Immortal Reign

4.25 stars! This review will be spoiler free for this book, but will contain spoilers from the previous books! You have been forewarned!

Synopsis:

So honestly, if you've made it this far into the series, I don't need to explain much. Cleo has the water Kindred stuck in her body and trying to take over. Taran had the air Kindred stuck in his body. Olivia has already been taken over by the earth Kindred. And lastly, Kyan has taken over Nic's body. BUT let's not forget our baby Magnus was kidnapped, beaten, and buried alive by that sniveling snake called Kurtis. In other news, Jonas helped Lucia deliver her baby girl, Lyssa. And now Amara has King Gaius, Felix, and Prince Ashur all imprisoned in her dungeon at the Paelsian base. Did I forget anything from the mess of a cliffhanger Morgan Rhodes left us on in the last book? Once Lucia comes back into the picture after her hiatus with Jonas, shenanigans ensue!

Initial thoughts:

Goodness my heart has been dying to get my hands on this book! I meant it when I said Rhodes left a MESS to clean up from the last book. I was already so anxious from page one when it all came back to me that my baby Magnus was suffering and buried 6 feet under. Though once all the pieces were back on the board and moving and plotting, it felt so so so good to be back in this world. Rhodes did it again with the PLOT TWISTS. Always when I least expected it, something would go awry. I loved the progression of the plot throughout this story! The characters I'm obviously already very invested in. Magnus and Cleo have continued to make a home in my heart as one of my fave OTP's. I lived for the witty, snarky dialogue between all the characters. I was pretty happy with how everything played out in the end, though I felt like by the time you get to this book the story is a bit diluted with all the characters and the "final blow" (which is what I'll call it to avoid spoilers) ended much too abruptly for my taste. Altogether we had quite a satisfying ending. I'm still overall really happy with this finale.

Plot:

First of all, I need to fangirl over the main reason I’ve stayed with this series. My baby Magnus is the epitome of manly sassiness. MAGNEO IS EVERYTHING. Cleo is strong willed, stubborn, and full of fire. The perfect balance to Magnus’s dark and broody persona. THEY'RE REUNION WAS AMAZING. I mean that’s not a spoiler, it was bound to happen? Then throughout the book, Magnus shows his vulnerabilities more with Cleo, when his voice breaks because he’s scared for her and he loves her so much, my heart was just like "AWWWWW." I love them so much.

Okay now about the actual plot: SUCH A ROLLERCOASTER. There is a really good balance between craziness and calm. Most moments were fast/heart racing/suspenseful, but then you’d encounter a period of serenity made to lull you into false peace only to jerk you back into the story by some crazy plot twist. Morgan Rhodes does plot twists so well. Some can be predictable at times, but I found myself surprised more often than not. She has a way with being able to make my heart stop!

Even in the last book, we still have more types of magic making their debut. We have a new interesting dark magic that comes into play and I wish we got to learn more about it, but still the powers from that come from it are incredible. And with the hints you get about it in the end, my heart was just like YAS.

I want to say it was overall satisfying because everything I wanted was there, whether it was completely flushed out the way I wished or not. The ending was suspenseful, heart wrenching, and full of love and courage and hope! Even though I felt like I knew who would survive, I was still so satisfied with how it all played out. The ending came together so well, the timing was perfect, (arguably too perfect, but I'm not the one arguing that). The MAIN thing I DID NOT like was that it ended all too quickly!! Way way too quickly. I wanted more. I wanted more all around, but most definitely MORE from the final blow.

Also, I still kinda wish another person died. Certain people did die... But like... With the history of the last 5 books, I really thought more of the important characters would die. It was too clean, too easy for the people who did survive to come out unscathed. And then there’s Amara. I mean Amara more or less got what was coming to her… kinda. Ashur still didn't forgive her, I would've been pissed if he did. Felix didn't forgive her either and again I would've been pissed if he did.

Also one last random thought is that the story felt slightly diluted? Can I use that word? Just because there were so many characters and POV's at this point. We're not in the minds of just the main four anymore. Regardless, to this moment when I’m writing this review, I STILL want more. I still want another book. More Magnus. More Cleo. More Felix. Maybe even more about Lyssa. I crave these characters because I love them and I’m invested. I guess it’s time to read the spin off series!

Characters:

This whole series is very much driven by the characters and their choices and their growth.

Magnus and Cleo are my everything. They are the reason I stuck around. Their relationship was the hate to love, slow burn, angsty romance I love and needed. I could just read all the scenes involving them over and over and over.

MAGNUS is dark and broody and amazing. I loved his character arc. He went from not really knowing who he was and not understanding his feelings regarding his father or for his sister. But then he found himself, and knows himself now. He has a reason, a someone, to fight for. That makes him not only stronger, but also more vulnerable and those moments of vulnerability bring the humanity back into him. I LOVE MAGNUS. He is a KING.

CLEO was quite the opposite. She always knew who she was, but the events in her life changed her to make her strong, brave, selfless, loving, and a QUEEN. She's the brightness to Magnus's darkness and they complete each other so perfectly.

Now the only rival to Magnus's sass is FELIX GAEBRAS. I feel like I can't just call him Felix, he's Felix Gaebras. And he's so FUNNY. I don't know why, but his lines were just so hilarious to me. Might've been the audiobook contributing to that, but still. He was my comedic relief, my Leo Valdez. I loved his part in this book, however small it was, because I needed him to at least make an appearance. I wish, I WISH he was there more. I would've loved to have more of him in the epilogue too. Still, it's fitting the role he takes in the end.

For the infamous fire God, I like how KYAN struggled with Nic's consciousness, but I wish they didn't say Nic had "fire in his heart" so it would make more sense that Kyan would struggle to keep control in a body without the aptitude for a fiery soul.

I can finally say LUCIA has been redeemed, took FOREVER, but it happened. I don't think she's super annoying anymore.

JONAS I'm still pretty neutral about. I would've been okay if Jonas died tbh, but his survival was okay with me too.

AMARA... MEH. I'm so meh about her. I like truly did not care about her at all by the end. She again, kinda got what was coming to her, but also still kinda weaseled out of it.

Overall:

I'm going to make a separate post about my feelings for this series as a whole.

#immortalreign #morganrhodes #fallingkingdoms