Sadly, a huge miss in the series for me. This book felt like an interlude where the plot was removed to focus on a relationship based solely on all the tropes you'd find in an unequal/power imbalance partnership: age gap, size difference, etc. Not only that, but all the standard cliches that go along with those, re: the younger one is shorter (super-short), the younger one is weaker (physically and mentally), the older one is big and super tall and super strong, etc. I personally already don't prefer these tropes even on their own, so I really didn't care much for the relationship. Additionally, there is no growth in the characters and their relationship doesn't feel like a true bond of love, but rather trauma-bonding and lust. The plot just went completely by the wayside as well, ending with a climactic event that had me shocked at how easily our 'big strong alpha male' neatly handled everything to the point where I felt that the rest of the stakes and tension had been drawn out simply to lean into the tropes that would allow their relationship to be what it is. Everything about this book could have been said as a "oh these two got together between books."




Knowing what I know now about this book, would I still read it if I went back in time?
No. I'd skip this one. And I have a feeling that when I continue the series with the next book, I wouldn't have needed to read this one.


 See below for the four criteria I use to decide whether and when to read a book



CHARACTERS: I wasn't all that enamored with either of the characters, if I'm honest. The whole premise (and title) is about being reborn and rising and changing, which I personally felt that neither of them did. Both Black and Quill were squished down into tropes with little complexity, so it felt as though they were openly designed only as vehicles for giving tropes. Black is big, tall, strong, a god amongst men, an asshole who you'd expect to lead a group of assassins. He always feels more like a businessman than anything else, even with Quill. Meanwhile Quill became, to me, a completely different person from the character we met in the previous books. Suddenly he's this super tiny weak thing who fills the role of being someone for our big alpha to protect. Their relationship didn't feel real to me, it felt a mix between trauma-bonding and a distasteful amalgamation of tropes put together. And in the end, neither of them really grew. They end up together (and I'd argue they really shouldn't), after Black does his usual thing and Quill lets Black protect him.



PLOT: There isn't much of one. The plot is designed to set up a situation where alpha Black can protect omega Quill. On some levels, I can see Quill's character making sense in being afraid of the threats in his life, sure. What we have is all these people wanting to hurt/kill Quill so Black takes care of them. We spend most of the book with them trying to stop it and then at the end Black just... deals with it. All I could think was "if it was this easy from the beginning, why all this unnecessary pain to Quill?" It made the whole thing feel rather sinister and underhanded, like emotional manipulation.




EMOTIONAL INTENSITY: There is no good/bad here. Sometimes I just want a low-investment entertainment read whereas other times a high-stakes 'I need a therapist to recover' is what I need.


2:5/low. We still deal with some deep, dark TW themes: abuse, domestic abuse, emotional abuse, psychological abuse, etc. However I did not feel that they were dealt with respectfully or in a way that offered healing either.



CATHARTIC FULFILLMENT: Is the emotional journey worth it? Do I finish this book feeling that I've crested the wave of the climactic moment and everything has been settled, leaving me settled and fulfilled? 


0%. Sure, they got their HEA, but honestly, I don't think I actually wanted them to get together. This book left me wholly unfulfilled and if I'd known, I would have skipped it and moved straight to book 5.