An epic ending to an amazing trilogy. Britain ruled by magic wielding Equals. Non magicals relegated to 10 years of slavery to their "betters". When the commoners rise up with the backing of a few Equals, the end is bloody and satisfying. The vivid imagination of the author in the telling of the origins of Skill, was breathtaking in it's complexity. The tying of the loose ends of this monumental story was satisfying with the exception of Coira. Political machinations, family secrets, mind numbing loss, betrayal. This is a must read trilogy, I highly recommend it. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book from Netgalley.

“Parting is such sweet sorrow”, and that's exactly the case with Bright Ruin, the third and final installment in Vic James' phenomenal Dark Gifts trilogy. I've been waiting for this book with equal parts dread and anticipation, and both my dread and my anticipation were well-rewarded. Although one more than another (*wink* ugly cry *wink*).

I fell in love with this series with the first installment, Gilded Cage, and my love and awe has done nothing but grow and grow every time I dive back into this world. In Gilded Cage, James gave readers a hint of the coming revolution, where the current group Unskilled in he slavetowns had finally come to the realization that what the Skilled are doing to the common folk, how the common folk are treated, is cruel, unjust, and just plain unfair. While generations of UnSkilled have thought this way, very few have actually done anything about it. Until now. The uprising was started in book one, and by book three, its reached its crescendo. Its bloody, violent, earth-shattering crescendo. The commoners have the most to gain, as they've had everything taken away from them, but can heart and will and soul prove a tough enough weapon against magic?

Throughout the course of this series, James has taken both her characters and readers on such an incredible journey, putting all involved in hellish and often heartbreaking situations. Everyone loves a story where the good guys win and the bad guys lose, but that's certainly not the case with this entire trilogy, Bright Ruin included. 'Good' surely shines through more often than not, but 'bad' doesn't necessarily always mean what we think it means. Misguided, perhaps. A product of the world they've been brought up in is more apt, and such is the case with several characters I've been quick to judge as 'Bad'. But don't get me wrong -- when the truly bad guys are bad, man are they evil. But the moral of the story is: "You can't save everyone". There's always going to be loss involved in order to win, and that's incredibly and heartbreakingly apparent in this final installment. Which is par for the course, I suppose -- this isn't a happy series, there are no rainbows and kittens or happy endings. It's dark and violent and grim, but it is an exceptional look at what it means to hold all the power in the world and is oftentimes a perfect mirror image of our own world, where the division of classes keeps growing and growing, leaving the ones at the bottom to forge their own way while the ones at the top reap all the benefits.

Bottom line -- I loved everything about this final installment, from the tense and high-stakes storyline to the brilliant and incredible world and characters. Do yourself a favor and read this trilogy from the beginning and get sucked into James' dark and dirty world of power, politics, and revolution. While Bright Ruin may technically be "The End", its definitely not the end for me because I'll definitely be re-reading this series in the future. Probably several times because I adore it so much. Highly recommended, and I'll be waiting not so patiently for whatever Vic James graces readers with next.


*eARC received via NetGalley. (I was also fortunate enough to win a physical arc from Vic James.)

An amazing read. Quite possibly my favorite book of the year so far. When reading, I both wanted to rush to the end to find out how it all turns out, and read very slowly so I could spend as much time in this world as possible.

I have to tell you, I was a little disappointing with this book. The first two books in the series were great. Lots of action, magic and intrigue, but this one felt more like a mystery/treasure hunt. Not what I'm used to with Vic James. It wasn't bad, don't get me wrong, just not what I wanted in this series.

Take that for what it is, and go out and read this awesome book when it comes out.

Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.

This book picks right up where the 2nd book left off. The 2nd book in this was intense and exciting, and this book has left us picking up the pieces and dealing with the fallout of all that happened before. We are still learning about the world and this king which was done in an intriguing way where I wasn't really sure what it all had to do with the revolution but wanted to know more about it.

