Soul of Cinder
Series: Heart of Thorns #3
Author: Bree Barton
Published January 12th 2021 by Katherine Tegen Books

Goodreads Synopsis
The Twisted Sisters are coming home.

Prince Quin has returned to the river kingdom, ready to spearhead a rebellion and reclaim the throne. He vows to destroy Mia, Pilar, and Angelyne if they oppose him—even if he must use his newfound magic to set the world aflame.

Across the four kingdoms, the elements have been tipped askew. Volcanoes erupt, glaciers collapse, and cities sink into the western sands. After losing Angie, Mia and Pilar journey to the glass kingdom to seek help, though soon their fragile bonds of sisterhood begin to fray. Mia’s sensations are creeping back, and with them, a deep and searing grief. Pilar, terrified of being broken, once again seeks comfort in her fists. But when they hear rumors of a misty island that promises to erase all pain, they suddenly find themselves with an answer—if they are willing to pay the cost.

As tensions mount, the sisters are drawn back to the river kingdom for a final reckoning with the boy they each loved. The shattering conclusion to Bree Barton’s Heart of Thorns trilogy challenges why we grieve, whom we love—and how to mend a broken heart.
Goodreads

Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher. This in no way impacted on my view.

Immediately following the explosive events of Tears of Frost, our cast of characters are recovering in their own ways. For Mia and Pilar, they are getting to grips with being half-sisters, and travelling with Nelladine to Pembuk, the glass kingdom, in order to speak with the Shadowess, and discover if Mia can regain her feelings and sensations, and for Pilar to come to terms with the horrific suffering she has faced. Unbeknown to them, Quin also survived, and after being broken by both love and pain, he's turned into someone wholly different to what you might expect. Blaming the Twisted Sisters for everything, he's discovered he now has magic, and is ready to take back his kingdom, come hell or high water, and he doesn't care who he hurts along the way. While the three main characters are all journeying to their destinations, it seems that the world they know is imploding: volqanoes are erupting, the river kingdom is on fire, the glass cities are sinking, and glaciers are collapsing in Luumia. Even when they discover themselves, will there be a world left for them?

I have somewhat mixed feelings for this book, and series. I loved Heart of Thorns, but Tears of Frost had moments that annoyed me, which was the same here too. This time, we have three points of view - Mia, Pilar, and Quin - and while I liked that, they changed too often for me, and the characters had changed so much too, which felt like a complete 180 to where they were in book 1. Mia, I still love. She's rediscovering her feelings, little by little, and wants to care for anyone and help those suffering, though this doesn't always turn out well for her. There were moments she was a little naive, and I wanted to shake my head at her, but all in all, I liked her chapters. For Pilar, yet again, I was annoyed. Yes, I feel so sorry for what she has suffered, but she was too abrupt and abrasive at times. People around her, like Mia, Stone, Shay, etc., wanted to help her, and just be there for her, and she pushed them away - going nearly too far in one case. Quin was a complete 180 - he was twisted and turning into a tyrant just like his father before him, and I couldn't believe how much his characterisation had been ruined. In the end, he does change back to more of the Quin we all know and love, but still, I think this is part of the reason I'm giving Soul of Cinder 4 stars.

Obviously with the characters apart from each other for the majority of the book, there's little to no romance, but I did love the ending, all being said. Mia and Quin deserve each other, and have done from the start of their story, and I did appreciate the full circle their story had gone in, to allow them to be in a perfect position at the end. Mia also got some closure from her feelings with her family - especially with Angelyne, and Angelyne's own redemption on the Isle of Forgetting. Without that section of the book, I do think there would've been unanswered questions left on the final page, but thinking back to the series as a whole, I think everything has been tied up together quite well. Maybe I would've wanted something a bit more for Quin and Pilar, but all in all, a good ending to the series.

Dates Read:
January 9-10, 2021

Rating
4 Stars