Author: peteylovesbooks

Welcome to the Centennial.

Every 100 years, the island of Lightlark appears to host the Centennial, a deadly game that only the rulers of six realms are invited to play. The invitation is a summons—a call to embrace victory and ruin, baubles and blood. The Centennial offers the six rulers one final chance to break the curses that have plagued their realms for centuries. Each ruler has something to hide. Each realm’s curse is uniquely wicked. To destroy the curses, one ruler must die.

Isla Crown is the young ruler of Wildling—a realm of temptresses cursed to kill anyone they fall in love with. They are feared and despised, and are counting on Isla to end their suffering by succeeding at the Centennial.

To survive, Isla must lie, cheat, and betray…even as love complicates everything.

I was iffy on if I was going to start reading this book. I kept going over and looking at it every time I was in the store and I even asked friends if they had read it. No one had so I broke down and bought it. Based off of the overview of the book and the list of curses, I really wasn’t that into reading the book. I eventually decided to read the book and recently had a friend ask me what I thought. So even tho I wasn’t sure I would like the book, I decided that I would post this before finishing my reviews of the rest of the fourth wing series.

There are spoilers in this review from this point forward, so please read at your own risk.

The book starts out and we meet Isla. She is the leader of her “lands” even though she never leaves her “palace”. That is until the day of the Centennial. Then we follow her through the journey of her being the one to break the curses on all the lands. She gets feelings for Grim and Oro and her best friend turns out to be the evil person.

The writing isn’t anything to write home about, but this is the first one that I have read that had curses and the way to break them. I wasn’t a fan of this book but the rest in the series started to get interesting. I haven’t finished all the books yet but I’m three fifths of the way there. Hoping to pick the fourth book back up and actually finish it this time. Overall the book was good with an ok storyline but the story feels a bit rushed.

You were once the bane of my existence … and now, you are the center of it.

Isla Crown has secured the love of two powerful rulers and broken the curses that plagued the six realms for centuries, but few know the true origins of her powers. Now, in the wake of a crushing betrayal, Isla finds herself hungry for distraction, preferring to frequent Lightlark’s seductive haunts instead of embracing her duties as the newly crowned leader of two separate realms. Worse, her fellow rulers haven’t ceded victory quietly, and there are others in Isla’s midst who don’t believe her ascent to power was earned.

As certain death races toward Lightlark and secrets from the past begin to unravel, Isla must weigh her responsibility to her people against the whims of the most dangerous traitor of all: her heart

Spoilers Ahead

I feel like book two was better written than book one except for how the chapters were set up. It is hard to decide if the chapters are just the parts of the present day content or if when we go into Isla’s memories are their own chapters. Alex Aster did not make that clear as there is no table of contents nor is there chapter numbers. We are just given headings with half of them saying “before” so we know we are in Isla’s memories.

Nightbane starts where Lightlark left off. We start in Wild Isle in the Place of Mirrors as Isla tries to open the vault. We then follow the journey of Isla learning how to use all three of her powers after she unravels the two she was born with. We watch as Oro still has trouble admitting how much he has fallen for Isla. We also learn who Isla’s father actually was and how she got the star stick that clearly had Grim’s portaling power stuck inside of it.

In Isla’s memories, we learn a different side of Grim and if anyone is like me you found him to be like your last toxic boyfriend/husband/other half. We both love him and hate him for when he does in the memories. The book ends as Isla agrees to go to Nightshade to save both her life and Oro’s because Grim dropped the bombshell of if he dies so does Isla and that she is his wife.

I will see everyone on the other side of the third book in the Lightlark series, Skyshade.

Everyone expected Violet Sorrengail to die during her first year at Basgiath War College―Violet included. But Threshing was only the first impossible test meant to weed out the weak-willed, the unworthy, and the unlucky.

Now the real training begins, and Violet’s already wondering how she’ll get through. It’s not just that it’s grueling and maliciously brutal, or even that it’s designed to stretch the riders’ capacity for pain beyond endurance. It’s the new vice commandant, who’s made it his personal mission to teach Violet exactly how powerless she is–unless she betrays the man she loves.

Although Violet’s body might be weaker and frailer than everyone else’s, she still has her wits―and a will of iron. And leadership is forgetting the most important lesson Basgiath has taught her: Dragon riders make their own rules.

But a determination to survive won’t be enough this year.

Because Violet knows the real secret hidden for centuries at Basgiath War College―and nothing, not even dragon fire, may be enough to save them in the end.

So if you haven’t read Fourth Wing yet, there may be some spoilers in here for you. Mostly me stating how it ends but I will do my best to not include any for Iron Flame and if I do I am sorry.

So Fourth Wing ends on the note that Violet’s brother isn’t actually dead like we all thought he was. He was just living in Aretia as part of the rebellion. We start Iron Flame with Violet having a hard time believing he is alive. Can we blame her though. I know that if I had a relative come back from the dead, I would have a hard time believing it as well. This is the point in the series where we find out the information on the rebellion and how our MC plays into it.