My biggest problem was that this book was slow. Half of the way through the book, there was so much time spent with these characters just talking in rooms with little glimpses of action thrown in that just didn't grip me. I knew it would be hard to compare to the energy and the stakes of the 2nd book but it was like this book wasn't trying to be exciting. It was just banking on the fact that you would be invested because you wanted to know how it would all end.

The author also had a lot of ground to cover to get to the ending she wanted and I felt a bit like she had to shoe horn a lot of exposition in to lay the groundwork to get to that point. That being said, the last half was rushed but ended well. I am happy to have completed the trilogy and will definitely be watching James to see what else she writes.

This is an incredible, mind-blowing ending to the Dark Gifts trilogy. Author Vic James keeps up the fast pacing, multi-layered story and not infrequent backstabbing that I enjoyed so much in Tarnished City. There's no way to predict where things are going, especially because, as most of the characters are in the midst of a parliamentary power struggle, Silyen is playing a whole different game on an earth-shaking level. There are plenty of powerful, awe-inspiring displays of Skill throughout the book, which are always a highlight for me. But perhaps the thing I like most about this is that literally all the things I found to be detractions in Gilded Cage are completely subverted by the trilogy's finale. Things like instalove, naiveté, and the notion that estate slavery is somehow tolerable because at least it's not a slave town; Vic James clearly had a plan to rectify and challenge all of them. We get more of Silyen's perspective, which is always my favorite, and we also see Abi examine her current status as a revolutionary against her old desire to be a doctor, particularly when she is called to violate the "do no harm" vow that would've otherwise governed her. A brilliant book all, Bright Ruin features an explosive finale with a surprising, bittersweet, hopeful, enigmatic conclusion that will leave you so satisfied yet also craving more.

THIS IS SUCH A GOOD YEAR FOR SERIES FINALES????

I loved this book, okay?
I mean I've loved this series since Gilded Cage, and it was a really long time before I read Tarnished City, but, man, as soon as I read it I NEEDED the next one ASAP.

This series is so worth it and I wish people knew about it more!
It's a political fantasy that takes place in an AU of Britain and it has great crossover appeal for both an adult and YA audience.

Specifically for this book, I was so pleasantly surprised about some of the character development that went on and the unlikely relationships that formed. Every book I feel like there has been at least a few moments where I'm just like wait whaaaat these two are friends now?? It's so great!
Some of my faves in terms of complexity and just epic-ness (not necessarily moral righteousness) are Bouda, Gavar, Luke, and Silyen (and for a few of these if you told me book one that I would be obsessed with them by the end I would have thought you were crazy).

No spoilers, but everyone please read this series!
I am so happy I did. I found a new favorite fantasy author to look out for. Can't wait for Vic James' next work!

Comparable titles:
An Ember in the Ashes
And I Darken
Falling Kingdoms

***I received an e-ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

This series blew me away. I love the character development, especially how you never know any of the character's motivations. It keeps you guessing from beginning to end through all three books. I love how unique it is from other books; it stands out as its own special concept. While I found the ending to be a bit confusing, I think it summed up pretty nicely. It leaves a good deal to the imagination, but I think with a story with this many players, you can't just wrap everything up with a bow. James does not steer away from killing her darlings, which is great, but also manages to spare some characters that I would have rather seen flayed on the end of Dog's knife glove. I also love the deeper social commentary that is artfully woven through this trilogy. You see refections of our current world, but viewed through a magical lens. It's well done. In the end, I can make only one comment: Silyen and Dog will forever be two of my favorite twisted characters ever, alongside Sevro from Red Rising and Wilkes from BZRK. I love a good broken character and James knows how to write them!

Really great ending to an action packed trilogy! Unexpected twists and surprises along the way made this book really hard to put down. I didn't realize how invested I was in this story until I found myself crying when certain characters were lost and giggling at exchanges between others. You know it's a good read when the final page makes your jaw drop and you find yourself staring at the last sentence trying to process the ride you've just been on. Days later I am still thinking about it.

