“She embraced submission to fuel her rebellion. But escaping to reclaim her freedom was just the beginning. Now she must fight.
Bria and her companions have finally reached Eryndale after a perilous journey, but their troubles are far from over. Mistaken for spies and facing suspicion at every turn, they must convince the skeptical Eryndale leadership of the growing threat posed by Demetrius Ark and his Talionis soldiers.
As they prepare to fight and new allies emerge, Bria and her friends find themselves facing ever increasing odds. Even if they can unite the people of Eryndale to mount a defense against Talionis, it might be too late to stop Ark from carrying out his sinister plans.”
Series: Book #3 in the “Talionis” series. Reviews of Book #1, Here! and Book #2 Here!
Spiritual Content- Micah 6:8 is a mantra for a group of people (not actually quoted, but a shortened version of it); A few other Scriptures are mentioned, remembered, & quoted; Prayers & Thanking God (including a long one and benediction from an elder); Talks about God, being changed by Him, & trusting Him; ’H’s are capital when referring to God; Bria believes God has saved her, but finds it hard to understand how God is supposed to be a part of her everyday life like others have told her about; Bria wonders about some of her friends’ eternal destinies and sharing her faith with them; Bria feels settled and peace from God in a couple difficult situations; Hearing a testimony from a girl who lived in an abusive household and God answering her prayers and pursuing her; Many mentions of God, Jesus, & trusting Him; Many mentions of prayers, praying, & answered prayers; Mentions of Bibles, Bible reading, & verses; Mentions of eternity & seeing a loved one again; Mentions of faiths; Mentions of miracles; A couple mentions of someone looking like he wishes he was anywhere else when God is discussed; A mention of someone telling others to pray for someone if they have any “religious bones” in their bodies;
*Note: Phrases like being “damned” for eternity (without knowing God) is said once & other exclamations like “heavens” and “heaven forbid” are said once and thrice; Many mentions of evil, evil people, & fighting against it/them; Mentions of Hell (both as in eternal damnation when someone doesn’t know Jesus & what Bria has been through, including a training week called “Hell Week”); Mentions of abusive parents that wanted their family to look good to those at their church and would put on a “performance” at church, acting perfect (their kids knew not to make them look like anything other than wonderful godly parents or else they would regret it when they got home; This would include beatings and the kids having to carefully cover bruises; The daughter shares that despite this, she didn’t hate God and loved church); A couple mentions of the devil & someone else being called a devil; A couple mentions of facing demons & being haunted by demons; A mention of a villain saying that someone is following an “empty faith”; A mention of superstitious people.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘bunch of bull’, a form of ‘idiot’, two forms of ‘dumb’, two forms of ‘shut up’, two ‘stupid’s, and two ‘ticked’s; Eye rolling & Sarcasm; Many scenes of being held at gun-point, being threatened, being tied-up, shooting guns and using knives on others (implied killing as well), gunfire, attacking/fighting, being hit, pain, injuries, blood/bleeding, & throwing up (up to semi-detailed); Setting explosives & explosions; Remembering deaths, near deaths (including by murders/executions, drowning, and someone else being shot), & grief (up to semi-detailed); Seeing dead bodies & others be nearly killed, shot, be held at gun-point and knife-point, tased, attacked, fighting, injured, bleeding, and in pain (up to semi-detailed); Believing loved ones to be dead or dying & grief from it (up to semi-detailed); Bria isn’t sure if she could hurt or kill follow recruits she trained with that are being forced to fight (she asks God to help her with whatever happens); Many mentions of attacks/fights, fighting, weapons, injuries (including major injuries like missing a hand), pain, blood/bleeding, & being tied-up (up to semi-detailed); Many mentions of children and teens being kidnapped to become soldiers & parents injured or killed for trying to stop it (seen on-page, barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of deaths, grief, & guilt (including drownings and murders/executions; grief for a brother, border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Mentions of dead bodies; Mentions of missing people, them possibly being dead or killed, & grief for them; Mentions of possible casualties during fights; Mentions of evil men willing to kill others in their way; Mentions of a planned war; Mentions of beatings & torture (including from parents); Mentions of all of the training