This book was darker than the other two in my opinion. It’s dealing with the aftermath of the torture of the people in Monsea by Leck. The people are understandably not fine. The book portrays different ways in which the people in Monsea deal (don’t deal) with the trauma and how Lecks reign affects the kingdom even many years later. 

I really wanted to hug Bitterblue several times while reading the book. 

Bitterblue is struggling. The people around her act in weird ways she doesn’t understand. She feels like she doesn’t know what’s going on in her kingdom. So she starts sneaking out to find answers and meets new friends. But instead of clear anders she just finds more riddles and puzzle pieces that won’t fit together. This book  had more mystery and less action than the previous ones.