Bright Ruin was a satisfying end to an engaging fantasy trilogy. It is a good choice for fans of Victoria Aveyard's Red Queen including older teens and adults.

Wow! Loved the Dark Gift series by Vic James and Bright Ruin was a fantastic finale. I have waited so long for the last book! Now that the last page is read, I am left with that crushing feeling caused by end of series withdrawals. I can only hope the author has more in store for readers (aka me) in the future.
Going into this last book, I was wondering how all of the political intrigue was going to end and who would be the winners and who would be the losers. Therefore, it was great that the book picks up right where Tarnished City ends. I am happy to report that some characters got what they deserved and yet others did not. Of course, this is a dystopian series, so I expected this along with the deaths of characters whose actions warranted a better result.
The thing that surprised me the most is how my feelings about the charter of Silyen changed. I never liked him, I found him to be too creepy for my tastes. In Bright Ruin, Ms. James delved deeper into his psyche and it helped me to connect with him. If she hadn’t, I would have been sorely disappointed with how it all shook out in the end. Also, Luke and Abi have changed roles, Abi has now taken over the role of revolutionary and Luke is the one who is sympathetic towards the Jardines (or at least one of them).
I would love to give more details, but if I did, I would spoil this exceptional tale for other readers. I will tell you that this series has some of the best world building I have ready in a long time. The charters were done with such foresight and thoughtfulness. Even when the roles of Luke and Abi changed in the story, you get it. The plot moved along swiftly and even though the story moves between multiple characters it all worked seamlessly. No doubt I will reread this series again sometime in the future.
I highly recommend this series to all loves of fantasy, especially those readers who crave that dystopian element. Word of caution, you need to read the books in order starting with Gilded Cage. These books are not intended to be read as a stand-alone.
I received an ARC from the publisher, via Net Galley, in exchange for my honest review.

The conclusion to the Dark Gifts trilogy doesn't quite stick the ending, but it wraps up the political machinations from the first two and provides the Luke/Silyen relationship I was hoping for. Following the aborted Blood Fair at the end of the previous book, the rebellion against the Equals' rule ramps up to a final showdown, while Silyen and Luke investigate the way Skill works.

The pacing is uneven, and at times it felt to me as though James was stretching out a thin plot to fill pages; there's a lot of repetitive introspection in which she tells the reader about the characters' emotions, rather than showing them, and so the emotional content felt distant and blunted and never quite authentic. The relationship mentioned above, which had been entirely subtextual in the first two books, suddenly went into overdrive in a way that felt a bit like deliberate fanservice.

Bouda is a one-dimensional villain, and the focus on her rather than exploring the more interesting motivations of Gavar (who gets a little, but I'd like to have seen more) and Jon Faiers reduces a lot of the nuance of the conflict. Midsummer Zelston likewise seems noble and good-hearted mostly because Abi's extensive introspection tells us so. The pacing and characterization flaws made it harder to overlook the irritating use of epithets ("the boy", "the Equal", "the commoner") which for me detracted from the emotional impact of the events.

My favorite part, really, is Silyen and Luke's exploration of the mindscape of Skill that was touched on in the second book - the king with the stag that appeared in Luke's mind, and the history of Skill in Britain. The worldbuilding is really only sketched out, and it could be better integrated with the rest of the story, but in a way this part of the book gave me what I had been hoping for (and didn't get) from Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven King - the way past mythology and history built the present-day world where the events of the series take place, and so I liked that very much.

The final book of the trilogy. Definitely has to be read in order to make sense at all. It was the darkest of the three, not surprisingly. It flowed a little less than the others. I enjoyed the portions with Silyen and Leo the best. A satisfactory conclusion.

I so anticipated this book, and I was not disappointed! Vic James does a good job of wrapping up the trilogy that began with Gilded Cage and continued with Tarnished City. Moreover, I'm pleased to say that I was surprised with plot twists until the end of the book, just as I was with the previous two books in the trilogy. I refuse to give away details because I encourage people to read this book. And I am left to wonder if she intends to continue the story with a subsequent book or trilogy following Luke and Abi? While there is resolution, Vic James leaves crumbs that the story could very well continue post-revolution...

