Tempest of Wrath and Vengeance by Melissa Roerich

4/5 stars

SPOILERS AHEAD

Um, what THE FUCK first of all. How did I not know that this was an incomplete series. I fully thought that the fourth book in this series was already out and I was so excited to curl up in my bed tonight and start it and now I'm devestated and I have to wait until NOVEMBER? I'm going to throw myself off of a cliff this is the worst thing to ever happen to me (allow me the dramatics, I'm hurting).

I'll have to work through that pain later because I have a review to write.

Now, again, we have the same situation as the last book. Do I have a single clue what happened, what Tessa's lineage even is even though it's been talked about one million different times, or really anything that actually happened throughout the entire plot? No, not really. So again you might be thinking, 4 stars on a book that you're going to have to hope someone else has come up with a family chart and a cheat sheet for before you read the next book? Yes. Because the vibes are there and I love it.

Since I made the Zodiac Academy vibe connection in my head in the last book, I could really feel it throughout this one. That's to say, it's a little messily written, not a work of literary genius by any means, and kind of made me feel a little bit insane at times, but it was a really fun ride either way. There's an evil dad, a strange throuple relationship, a broody, treasure obsessed dragon, a female main character who just creates chaos everywhere she goes, and I never really know what's going on at any point. Because I have the ability to suspend my disbeliefs when I'm having a good time, I wasn't too focused on all of the things that I didn't understand and I was able to just enjoy the tension and putting together the easy-to-find puzzle pieces.

I must admit, however, that Tessa is definitely starting to get on my nerves a little bit. The constant back and forth and never ending temper tantrums are getting old. And the constantly running off to the same places that you keep getting ambushed, not anticipating that you're going to get ambushed by the same people again, is just stupid. Obviously the augery are looking for her, and she's doing a terrible job of keeping herself and the people around her safe. Not that she cares about any of the people around her other than the wolves. I understand being in a rage because you were hurt and not being able to trust the people that hurt you in the first place, but she always just takes it a step too far. Over and over again. And never, ever learns her lesson. She's also definitely going a little bit insane with her ranting and raving when she falls too deeply into her magic, too, which only adds to the confusion about what the hell is going on with her.

There's so many different kinds of bonds that seem to be similar but done differently in different realms, that I'm curious which of these bonds she and Luka are going to end up having, and which she and Theon are going to end up having. Because the setup is clearly there for her to have some kind of inevitable bond with each of them.

A lot of the criticisms about this book that I see are that no one knew it was going to be a mfm book, which is fair. I also didn't know it was going to go that direction, and might be annoyed if that was something I really didn't like. But lucky for me I'm kind of living for it and would love to be in Tessa's shoes. I still stand by my love for Luka more, but there were some moments in there that I was really feeling bad for Theon. Theon was also hardly in this book at all, so I think some of the issues that I had with him in the first two kind of got a little bit forgotten since Luka was the main male character in this one. I do like that Luka is always a step ahead of what Tessa needs and is there to provide it, but also doesn't let her get away with shit and makes her make her own choices and deal with the consequences. Theon is just obsessed with control, so I'm curious how their relationship ends up. I did turn into a little bit of a puddle when Tessa saw him playing fetch with his hounds and talking to Roan and goading him into walking when he was injured. That was precious.

Obviously I love Luka, but I'm so annoyed at him for getting so angry with Tessa for not telling him that his dad was alive and in the same castle they were living at. Obviously, their relationship had always been different than her's and Theon's, and they had gotten significantly closer over however many weeks they'd been at the Achaz home, but he still hid so many things and kept so many secrets from her, that his reaction seemed incredibly over the top. He got so upset at her for basically doing what he and Theon have been doing to her since the beginning. I wanted to shake Theon at the end too, when Tessa literally said she saw how that whole battle was going to turn out if they didn't turn around, and he just ignored her and then everything happened exactly as she saw in her visions. They broke her out of the Pantheon just to turn back around and go back there because they didn't listen to her. Men are so useless sometimes, and I guess that fictional ones can't be perfect either.

We end the book with Luka and Tessa literally leaving the realm, while Theon stays behind to basically watch it implode. I don't totally know why they can't all just go together, and it does seem pretty shitty to just doom Axel, Kat, Lange, Corbin and everybody else to die with him, but we aren't thinking too hard in this one. The whole last scene with him letting her go broke my little heart. She was just finally starting to change her mind about her destiny and accept that she loved Theon, only for him to sacrifice himself for her. So classic, and it'll hurt every time.

Also wtf is going on with Dex, Oralia, and Brecken? They're obviously not from this realm, and I'm so suspcious of Dex specifically because of how close he is to Achaz. Brecken is probably just stuck in the middle against his will somehow. And what is going on with Corbin and Lange? They're both acting strange and one of them is changing, but into what? And what is going to happen with Axel? He's just going to be a vamp and he and Kat are just going to be forced to live underground for the rest of their lives? And what is up with Tessa being from basically all of the god's bloodlines but also a witch somehow? There's so much going on with this girls background and I just don't understand any of it.

ALSO all of the forced and planned breeding at the villas??? What the fuck else is going on that's being hidden from everyone?

I do definitely think this could have been half as long or split in two, but for almost 700 pages it didn't drag on too much. There were a couple points that I started to lag and have to lock back in, but those moments didn't last too long before something else insane and chaotic happened that brought my attention right back.

Will I survive waiting until the next one? Idk, we'll all have to find out together I guess.