Seriously, though, my first thought, on hearing about this book was "how can I leverage this for a D&D campaign?" Yes, I was in it for the Liches.

Exhibit C. Oceanne turns out to be his enemy in disguise (or so he thought) and she's romantically involved with a true enemy UPDATE: just finished rereading this book and oh. my. god. the pure GENIUS that is this book. Imani has countless tiny hints and times of immense foreshadowing that made this reread one of the best i’ve ever experienced.While I did love the story, it took me a while to really get into it. The pacing felt all over the place. Now for the bad. There is SO much filler in here it's insane. The dialogue is childish rot. I said it. It's infantile. It's very interesting because the first book I felt wasn't given enough space to bloom, and I felt with this there was too MUCH space. It felt like a Christmas special- there to fill time and airwaves while the actual story is progressing. I skimmed a lot of it-not a great look. You know what’s great about my experience with this series (trilogy?)? That my memories of stories/relationship between Greek gods is fleeting. I’m not unaware but bc I didn’t grow up with hearing Greek mythological creatures, every YouTube video I watch about them stays in my short term box of my brain. The decoration could take between 5-10 years as the work was so detailed. There were variations in decoration according to the convent; some put wax faces on the skulls which has an unsettling effect on the viewer to say the least , gold wire to recreate hair and different poses as well as outfits, even a suit of armour. The work is extremely fine with the ribcage exposed to show that it was a skeleton. The jewellery wasn’t real and was made from glass, from either Venice or Bavaria but it was still expensive. Local aristocrats or guilds could also sponsor the saints. Dr Kostounis has managed to attribute the intricate work on some of them to one nun but mostly the creators remain anonymous. Although I predicted few of plots within the story like her being goddess of death, Ariete being bound to her, ENZO loving her unconditionally,, boundless and for eternity… I didn’t predict Ariete seeking alliance though I had a hunch about him and Marisa started that way….

I don't have all that much experience with fantasy, so my comparison might be a little off. But I am getting a mix between ACOTAR and Zodiac Academy. Wow! I thought I was reeling with all of the implications and revelations we got from the first book but that had nothing on all of the things we discovered in this one! Now I'll admit that it had a bit of a slower start as the plot was understandably very focused on getting one thing done that had both time and location restraints. There were some interesting things that happened here and there but overall it was the perfect "break" that allowed for readers to fully process and come to terms with all of the new information that had been revealed. Another bright side? We also got to thoroughly explore Castor and see a completely new side of Eli that I immediately fell in love with! I was smitten with him the second we met him previously so getting to learn more about his past and seeing him soften towards the gang over the course of the book was so freaking precious! And chapter 78? My heart was exploding, that whole chapter was absolute perfection and broke me in the happiest way possible! 🤍 There are rescue scenes, but the heroine is able to hold her own and is not a damsel in distress. I really loved that. She also, however, is not overpowered. The entire time you are wondering if the main characters will survive. he treats her badly but when she treats him just as badly she feels bad and has to go apologize. God forbid should her trauma get in the way of her princess-sensibilities.Jewelled Bodies, or Dead Blingers, is the story of the Catholic Church’s PR efforts to counteract the effect that the Reformation had on some of its basic beliefs. This was the worship and praying to religious relics. The emerging Protestant church saw it as idolatry as it believed that worshippers weren’t praying to God when they when they prayed to a relic but a mere shinbone or finger or twist of hair. Relics were, and are, a memento mori and become a way of summoning the dead. I was taken in by the skeleton porn. Yep. I just said it. I have a fascination with skeletons. It's an addiction.

The world is intriguing but is not built. What I know about her world is what I've learnt from the premise and some odd mentions here and there.

And while it was advertised as slow-burn, this book did not feel slow-burn just because of the endless amount of flirting and cute scenes Elara and Enzo got from the very beginning. The enemies was there, but it did not last long. I’m sure the series isn’t copy paste of the actual stories and has been fabricated ofc but it feels authentic.