Emily A. Duncan
Blessed Monsters (Something Dark and Holy #3) by Emily A. Duncan
Released: April 16, 2021
Pages: 508
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Overall: 3/5
Plot: 3/5
Characters: 4/5
Setting & World-building: 3/5
Emotional Investment: 5/5
"Lie to me," she whispered. "Do what you do best."
And look at that. It's finally the end of a very long era, where I spent too much emotional energy on this book. Now I do not support this author (I did not buy this book), therefore Goodreads is getting one star because I don't support racists or people who are antisemitic. Everything that has come into recent light about Emily A. Duncan is awful and horrendous and I am only writing this review because I wanted to finish this trilogy and get closure.
This being the third book means you know the plot and writing a quick summary is pointless because this book takes place literally minutes after the ending of Ruthless Gods. Malachiasz was stabbed by his brother, Serefin but he's back and the god that was in Serefin's head is now in Malachiasz. Everybody thinks Malachiasz is dead, but surprise he is not. Serefin has only one eye and Kacper for company. And Nadya is grieving her presumed dead lover while contemplating how the hell they are supposed to save the world now that she has wiped blood magic from Tranavia and unleashed all the old gods into the world. I will be honest. The first half of the book was a mess. It was weird pacing and like way, too many random things happened. I know there is a whole scene with the cultist and that woman, who kidnapped Serefin for all of three minutes but I can't remember either of their names cause it was that irrelevant. The book could have totally lost like 150 pages. The plot for me only picked up when the whole gang finally got together. Like Nadya, Malachiasz, Serefin, Kacper, Ostyia, Parjihan, Rashid, and Katya.
"How does one kill a god?"
"Become one."
Now the characters were so much better in this book. I still love Kacper and Serefin with my entire soul. Serefin was my drunk gay son and he finally got his happy ending. He came into his own and realize he did want to be king and that he loved Kacper. It was so cute. Half the quotes I included are just Serefin talking because this man is hilarious. Kacper was also the perfect calm to his storm and together they just the perfect chemistry.
"I hate when you're defeatist," Kacper said roughly. "And you're damn right I'm too good for you."
"I hate when you badger me about my perfectly innocent pessimism!" Serefin returned. "And you are, you really really are."
Now surprisingly I really liked Nadya in this book. It took three books but she grew on me. She finally started questioning stuff. I think her character arc was super well written because it was painful but she finally understood that the world is filled with many opinions and you can coexist. Malachiasz also grew in this book. He understood morality and didn't want to be a god as bad anymore which I appreciated. There is and will forever be a load of trauma for this man to unpack and get through because lord have mercy did he massacre people. Now did this mean Nadya and Malachiasz's relationship made any more sense? Oh absolutely not. But it was so cute the way they had so much love for each other despite the betrayals. I am glad that they got their happy ending, truly it made me glad that they could stop self-sacrificing.
"Nadya had wanted to put a knife in his heat from the moment she'd met him until the moment she'd first kissed him. She still wanted to put a knife in his heart after most conversations with him."
Now the billion other side characters were fun to read because they brought colorful dialogue and just made it more interesting. But they were so underdeveloped it was almost a joke. Like apparently Parijahan is an important character with powers that make no sense and Duncan decided out of nowhere that she was important. It seemed out of nowhere. Then there Ostyia who had literally no part in this book except hooking up with Katya off-screen. Katya's entire character was about hating Malachiasz. Then Rashid was practically irrelevant until he got powers out of nowhere and saved everybody. It was just out of nowhere like the ending had to be amped and so she gave everybody powers.
"Ah, damn," Nadya said tonelessly. "Serefin, if we're friends now, could you do me a favour?"
"Depends on the favour," Serefin replied. "Don't know if we're friends like that."
"Fair. Well, I'm about to pass out. Don't let me break my head on the cobblestones."
Now the ending. Despite Emily's attempt to amp the ending, it was lackluster. I don't know I expected this great battle and huge like fight sequence and I got nothing. This might be because my last review was on Realm Breakers, which had so much fighting. It was like three words in Malachiasz perspective and then the next page is them waking up after three weeks of sleeping from killing the god. There was no tangible explanation on what the hell went down. It was like now everybody has powers and Nadya has to do something but we don't know why nor does it show how it's done. It's all very vague before the last two chapters is basically how Tranavia and Kalyazin are gonna attempt to make peace. It was so distant and detached, it kind of ruined the book. Now I love the last two chapters because everyone is alive and trying to rebuild the world and joking. It's just missing something.
"Please, tell me you hit him," Serefin said, delighted. "Please tell me you just stopped an elder god by hitting him with a stick."
Now I'm glad I could finish this book because I was way too emotionally attached to Serefin and knowing he is happy brings me peace. Do I recommend this book? No. It sadly missed a very loud and obvious mark for me.
Quotes
"You're a mess"
"A mouth just opened on your neck so, really, speak for yourself"
"You definitely appear related in a way that even denser slavinki will eventually notice."
"But I'm so handsome," Serefin whined.
"I am so sorry to be the one to tell you this, truly the words are acid on my tongue, but he is too," Kacper replied solemnly.
"She had fallen in love the wrong way with the wrong person. That was that. She had learned her lesson. She did not understand love."
"You clearly have a plan. Let's plan."
"What?"
"We are, somehow, against our better judgment, in this together."
"You like it. You like anyone who'll remind you that you're just Serefin."
"I'm not letting us be executed in Komyazalov," he said, voice soft. "We can die literally anywhere else."