#Review - Send Me Their Souls by Sara Wolf #YALit #Fantasy

Series: Bring Me Their Hearts (#3)
Format: Hardcover, 416 pages
Release Date: November 3, 2020
Publisher: Entangled: Teen
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy

The finale to the epic Bring Me Their Hearts series reaches its thrilling conclusion, full of intrigue, emotion, and of course romance.

Reunited with Lucien, Malachite, and Fione, Zera finally has the choice of whether or not to regain her humanity and give up her life as a Heartless. But with war raging and an army of valkerax on the loose, she’s never needed immortality more. Will they be able to stop Varia without sacrificing themselves in the process?

 

Sara Wolf's Send Me Their Souls is the final novel in the Bring Me Their Hearts series. The story opens right where Find Me Their Bones left off. 19-year old Zera Y'Shennria is a Heartless, or a woman without a heart created by the magic of a Witch (Nightsinger). Heartless can't exist outside a witch's radius unless they wear a sort of magical booster, which in this case, is a choker made of Valkerax fangs and pure magic. And, if a witch dies, so does her Heartless. She helped Princess Varia d'Malvane, a witch known as Laughing Daughter, who faked her own death, train a Valkerax named Evlorasin to control its hunger by weeping which released the rest of the Valkerax from captivity. 

Zera is also now part Valkerax thanks to all the blood that she ingested and the numerous times she died in the previous installment. In doing so, she tried control her own inner hunger which chirps away at her almost non-stop. Meanwhile, Varia has been overtaken by the Bone Tree and is losing herself. Her desire to destroy the world and remake it, will send Zera and her allies on journey that is both impressive and stunning in its worldbuilding. Even more twisted is that Zera starts dreaming or seeing through Varia’s eyes which allows her to track the devastation and Varia to track where they are going.

Evlorasin, who is now blood tied to Zera, tried to warn her about what would happen if she helped Varia get the Bone Tree. Now that Zera has opened the flood gates, she needs to close them no matter what the cost may be. Including her own life is necessary. Zera isn’t alone in her travels. She has Prince Lucien d’Malvane, Archduchess Fione (who created a white mercury blade), and beneather Malachite who is Lucien’s protector, to keep her company. Zera, Lucian, Fione, and Malachite have gone through so much. They were friends turned enemies and have now become family again. There has been such a huge development between the characters that makes them strong and engaging.

Wolf sends her characters on a wild quest that reaches every corner of the continent. Readers travel to Windonhigh, a city in the sky where the High Witches of Cavanos are against Zera stopping Varia, and where Zera reunites with Nightsinger, her mentor Y’Shennria, and sees the Glass Tree for the first time. To the great library of the Black Archives where Zera reunites with Jorl who calls her six-eyes and joins the crusade against Varia. To the underground city of Pala Alma where beneather’s built a home out of rock and gemstone, and where the battle to stop Varia concludes.

Wolf’s worldbuilding in this finale is much bigger than the first two installments. She gives her characters a larger world to explore and an adventure to capture the character’s attention, raising the tension, and strengthening those dynamics between them. A curious switch also happens to Zera in this story. Lucien becomes her witch and really doesn’t control her at all unlike Nightsinger, and Varia tried to do. In fact, one of the first things he does is offer her heart back to her so that she can become human again. But being human means not being able to fight Varia. Zera is filled with sarcasm, jokes, and stubbornness. 

She tries so hard to make up for the (14) lives that she has taken since she became a Heartless. Lucien's power is growing, but Varia has had years of training over Lucien. Lucien’s magic comes at a cost that he tries to hide from everyone. Fione’s determination to save Varia is real and emotional. She would give anything to have the love of her life back whole and sane. Malachite and Zera’s back and forth is fun to read about. He doesn’t allow for silliness, while Zera is filled with jokes and sarcasm. I was stunned several times when reading the final chapters. The author has you believing one thing, and then surprises you with something entirely new which I was happy to see. Nope, sorry, absolutely no spoilers from me! In one way, I was happy to see several of the key characters get their happy endings. I am being rather mysterious, but the point I am trying to make is that you must read this book and you must read the final chapters to make up your own minds whether you liked what the author did or not.

 

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