'A Vow So Bold and Deadly' The Cursebreakers #3 by Brigid Kemmerer

Copy received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review 

From the BLURB: 

Face your fears, fight the battle. 

Emberfall is crumbling fast, torn between those who believe Rhen is the rightful prince and those who are eager to begin a new era under Grey, the true heir. Grey has agreed to wait two months before attacking Emberfall, and in that time, Rhen has turned away from everyone--even Harper, as she desperately tries to help him find a path to peace. 

Fight the battle, save the kingdom. 

Meanwhile, Lia Mara struggles to rule Syhl Shallow with a gentler hand than her mother. But after enjoying decades of peace once magic was driven out of their lands, some of her subjects are angry Lia Mara has an enchanted prince and a magical scraver by her side. As Grey's deadline draws nearer, Lia Mara questions if she can be the queen her country needs. 

As the two kingdoms come closer to conflict, loyalties are tested, love is threatened, and an old enemy resurfaces who could destroy them all, in this stunning conclusion to bestselling author Brigid Kemmerer's Cursebreaker series.

'A Vow So Bold and Deadly' is the third and final book in US author Brigid Kemmerer's fantasy 'The Cursebreaker Series' - following on from first book 'A Curse So Dark and Lonely' and second book,  'A Heart So Fierce and Broken'. 

Let me begin by saying; it's a real ~mood~ returning to my long-neglected book blog to review a book thats premise was based on a retelling of the Beauty and the Beast myth that involved a curse locking someone away in their house(/castle) for aeons ... *whoo boy*

Anyway. I absolutely adored the first two books of Kemmerer's 'Cursebreakers' and I have been anticipating and wanting 'Vow So Bold and Deadly' for what feels like the LONGEST time (but is really just a normal amount of waiting between releases). And I've got to say - it was all worth the wait. 

Second book 'Fierce and Broken' ended on a whopping cliff-hanger of a newly discovered heir, long-lost brother, impending war and a villain seemingly back from the dead. And as well as having to wrap up all those threads, Kemmerer had an even bigger task on her hand in this third and final book of needing to include roughy four protagonist's and their viewpoints - Harper and Rhen who were the focus of Book 1, and Grey and Lia Mara who took over the story in Book 2 ... they all converge in the narrative for 'Vow' and are split down the middle on opposite sides of the battle ahead. So there's effectively two story-steams happening concurrently, and POV split X4 ways. It's no small no feat, but Kemmerer does a brilliant job of interweaving them for high-stakes and adrenaline. 

The characters have all come so far from Book 1, and I think the main goal here in the third and final is to properly, once-and-for-all turn the world on its head and shake things up good and proper. And Kemmerer does that - leaving the finale on a real sense of renewal and rebirth, and in such a way that is a total twist and upheaval of the structures that existed pre-curse; and in that sense, it is made a modern-fairytale. 

I really, thoroughly enjoyed this finale. I tip my hat to Kemmerer for having steered this ship so masterfully, and my one abiding hope now is that we'll return to the world of 'Cursebreakers' in the form of some other modernised fairytale. 

5/5