that Bria and the others did in Book #1 (including fighting & going through Kill Zones where they could be shot, barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of threats (including someone threatening to harm or even kill a child); Mentions of criminals & crimes; Mentions of explosives, fires, & places being destroyed; Mentions of betrayal & hurt from betrayal; Mentions of abusive (physically and verbally) parents; Mentions of nightmares; Mentions of lies, lying, & liars; Mentions of hatred; A few mentions of drownings & near drownings (Book #2); A few mentions of a child being unable to walk after an injury & the parent wanting revenge on why it happened; A few mentions of families abandoning their kids; A few mentions of a woman running away from her home (due to an abusive family member); A few mentions of stealing & stolen items; A few mentions of throwing up; A couple mentions of suicidal thoughts (past, by a side character); A couple mentions of suicide missions; A couple mentions of jealousy; A mention of slaves; A mention of a man trying to kidnap a woman; A mention of a mother treating her daughter “like garbage” after the father left; A mention of poison; A mention of bullies; A mention of tattoos;
*Note: Bria hyperventilates & someone walks her through breathing deeply; Bria’s friend, Nika, shares about her unhappy and abusive family (her mother would yell and her father would beat her and her siblings to the point where one couldn’t sit afterwards; Her parents cared what others, especially church members, thought of them and the kids would have to hide their bruises); Nika shares that she considered taking her life at the worst moment; A mention of depression; A quote from Theodore Roosevelt is shared at the beginning of the book.
Sexual Content- Two head/forehead kisses, a cheek kiss, two almost kisses (barely-above-not-detailed), and a barely-above-not-detailed kiss; Touches, Embraces, Dancing, Hand holding, Warmth, Flutters, Shivers, Nearness, & Smelling (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Wanting to touch & embrace (barely-above-not-detailed); Blushes & Winks; Noticing (barely-above-not-detailed); Seeing couples embrace & share kisses (barely-above-not-detailed); Bria thinks Matthias is going to kiss her (twice), but does not when they are interrupted or he hugs her instead; Bria told Matthias in Book #2 that she cares for him, but isn’t sure now what to do with the shift in their relationship; Mentions of dating & boyfriends/girlfriends; A few mentions of kisses & kissing; A few mentions of blushes; A couple mentions of flirting; A mention of jealousy; Light falling in love & the emotions;
*Note: A mention of a butt.
-Bria Averton, age 17
1st person P.O.V. of Bria
500 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
Maybe it’s because we’re getting closer to taking down the corrupt system, but I actually got into this third book more than the previous books in the series—despite it being the longest one so far and 500 pages long. I do think that there was a bit too much rehashing of Bria’s emotions (like every time she would think of someone, she would comment on missing that person and wondering about their condition), but there wasn’t too much recalling of the prior books' events, which I approved of due to reading these in a close timeframe. If I had to wait for the next book in the series, I probably wouldn’t have been able to follow along as easily. Especially with a lot of new characters introduced in this book.
One thing I really appreciated in this book was that Bria questions and wrestles with if she even wants to fight against Talionis when she’s given the opportunity to have her dream and a peaceful life. I think that was a very fair and realistic thought and it’s not one I see often in dystopian books.
I also really liked the realistic reactions of Bria when she’s not the leader of a group anymore. She’s never wanted to be a soldier or to fight, but is a part of a battle anyway and has lead her group(s) for a while now. I think I would have a harder time taking orders from others in that situation as well as being left out in the planning, but Bria handles it pretty well overall—and probably better than I would, to be honest.
There’s a lot of waiting, action, and sikes throughout this book. Waiting for plans, action with those plans, and sikes? Well, there’s quite a few scenes of possible deaths or near deaths that end in ways I wasn’t expecting. Because of this, I do think some parts were a little convenient or predictable, but it didn’t distract me too much from the story.
The cliffhanger wasn't as bad as I was anticipating, but if I had the next book now, I would probably read it within a week to get answers. 😉 I’m curious to see how the author will wrap up this series and hopeful for good to—finally—win.
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
