Ruin of Stars ★★★★☆

Y’all. I’m still a mess whenever I think about Mask of Shadows. And then along came Ruin of Stars? More like RUINED MY HEART!

The thrilling conclusion to the Mask of Shadows duology that weaves a tale of magic, shadows, and most importantly, revenge.

As one of the Queen’s elite assassins, Sal finally has the power, prestige, and permission to hunt down the lords who killed their family. But Sal still has to figure out who the culprits are. They must enlist the help of some old friends and enemies while ignoring a growing distaste for the queen and that the charming Elise is being held prisoner by her father.

But there’s something terribly wrong in the north. Talk of the return of shadows, missing children, and magic abounds. As Sal takes out the people responsible for their ruined homeland, Sal learns secrets and truths that can’t be forgotten.

Excuse me while I go mop up the shreds of my broken heart and my tears from the floor!

I championed Mask of Shadows from the get-go. I loved me some genderfluid assassin babies. Sal was the heart of my heart, and then I got my grubby little queer hands on Ruin of Stars and I couldn’t have been happier.

And then I read it.

And then I cried.

A lot.

Like, more than usual.

Y’all know I’m a tender heart, I cry at everything.

But especially this.

Okay, okay, serious reviewer mode!

I won’t lie, the first ~20% were slow to start. It felt like a long uphill battle to get anywhere, but once we crested that hill and things started hitting the fan… well, we really got to rolling and it just wouldn’t stop.

Sal faced more brutality, more emotion, more queerness and I loved it.

We were introduced to so many more queer characters and we got to dive deeper into who Sal is and who they were becoming.

Also, 100% more Maud. Every Maud scene was amazing.

And then there was the epilogue….

When we interviewed Linsey on our podcast, she mentioned something about an extended epilogue and honestly… I need it. I need an entire novella of that epilogue because O. M. G.

I’m just going to go run off and cry some more about this book, y’all. Don’t mind me. There’s extra mops downstairs if my tears start to flood things.

Don’t forget, Booknerds! We’re part of the Ruin of Stars blog tour! Check out the excerpt and don’t forget to enter the giveaway for your chance to win two copies of Ruin of Stars!