*Grabby Hands* Blog Tour & Review - Queen of Chaos (The Fourth Element #3) by Kat Ross

Title: Queen of Chaos
(The Fourth Element #3)
Author: Kat Ross
Publication date: January 18th 2017
Age Category/Genres: Young Adult Fantasy

Persepolae has fallen.

Karnopolis has burned.

As the dark forces of the Undead sweep across what remains of the empire, Nazafareen must obey the summons of a demon queen to save Darius’s father, Victor. Burdened with a power she doesn’t understand and can barely control, Nazafareen embarks on a perilous journey through the shadowlands to the House-Behind-the-Veil. But what awaits her there is worse than she ever imagined…

A thousand leagues away, Tijah leads a group of children on a desperate mission to rescue the prisoners at Gorgon-e Gaz, the stronghold where the oldest daēvas are kept. To get there, they must cross the Great Salt Plain, a parched ruin occupied by the armies of the night. A chance encounter adds a ghost from the past to their number. But will they arrive in time to avert a massacre?

And in the House-Behind-the-Veil, Balthazar and the Prophet Zarathustra discover that they have more in common than meets the eye. But is it enough to redeem the necromancer’s bloodstained soul and thwart his mistress’s plans?

As a final showdown looms with Queen Neblis, the truth of the daēvas’ origins is revealed and three worlds collide in this thrilling conclusion to the Fourth Element series.

 

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Buy Links: Amazon

Review                 Review

Kat Ross worked as a journalist at the United Nations for ten years before happily falling back into what she likes best: making stuff up. She lives in Westchester with her kid and a few sleepy cats. Kat is also the author of the dystopian thriller Some Fine Day (Skyscape, 2014), about a world where the sea levels have risen sixty meters. She loves magic, monsters and doomsday scenarios. Preferably with mutants.

Author Links: Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

4.5 “Good thoughts, good words, good deeds and good bye (for now)” Stars

ARC provided by the author.

Thank you!

Dude, I love this series! Everything about it is just so damn good. The writing, characters, premise and those damn stunning covers.

Look at the cover for Queen of Chaos. No. Seriously. Just look at it. My jaw dropped the first time I saw it, and I still haven’t been able to put it back to its place. It’s one of the most beautiful covers I’ve ever seen.

But don’t worry, this isn’t the case of a book with a stunning cover and an awful story inside. Or the contrary, everything about Queen of Chaos was beautiful.

First of all, we start with Tijah’s POV and OMG it was everything I needed and a little more. I know Nazafareen was supposed to be the star of the show and all that, but Tijah completely stole the spotlight as far as I’m concerned. She’s perfection. And let’s be honest, it was a smart decision on the author’s part.

Look, after two books focused on Nazafareen and Darius, it was a much needed breath of fresh air to start this one with Tijah and the newish characters.

Plus, like I said before, Tijah can do no wrong. Her pain and her guilt and her journey…. Everything worked brilliantly. I have a serious girl crush on Tijah after reading this book. She was so complex and rich. Her loss was so raw—I wasn’t sure I’d be able to forgive Kat Ross for what she did last book with Tijah, but now that I see where it took her? I guess I can understand…I’m not ready to accept it, yet, but I definitely understand.

Plus, it gave me a new ship. Dude, I ship Tijah and Achaemenes like there’s no tomorrow. And her friendship with Anu? It was adorable. I was also super excited to hear there’d more of them coming in a spin-off series—more on that soon. I need more because while I love that Tijah went down the warrior path—the only path I can see for her since she’s such a badass—I wish I’d seen more of her exploring a romantic side. I need more of my ship.

Another character who completely stole the story for me? Freaking Balthazar. I’d already mentioned him on my review of Blood of the Prophet, but his journey was even more interesting in this book. I LOVED how complex Balthazar is. He’s not evil, but he’s not pure, but he does evil things while he wants to do good things and… and… Balthazar makes me feel so much that I can't even figure out what I’m feeling most of the times.

I absolutely adored the conclusion to his arc in this series. The redemption journey was fantastic! And I love it even more that it isn't exactly the last we’d see of this super complex character —again, more on that soon.

While Tijah and Balthazar stole the show, Nazafareen and Darius were still extremely important to the story.

First, let me say that their romance is still making me swoon after three books. Darius had some stellar romantic moments in which he almost gave me a heart attack with all his perfection:

“And I would gladly suffer every moment of torment they gave me over again if it meant I was finally brought to you.” >> Darius making my ovaries explode.

Nazafareen continued to be super likable by risking herself (although sometimes I wanted to shake her because she made the stupidest decisions ever) and by not thinking that the world revolved around her, even though she was more powerful than most of the people she knew. I mean, she was the only one (aside from the Prophet) who could work with all four elements, but did she go around acting like the whole world should kiss her feet? Nope. She was too busy trying to keep her magic from making her crazy while she had to march Behind the Veil, stop the Undead Queen and save her father-in-law.

Our dear Nazafareen is impulsive and takes unnecessary risks – even her mother knows so and said that a hundred times--, but she’s also a fighter. I love that about her.

Was I a 100% happy with the turn of events and how her story “ended”? Not exactly. Was I unhappy? Nope. Because I see where this can take her, and I'm hoping this isn’t the end of their story, so that makes it better.

Kat Ross’ writing continued to surprise me in a positive way. She shifted from POV to POV without losing the balance of the story or making it drag. I both loved and hated how the last chapter from each POV ended with a cliffhanger! Way to give me mini heart attacks! She made me feel for minor characters to the point my Kindle notes were full of threats like: Don’t you dare kill this character! Don’t you dare!!! Not my finest moments, but…

I did have some minor "issues" (not even the right word here) but they were really small compared to how great the story was. One thing I'll say is I wish there’d been a different way to tell some parts of the story so Molon and Lysandro’s POVs weren’t needed. Not that I disliked those chapters, but I just found adding even more POVs unnecessary.

Now… Minor spoilers coming. So, WARNING!!!

I was also a bit confused as to the whole thing involving the lands of Avas Danai and Avas Valkirin. Was it were all the daevas had come from? Are all daevas on the Sun Lands either the group that came with Victor or descendants of that group? I mean… it’d make sense that they’d come from there since there’s no fire—the only deadly element to them—there. Right?

I have to say I was more than happy to read the "Note To The Reader" and learn that, while the author planned for this to be a trilogy, she isn’t done with this world and these characters because, guess what, neither am I.

I don’t know if I got it right but it looks like there’ll be more books with Nazafareen, Darius, Victor and the gang, which, yes, gimme more, but the author is also planning a spin-off series with Tijah, Achaemenes and Anu and all I can say is:

Queen of Chaos is an amazing conclusion to the plot introduced in The Midnight Sea, with all the characters getting a satisfying journey and their happy(ish) endings. But I can definitely see room for more. I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for whatever Kat Ross writes next.

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