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449 pages, Hardcover
First published March 5, 2019
“There are worse things than black heartsglass, Tea. Silver is just as capable of hate.”
“The darkness was inside me, I think, long before I raised my brother from the dead. My silver heartsglass merely gave it a mouth, made the darkness realize that it too can hunger…”
“I knew that shadowglass spell; I had committed it to memory nearly two years ago, and it was now a mantra, buried so deep within my psyche that nothing could pull it loose. I had pored over those words for so long that sometimes they came easier to me than my own name.”
“I will save the kingdoms, and I will save you in the process, and maybe I will save the bits and pieces of myself that need rescuing too.”
“I am sorry about many things, but I am not sorry about this.”
I’ve been trying to write this review for a few minutes now, but I still can’t convey the words to describe this third and final book. I really can’t understand how this trilogy is so underrated, because I truly believe this is one of the best YA fantasy stories out there. Rin Chupeco has created a powerful story with an intricate world-building, complex siblings relationships, a beautiful and heartbreaking romance, and an outstanding cast of characters.
The Tea we meet in The Shadowglass is far away from the 12-year-old Dark asha who resurrected her brother from the dead by accident in The Bone Witch. We finally get to see the final circumstances that changed Tea’s heartglass from silver to black, as the past timeline starts only a few months before the beginning of the first book. We discover everything that happened in those months: Tea’s struggles with the dark magic, the betrayals, the hope, the despair.
We also get to explore other kingdoms as Istera, the Yadosha City States and Drycht. Furthermore, the rest of the daevas finally make an appearance in the past timeline. And there are a couple of interesting plot-twists. I actually guessed who the traitor was and the identity of certain Faceless at some point around the middle of the book, but I didn’t connect all the dots until the author showed her hand.
Tea’s character development is just amazing throughout the entire trilogy and I’m still trying to wrap my mind around everything that happened to her since The Bone Witch. And I completely love her dynamic with all the characters, especially with Fox, Khaled, Kalen, Likh and Zoya, although the latter appears much less in The Shadowglass than in The Bone Witch and The Heart Forger. Shadi, Mykaela and Inessa also have less presence and I missed more scenes with them.
Once again, the romance gave me all the feels. And although I’ve been preparing myself for certain scene since the first book, I couldn’t help but shed a couple of tears when the time came. Those two have such a beautiful and heartbreaking story that just thinking about it makes me want to re-read their story all over again. And again, I loved all the romance stories between the side characters. Zoya and Shadi are probably my favourite f/f ship ever and I need a story about those two more than anything in this life.
Other aspect I adored about this book is Likh’s journey accepting her identity as a woman and the consequent change of pronouns. And it made me beyond happy how the rest of the characters accept and respect Likh’s transition with total normality, as it should be.
Overall, I loved The Shadowglass. Rin Chupeco has written a powerful and emotional final instalment to this ownvoices Asian inspired fantasy trilogy. Those two last pages? Those are just pure perfection. I would lie if I said that the final chapter didn’t make me tear up and I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect and fitting ending.
“I’ll find you again. I know it. What’s one more impossibility when it’s you?”
P.S.: English isn’t my native language, so I apologise if you see any mistakes.
”And I will kill anyone standing between us, even if I have to crawl out of my grave to do so.”
”I have always known darkness. It has been my friend. Yet it has also been my enemy.”
"“Even the dead have their stories.”
#1) The Bone Witch ★★★☆☆
#2) The Heart Forger ★★★★☆