This was a great climax to an amazing trilogy. My biggest complaint is that there isn't more! The main story is nicely wrapped up, with some shocking event, while still leaving room for further storylines

I would recommend this fantasy series to anyone who enjoys well-written fiction. I enjoyed the interesting plot, the writing style, and would keep reading this series.

Skilled Vic James does it again! This series needs a movie because I want to see the House of Light, I want to watch the expressions on Bouda's face, and I most definitely want to see Silyen.

I enjoyed going back to the characters I'd grown to care about in this, the third book in the Dark Gifts trilogy. Although the first book, is still my favorite, it was fun to see how the trilogy was wrapped up. One thing I really enjoy about these books is that the characters are very nuanced. The "bad guys" aren't one-dimensional and Vic James does a fantastic job of showing you other sides of all the characters. Overall, I found this to be a satisfying conclusion to this trilogy, although there are definitely some gaps that I'd love to see filled in with another book.

Loved the end to this trilogy. Lots of loose ends from the second book were tied up. Watching the Hadley family grow and change as they continue to face the difficulties in their society is rewarding throughout the story, and the Jardine family members' development is also fascinating.

“Fear was the one thing the Equals used best of all.”

Fear, intimidation, torture is how the Equals have controlled those without Skill for years, but now they’ve had enough and with the help of a few Skilled allies they will overthrow the tyrants in order to make a better, more equal world.

Ms. James continues to provide us with an exciting finale to the Dark Gift Series. Too many people will die, and yes, I know this is dystopian fiction and that happens in the genre, however, one of the Equals that should have died is left alive.

“That’s what it means to have power. Being constantly tempted to use it and abuse it. In fact, to not be able to tell where power ends and abuse begins”

Too many of the Equals have been abusing their powers for years/generations and they are finally going to get a taste of what it feels when like when someone uses their power against them and how those without Skill feel. However, being an Equal does not mean that you cannot be used; Whittam uses Garver’s love for his daughter, Libby to make him act as a double agent with the rebels. I think that if Garver could have found a way to keep Libby and Daisy safe he would have worked with the rebels, if only surreptitiously.

“There are two things I always wanted to know,” Silyen replied. “Where does the skill come from? And why were there ever unSkilled queens and kings, rather than my kind ruling from the beginning? I think the answer to both lies with the Wonder king----as he’s known in tales.”

We learn more about the answers to this question and we learn more about the Wonder King and why it seems like he's been erased from history (there is also one thing that I did not see coming but makes perfect sense and I hope to see the outcome in future book(s)).. This book answered many questions from the earlier books, but the ending left many more open.

“You can do awful things and still be capable of good ones.”

Garver proved he was different from Bouda, his father, and many others when he stopped Rennie from being killed at the Blood Fair and then he rescued Abi and attempted to send her to Dubhilinn so she could live in safety under an assumed name and become a doctor with his financial support. Of course, Abi will not do this without her parents, Luke and Daisy. However, she see that Garver is not like his family, she knows he is better than them and tries to get him to see it also.

However, it is Silyen that proves to be deeper and a better person than we first thought (although, long before then end of book two I suspected that he would be the one that would surprise everyone). Yes, he’s slightly crazy, but it’s his craziness that enables to discover the limitless depth of his ability with Skill and makes it possible for there to be a New Order at the end.

Will there be another series to deal with the new order; dare I hope? The ending leaves it wide open for one, I would like to see Abi, and Garver get together so that Libby can grow up with a loving father and mother as well as her Aunt Daisy. In addition, Garver will need Abi to cope with the loss of his family and other things. The ending is the reason I didn’t give this five stars, if I knew that there would be another book or series that pick up where this ends it would have been a five star read.