Evie Reads

CAUTION: SPOILERS AHEAD ⚠️

Table of Contents

A few things I loved about Sybil and Rory
I felt so sad for Benji
Who is the real villain here?
The gargoyle is the ultimate hero
Final Thoughts

If you’re in a reading slump, looking for something different from the typical “booktok” fantasy book, this duo is the clear choice.

I don’t think I’ve been this emotional after reading a book series since finishing Kingdom of Ash. It could also be that I’m 6 months postpartum and the hormones are acting up. Timing is important when it comes to enjoying books. Where you’re at emotionally, mentally, is going to play a major role in how much you connect with characters or not at all.

I loved how this world wasn’t too big. It’s not a whole realm with a million different places. The names were cool, the different areas distinct. Part of me wishes we got more time in these places. We got to see them at their worst with the nobles and all of their humiliation of Benji in the first book. We didn’t get to see much of what redeemed them, other than the weaver’s spot – the Cliffs of Bellidine. That’s the one place Sybil actually liked and it’s where she finally learned the truth.

I enjoyed Sybil and Rory’s story, but I honestly wasn’t as invested in that as I was the other pieces of the plot. I am glad they got their happy ending with Bartholomew, of course.

A few things I loved about Sybil and Rory

1. Homegirl was a BEAST. I love a bodied FMC that isn’t like 4 feet tall and still an epic fighter, lol. Give us a STRONG girl. We’re here for it.
2. Rory getting his resurrection – DANG. I knew we’d get another POV in book 2 but I didn’t expect it to be Rory with no memory. Such a genius move on RG’s part, honestly.
   1. Speaking of these POVs – did anyone else notice she switched the symbols for them at one point?? I thought the moth = Sybil and the sword = Rory, but they weren’t lining up in every chapter. That was confusing. 
3. Their reunion – so good. “I’ll do anything you ask of me”

I felt so sad for Benji

I’ve never not wanted a villain to die, so that was a confusing emotion for me. It had me asking – was he really a villain? Or was his attitude created from his surroundings, from his upbringing?

“You never understood either of you, what it was like growing up, knowing everything I did was for show. I had to be malleable, pious, virtuous. I did everything I could to make the noble families like me, because it was they who would make me king, and we couldn’t take up the mantle and kill the Omens and change Traum unless they looked at me and saw exactly what they wanted to see.” 

“What of myself did I ever have to look back on when I spent my whole life trying to be everything to everyone?” ugh. heartbreaking. and so real!

Honestly, I don’t think I can see Benji as a villain. Even after his manipulations and betrayals, his sprite killing and all his other crimes against his friends, I still feel sorry for him. They talked so much in the first book about how he was a boy-king, so young and impressionable, desperate to prove himself strong enough to handle being king. He dealt with the trauma of his grandfather being stoned – we never do learn about his parents and what happened to them, only his grandfather – and the power of a lie. His grandfather wanted to share the truth with the world, to dismantle the manipulative lies that had controlled Traum for centuries, but that cost him his life. Benji didn’t want to end up like his grandfather, he wanted the nobles to support him so he bought into the lies even more fully and used whatever fraying ends of the lies he could to try to provide the people with a direction.

Power does have to go somewhere. 

He made the wrong choice, that is evident. He ended up just like his grandfather, despite his attempts to be whatever everyone needed. It’s difficult to say if there was any better choice he could’ve made in these circumstances. Tell everyone the truth, but then what? Would there just have been chaos? Well, there would’ve been no book hahaha. But would people have been ready to hear the truth? So many were so deeply entrenched in the world the abbess had created for them with the portents and the divinations, the Omens and their signs. Even after all of it was destroyed, they were so quick to latch on to Sybil, the final piece of the Omens they had. What if Benji had just taken a step back, tried to figure out how to do this the right way, with Rory, Maude, Bartholomew and Sybil? He still could’ve been king but of a land united without lies. He truly was so misguided because he didn’t have good guidance. They hadn’t seen his need for acceptance of who he was instead of the image he portrayed, being constantly humiliated at the hands of his people. That the king was supplicant- this crushed Benji’s spirit, with no one standing up for him.

Who is the real villain here? 

The sprites? No.
The Omens? Maybe.
The Abbess? I’d like to say yes. She was born in the spring, never really knowing true Life or Living. She never really had a chance. But she feels like the only true villain in this story. Heartless – but she never truly had a real heart that beat. She was cruel, drowning the boys and the girls, turning them to gargoyles or killing them for her own benefit. To keep her power in Traum stable. But then, she was destroyed. Yet, the trouble outlived her.

