City of Miracles - Robert Jackson Bennett

So glad I was finally able to read this book.  It is the final installment of The Divine Cities series.  And like the rest I really did adore this book.  When this all began I thought the series would center around Shara.  While Shara plays an immense roll, I think the series actually mainly revolves around Sigrud.  He is prominent in all 3 books.  Even more so than Shara.  So it wasn't a surprise that book three really centers around him.

He has been hiding in the woods since Voortyashtan and the death of his daughter.  He can't cope with the things he has done.  Unfortunately something happens that draws him out of hiding.  He again loses someone he cares immensely for.  This loss sets in motion the greatest battle between man and god.  The Divine are hard to kill and unknown to everyone they still have a piece of this world.  But it isn't the big baddies we are used to, it is their offspring.  No worries not really a spoiler.  Sigrud has to come to terms with his past to save everyone, the world...Tatyana (Shara's daughter).

I loved this story.  I loved the action, the heartache, the depth of the characters.  We know so much but we are learning more.  Everyone we love makes an appearance along with some newbies that make this the best one yet.  I hate that this series has come to a close but it was a beautiful send off.  I laughed, I cringed, I cried...this time for real and not because it was ending but how everything ends.  It was perfect, happy and sad.  "What's good about sad? It's happy for deep people".  It is a must read for anyone that enjoys fantasy, especially if you've read the first two.

I received this book for free from Blogging for Books to read and give my honest review.

SPOILERS

Since the last book I keep wondering why Sigrud is still the strapping youngish man he has always been.  Haven't like forty years passed between book 1 and 3?  Mulaghesh has clearly aged, Shara too.  What is happening?!  He also can't seem to die.  He has had many many life threatening injuries but somehow he lives...how?  Clearly the mark on his hand has SOMETHING to do with this, right.  So right!  I just love him.  He is broken and beaten but he is a good man in the end.

So they kill Shara in the first ten pages, what?!?  Not what I was  expecting but okay.  But her daughter...where is Taty?!?  I mean the shadow of her comes back at the end but she dies AGAIN and its pretty brutal.  So brutal is changes Taty forever.

I do like how Ivanya is back.  She isn't the spoiled rich girl anymore.  She is a hardened woman.  She is Taty's guardian and has removed herself from society.  She thinks Sigrud is nuts but he grows on her.  She is tough as nails.  I liked the romance between them and was sad with how it had to end.

Taty is so innocent.  She just wants to be a normal girl.  She is in danger because the people (divinity) that killed her mother want her dead too.  Sigrud will protect her at all costs.  She is all he has left of Shara.  Taty has talents no one understands.  I knew she was a Divine Child but the revealing that her and Malwina make up the maimed child floored me.  They are time incarnate.  Taty the future and Malwina the past.  Together too powerful and a threat so the Divinities separated them into two beings.  Taty is amazing.  She matures so much but stays a child.

Nokov is freaking horrifying.  He is the night.  He is EATING the other Divine Children to become a true divinity.  He will bring about the final night because he has been wronged.  He is a brat with power and its scary.

When Sigrud with his mortal wound breaks through to Time (Taty & Malwina merged) and convinces her to stop I was so excited.  He will not let her/them forget who they are.  Taty is Ashara Komayd's daughter and she is good!  But Sigrud it dying.  He accepted his fate and the mark is fading.  He is no longer defying death.  Taty saves him in one last burst of divine energy.  She also disperses the divine spirit into the wind.  Now all people everywhere, not just on the continent have the potential to be divine.  Random strangers are showing signs of miracles, Taty created a whole new world.

Sigrud, although alive no longer has the mark.  He has aged overnight.  He is old and weak.  They make it back to the Dreyling islands to protect Taty from the world.  Its the only place she is safe.  Once he is well enough he goes with Taty to the sea to watch her play with other kids her own age.  She is frolicking and having fun.  She is being a kid.  He is happy.  He leans against the tree and I started tearing up.  When Taty came back to him I knew he was gone but I still cried.  Sigrud is finally at peace.

Its a...Cult...k...

So I thought we were f**king done with clowns.  This isn't AHS big top or whatever it was called.  The was 3 seasons ago FFS!

And suddenly we have Twisty again...What The F**k...OVER?!?!?!

I hate hate hate hate hate hate...have I said hate...? CLOWNS!

So apparently this whole f**king season is going to revolve around a cult...of clowns who are...Trump supporters...I think.

I dunno.  I hate when ANY show or celebrity starts with a political agenda...in either direction.  I just want to be entertained without thinking about the state of the country...I get enough of that on the news...

Also...PEOPLE BE F**KING CRAY CRAY!  Evan Peters' character is freaking DISTURBING!

That being said...I legit screamed during the opening of Episode 2.  B**ch rolls over and there is a...F**KING CLOWN.

Ahhhhhhhhh I hate clowns!

Also, during Episode 1...there was a bunch of advertising for IT and I just..NO NO NO NO!  I hate IT.  I saw the original and it still FREAKS ME OUT.  Pennywise is f-ing A freaky!  And I hear Skarsgård's version of Pennywise is even more alien and scary.  Which even with my...phobia...I will at some point probably see the new IT and I will probably not sleep for a week.

Moving on...So yea...I'm gonna keep watching Cult because I've been watching AHS since day 1...but f**k clowns!