Children of Anguish and Anarchy

The first two books introduce characters and the persecuted world they live in, and yet this time, Zelie and co have been kidnapped, and a whole new set of adversaries are savagely tearing the Maji apart. The Skulls have violent blood magic, and their brutal King believes he can steal Zelies magic and become a God!
The final part of this trilogy that started oh so strong, and yet I'm sorry to say that for me, this final book just went in directions I neither expected nor even wanted. As much as this is Zelies story, the author brings her characters to life by giving the reader different viewpoints, which means we are invested in all of them. Old enemies and even those who betrayed loved ones suddenly have to band together in light of the heinous threat the Skulls present, and maybe for some readers, it might feel too quick and easy. We get new alliances, too, as Zelie seeks to stop the vicious Skulls, and they have a whole new set of magical abilities to add to the mix. I will be honest and say as this got closer to the end, I did get a sense of doom and impending loss, and yep, you might feel the need for tissues. I can't describe this as a happy ending, but it's certainly a new beginning, which is perhaps more apt. I almost felt like we were starting a new series rather than getting an ending to the previous two books. At times, I think when writers leave several years between series, they lose the thread of where the story was going and jump in with all these new ideas that have developed while they have been away from the story. Children of Anguish and Anarchy, while not terrible, just felt separate from the previous story we had been following. Maybe the author intended to get us more interested in the new story and off into another part of this world.