Is this ending the right one? Tough to say, but its the ending that we got. Could it have ended in another way and been better? Most assuredly. Its an ending that left me with conflicted feelings and I am not sure how I feel about everything overall now that its all said and done. The ending was even more shocking! I mean, I was expecting something major to happen but the results were far more devastating than I anticipated. I had idealistic hopes that there wouldve been a stronger romance segue in this story, but alas that was not the case. That spark of chemistry that was infrequently teased in the first book was no longer here. Even when they finally reunite, they still put physical distance between them and I kind of hated it. Mostly because they spend so much time apart. They had that sort of reluctant budding friendship that danced along the lines of something maybe more but also the greater potential to turn into a battle to the death. One thing that I did miss that I felt like wasnt as present in this one was the relationship between Kate and August. I understood the need for the slower pacing, there was a lot that had to be built up, but at the same time, I had hoped for something more along the way to these bigger events. Already, I felt like I was getting off to a bad start with this one since the pace was slow. Over a 100+ pages into the story, it almost makes those pages feel like an overly drawn out prologue especially since Kate was in Prosperity all that time.

I remember reading reviews saying that it took a while for Kate and August to reunite, and it does. It seems these two have decided to join together because of shared common enemy. Apparently whatever theories I had developed about this were grossly incorrect as I seemed to have forgotten the tidbit about how new monsters are created! Lol. Then of course, as teased at the end of This Savage Song, we see that Sloan is still alive and well, and theres a new monster in town, one who just rose and looks like Kate in a lot of ways and goes by the name of Alice.

Eventually, we pop back in on August whos still in Verity acting as a sort of police force trying to keep some semblance of order and justice in the city that is being run rampant with monsters. Though one chance encounter with a monster leaves Kate shaken, this monster was different from the usual sort and as you can imagine will be a feat of impossibility to defeat.

When we start we join Kate in Prosperity, having left Verity behind, and somehow finds herself working with a group of monster hunters, for monsters are everywhere in this world. It had been awhile since I read This Savage Song, but luckily I found a summary for THAT! Diving back into the series was still a bit hard, but manageable. Picking up my next unfinished duology, I turned to Victoria Schwabs Our Dark Duet which brings a conclusion to the Monsters of Verity duology.

Our dark duet book