The true villain of this story to me, is lies.
Deep, culture penetrating lies that cannot be dug up because their roots go so deep they reach through generations. The lies that will take generations to be removed from a society that is unable to see the truth, or simply unable to accept it. That in Traum, there is nothing bigger than the people, no source of knowledge they are unable to reach.

The gargoyle is the ultimate hero

He is the one fully made of stone, yet he is the most capable of emotion. He is entirely hewn of limestone, yet is the fabric of truth in the story. His thread is interwoven in all of the characters’ lives and they are better for it. He was the first Diviner, the first to be mistreated by the abbess and the first to figure out literally everything as the story unfolds. 

He is their true north, the friend Sybil relies on to tell her the truth when she needs it.

“I seem to remember a young king who, in this very room, was cruel to his friends in the face of despair.
“I’m no better than Benji, is that it?”
“You are better. And you’d do well to remember that.”
Mm. a gut punch, truly spoken in love. He is so genuine.

He is the comedic relief –

“Have a care for my virtue!!!“

His pink robes. “You look like the abbess, if she’d ever worn a whit of color.” “I’m prettier than that bitch ever was.” 🤣

“Prithee, Bartholomew, do not shout! We’re in a church.”

“I love a man of few words. Leaves the rest for me.”

I was cackling. My husband kept looking at me like I was crazy and going “WHAT?!”

He is also their source of wisdom –

“If I’ve taught you anything, Bartholomew- and I hope I’ve taught you a great many things- let it be never to care what others think of you.”

“It is the duty of a squire,” he said, “to stand in when needed. And I will always be your squire, Bartholomew.” He looked up into my face. “I will shoulder any weight you give me.”

“To be seen clearly is not a gift all of us are given.”

“Would that things were different”

“Do not let the light go out of your eyes.”

“Flowers grow in the strangest of places, Bartholomew. Even cracks.”

When I look at my color coded tabs in my book – I chose red for the gargoyle because of his heart – the majority of them are red. His little quips really made this story what it was. A sweet, compelling love story between friends (and of course Sybil and Rory) but it was such redemption. Redemption of the tor- a beautiful place that had been made ugly by greed and deceit, becoming a home for those it had affected most deeply. They were brave enough to return and remain as the Mond asked them to. 

Sweet Bartholomew, remade by Sybil instead of the abbess, on the tor again, but happy this time. 

Maude. Loyal, brave Maude. Doing what her ancestors had done, not thinking of whether it was right. I’m glad Sybil got some form of maternal figure in her life after the abbess so thoroughly failed her.

She was redeemed on the tor, too. Giving her life to spare a sprite. I never would have guessed this is how she would end, but it is beautiful. She died at Benji’s hand, and became the source of life for more of her beloved birch trees in the Chiming Wood. As sad as I was that she died, this was a fitting end for her.

Final Thoughts

These are not books that you can read quickly. You must read them slowly – with conviction – because they’re more like poetry, profound in their meaning and easily missed.

If you do not slow yourself down to fully take them in.. Yes, we see a gargoyle that is silly and witty in pink robes. But he is the wisest, most profound character, constantly delivering wisdom and knowing so much while assuming everyone else knows it, and then being completely dumbfounded, when no one else seems to. 

He is made of stone, but is the most capable of emotion and by far my favorite character in the Stonewater Kingdom. 

I’ll never look at birch trees or gargoyles the same again.

I love reading books that challenge me as a lover of literature, reading something that I have to look up the definition for is a welcome change. 

This duology has been the most beautiful thing I’ve read in a long time. It didn’t feel like a normal romantic fantasy novel with all the same tropes and blah blah blah. It was well written, full of lore and felt like I was reading an epic poem, not a novel. It transported me, made me want a gargoyle best friend, and gave me the giggles one minute and flooded my eyes with tears the next.

I loved the writing style too. The language choices definitely enhanced the story, adding another layer. I don’t usually have to look up words as I read (or use context clues if i’m feeling lazy) and it was FUN to have that challenge!

Goodness, Rachel. I’ve read 4 of your books now and I can’t say I’m any LESS emotional for it.

I never thought I’d be into gothic romantasy…you have made a liar out of me.