Previous book here. Pre the previous book, I need to put the review below the spoiler cut. Four stars, though.
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I wasn't quite into this book as much, mostly because I kind of feel....foggy... in the middle as to what was going on, but the ending is top notch bombs and surprises, so I like that.
Mostly the middle of this book is Beatrix secretly training other women in using magic, in hopes of having a giant magical political demonstration, and trying to keep it a secret from Peter, which is a challenge under current circumstances. The sexy dreams between Beatrix and Peter continue, and she tries to figure out magic stuff. Beatrix becomes distant from Lydia, and Peter gets besieged with pushy single ladies and tries to keep a pregnant mother alive.
And then... well, the ending gets explosive! I feel that I need to go below another spoiler cut to discuss.
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Peter shuts down the magic teaching posthaste. Sigh. A good idea, but still.
We've had hints that Ella knows more about wizards than she likes to mention, we find out she was engaged to one...and then the big bombshells; she's the vice president's daughter, and her brother would magically bind and rape her and got her pregnant and then nearly killed her getting aborting herbs. While I feel horribly sorry for her, she calls Peter a rapist, tries to kill him (and nearly manages it) and wants to blow up the giant bomb, which I am less thrilled about. And she kills Theo. DAMN, GIRL.
On a related note, Tim Martinelli, Peter's former employee/current buddy, turns out to be an expert on Vows And Why You Shouldn't Do Them Very Often, and can verify that bad things happen if you take them a lot. (P&B are just skating under the wire.) The few guys he's heard of who mutually swore vows to each other fell in love* and were obsessed, at least until one of them died. Yes, the Vows force you to love someone. The horror is real. Why not just go for it under the circumstances, says Martinelli? I concur.
In the end, Peter temporarily dies enough to break the Vows....and Beatrix still loves him anyway, would have anyway, it just would have been slower. Awwww.
* This, of course, is Super Awkward Territory for 2020. I know the story here is really socially 1910 and of course gayness isn't considered acceptable here, but saying that magic brainwashed two presumably previously straight men into gay ones would probably get a shit ton of complaints if this series ever becomes popular. SIGH.
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