Title: Mother of Death and Dawn
Author: Clarissa Broadbent
Publisher: Nasyra Publishing
Publication Date: February 10, 2022
ISBN: 9780998461984
Synopsis:
In the wake of a crushing defeat, Tisaanah and Maxatarius have been ripped apart. Tisaanah is desperate to rescue Max from his imprisonment, even as her people’s fight for freedom grows more treacherous. But within the walls of Ilyzath, Max’s mind is a shadow of what it once was… leaving his past a mystery and his future at the mercy of Ara’s new, ruthless queen. Meanwhile, in the Fey lands, Aefe has been dragged back into this world by a king who vows to destroy civilizations in her name. But even as her past returns to claim her, her former self is a stranger.
Tisaanah, Max, and Aefe are thrust into the center of a cataclysm between the human and Fey worlds. The unique magic they share is key to either winning the war, or ending it.n But that power demands sacrifice. Tisaanah may be forced to choose between love and duty. Max cannot forge his future without confronting his past. And Aefe must decide between reclaiming who she was, or embracing who she has become. The choices they make will either reshape this world forever…or end it..
This emotional conclusion to The War of Lost Hearts series is stunning in it’s chronicle of beloved characters Max, Tisaanah, and Aefe as they tumble towards the end of the world as they know it. In this story, there is a class of opposing sides. There are those who seek to gain power, those who seek to wield power for revenge, and those who are desperate to change the world. Centuries of hate and devastation among humans, as well as between the humans and the fae, have reached a precipice and threaten to fall into oblivion if those in power cannot be reigned in. Life will cease if the characters cannot find a way through the darkness of their own anger and grief to seek an end to destruction that’s plagued them all.
I loved getting to know this next version of Aefe as she begins to understand who she is after 500 years of torture. After lifetimes of hatred and anger and pain, she is beginning to understand joy and love–emotions that remained foreign to her as she was trapped in human body after human body. Aefe’s journey is beautiful as she begins to better understand the complexities of life as a fae, and as a human. She is not so far from the rage that has festered within her for centuries, but she is not without redemption. I could have read a novel that focused solely on her, but I’m grateful for the other perspectives to help balance Aefe out and to show the world beyond just her point of view.
There is so much love and heartbreak throughout this concluding tomb. Max and Tisaanah’s journey is constantly devastating and difficult as they struggle in the aftermath of Max’s capture in Ilyzath. Their love story, and their journey as warriors and leaders, is incredibly moving and momentously beautiful as they work to overcome their oppressors and fight against the world that seeks to destroy them for good. Everything, and nearly everyone, in this world stands against them, but their love may just be the thing that can conquer all.
A stunning conclusion to this marvelous triology. This series is unexpected, political, brutal, and bloody, but it’s one of the better series I’ve read with an incredibly complex and interesting magic system and stellar world-building. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I have.
Also check out my reviews for Daughter of No Worlds and Children of Fallen Gods.
Happy reading!
Worn Pages and Ink 