zahir and the spider, as their own entities! That was cool. And I loved the comfort and attraction that Jasper felt with both, since they’re both part of Crimson.

Retribution also had a significant part of the story, being a POV character again. He’s such a jerk! But the authors have done a good job of making him interesting and still making me care about what happens to him.

The story itself was just as good. Still a lot of danger and action, as per usual, though some of it had a twist that made it a bit more surreal and, let’s say, introspective for the characters. *MILD SPOILER* Part of the book took place in a dream world in Crimson’s mind. It was still really happening, the characters were in danger, but it was based a lot on Crimson’s thoughts and feelings and memories. *END SPOILER*

But $^*%#&$*@^&! The ending has me worried, and I really need to know what’s going to happen in the next book.

Overall, another amazing book that sucked me in!

*Rating: 4.5 Stars // Read Date: 2022 // Format: Ebook via TTS*