Which brings us to Raine. The protagonist of the series, now wrapped up in seven shades of trauma. She's been betrayed, sacrificed friends, seen other friends murdered. She's fought demons from out of time and space, and dealt with the fact that some of her own magic is both deeply unpleasant, and would see her put to death if anyone knew about it. Raine has, honestly, had a bit of a time of it. Equally, that's shaped her, often not for the better. She can be cold and hard and lethal, uncaring and closed off, while at the same time yearning for some humanity, compassion and friendship. The Raine we have here is almost two people. One who thinks they need to do "what must be done", be it mass murder, using people like tools, or, you know, more discriminate, artisanal murder. That Raine is desperate to be an island alone, pushing her friends and connections aside in order to stop them from stopping her. On the other hand there's the Raine who knows that she needs those friends in order to be a person, in order to do anything worth a damn, in order to bring some humanity to being, you know, a necromantic magic user who can rip your soul out of your body and use it as a doormat. The tension between these two halves is a struggle for her, and it's hard not to empathise - though she's more able to realise her own agency here, Raine is still a creature of her past, of old hurts and old loves casting shadows from the past into the now. Her journey toward catharsis, toward recognising and absolving her own pain (whilst coincidentally causing her enemies to explode) has been a joy, and, well, a pain, and seeing it play out, seeing the shape that Raine pulls herself and the world into, in the end, is very much worth it.
Speaking of the world. We get to see all kinds of fun places this go around. Mostly notably the Fault, a weird not-reality filled with murderous undead, strange beasts, and shattered ruins from elsewhere and elsewhen. There's a crawling, sterile dread here, a sense that the other shoe is always about to drop, a sense that just existing in this space is inimical, is draining vitality and love and life from everything inside it, which either dies or turns homicidal as a result. Those of you who've read McDonald's other series, Blackwing may see some similarities here, in the eerie wasteland that is essentially a misery to get through. Still, the journey gives Raine time to try and deal with her baggage, and to work on her relationships with her friends, whom she absolutely definitely isn't in love with. And we also get to see more of the environs around Redwinter and the north, a place filled with peat glens and deep lochs, where all sorts of monsters and ancient legends lurk in the mist, ready to fuck up Raine's day - or those of her enemies, they aren't that picky.
Speaking of Raine's enemies - oh, they really are a bunch of small minded, awful people who just can't stop trying to make the universe all about their wants and needs, as opposed to just letting it be. Ovitus, in particular, returning for another round of being a terrible person, just has so much main-character syndrome it's untrue. And I am here to tell you that the story delivers on Raine's efforts to both save the world and get revenge. It has towering monsters. It has bloody, kinetic, occasionally unpleasantly graphic battles that don't flinch away from the cost, and show how glory is always soaked in blood. It has romance and found families, and the kind of raw emotion that makes your heart ache. And it wraps the whole story up with a denouement that left everything feeling, if not settled, then, well, done. The story delivers on tying up all the loose ends, on making us care, and on giving us a tale that puts your heart in your mouth and lets you sob and cheer in equal measure.
Anyway, it was a good time, and well worth the read!