I feel like Rebecca Yarros did a better job on writing Iron Flame than she did Fourth Wing, or maybe it’s because my boyfriend Xaden just ran away with my heart. Either way, I really enjoyed reading Iron Flame. 

 

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general―also known as her tough-as-talons mother―has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away…because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.
With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter―like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom’s protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda―because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die.

After nearly eighteen months at Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail knows there’s no more time for lessons. No more time for uncertainty.

Because the battle has truly begun, and with enemies closing in from outside their walls and within their ranks, it’s impossible to know who to trust.

Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves―her dragons, her family, her home, and him.

Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything.

They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find―the truth.

But a storm is coming…and not everyone can survive its wrath.

Spoilers included in this post. Please read at your own risk.

Welcome to book three of the Empyrean Series. I will admit that I had a hard time putting this book down. We may be reading things mostly as Violet learns them, but this is Xaden’s villain story. Violet watches him become venin and does her best to help him try to overcome it. The book ends with him fully embracing the powers of the venin and we learn that he has a “brother” who is joining him as venin. 

This book may end on a huge cliffhanger with many theories as to what happens in book 4. We know we will find out who else turned venin but I believe Rebecca Yarros has hinted at someone will die as well. I really loved this book and personally can’t wait for book 4.

SJM has given us the information for the next great thing. SHE IS RELEASING BOOKS 6 AND 7 FOR THE ACOTAR!!!!!!!!!! So this will be a four part “book”. I use that lightly as Book 6 will be part one and will release on October 27, 2026. Book 7 will be parts two and three and will release on January 12, 2027. That leaves Book 8 to be part four, which does not have a release date yet. I for one can’t wait to read the next two books in the series. I will post a recommended reading list and approximate read by date for the Maasiverse before Book 6 is released. I will also post the book titles as soon as SJM releases them.

Well it is official everyone. The fourth book in the Empyrean Series is in the works of being worked on. On March 19, 2026 she posted a video of herself writing #4 on a whiteboard and walking away. We don’t have a lot of infomation (RY doesn’t give much information in her interviews) but we do know that we will have multiple POVs and we will find out the “brother” that became venin at the end of book 3. She told us to pay attention to who was missing at the end. I am interested in hearing everyone’s opinions and fan theories on who they believe that is!

Sarah J Maas has either interconnected her worlds or put in Easter eggs to other books in the Maasiverse. To get the most out of all of her books, this is the order I would recommend reading them.

To start, I would begin with the first three books in the ACOTAR series: A Court of Thorns and Roses, A Court of Mist and Fury, and A Court of Wings and Ruin. These three books are their own subarc as they follow Feyre as she has her beauty and the beast moment.

After those three, I would recommend reading the entire Throne of Glass series. You can start with Assassin’s Blade as that novella does actually take place before Throne of Glass, but I wouldn’t recommend it because it is multiple short stories. I feel like you would lose interest in the series if you read it first, but it is an option. The order I would recommend is: Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight, Assassin’s Blade, Heir of Fire, Queen of Shadows, Empire of Storms, Tower of Dawn, and then Kingdom of Ash.

Empire of Storms (EoS) and Tower of Dawn (ToD) can be read in tandem. I didn’t do the tandem read when I read the books, but I have seen that a lot of people recommend doing the tandem read to get the most out of both books as they happen at the same exact time. I am currently rereading all of the SJM books while I wait for ACOTAR 6 to drop in October and I am going to do the tandem read this time. I will post an update about the tandem read after I get there. Google recommends the tandem read as: EoS chapters 1-35, ToD chapters 1-10, EoS chapters 36-55, ToD chapters 11-32, EoS chapter 56 to end, ToD chapter 33 through the epilogue.

Here is an in depth tandem read guide from Bookish Goblin. This is the guide I will be using when I tandem read the books.

After you finish the Throne of Glass series, I would jump right back into the ACOTAR series. The rest of the series has a Christmas type of novella and what I feel like is a lead into what will become the set up for book 6. The other two books in the series that are currently out are A Court of Frost and Starlight, and A Court of Silver Flames.

After both the ACOTAR and Throne of Glass series, I HIGHLY recommend the Crescent City series. I made the mistake of reading this series first and I totally regretted it as I realized the connection between the other series after I read them. There are multiple Easter eggs in the Crescent City series that you will only catch if you read the others first. The Crescent City series consists of House of Earth and Blood, House of Sky and Breath, and House of Flame and Shadow.

I highly recommend this reading order to get the most out of all of the books as there are many fan theories between characters in the Throne of Glass series and the ACOTR series plus all the Easter eggs in the Crescent City series. I will post my reviews of all of the books, including my attempt at the tandem read, later after I have decided how I am going to do the reviews. Let me know if you would be interested in having the reviews all individually or if you would like the posts set up as my recommended reading order.