Bitter Winter (disease, chill, and death oh my!)

I hope that you have all had a good March! (and fabulous st patrick’s day 😉 )

At least here in the USA, we’ve been having winter (which lemme tell ya, it has been one wild ride), so celebrating moving on to spring, I have on final wintery tale to give you!

Bitter Winter (Jaye L Knight) is the most recent (and fifth) installment in the Ilyon Chronicles. This Christain (nonmagic) fantasy series has been absolutely amazing and I am crying that there is only one book left. But before I get too weepy, let’s carry on!

let’s admit it … we all relate to edmund a little too much

(reviews: book 0.5, book 1, book 2, book 3, book 4)

---

click on me to go to goodreads ^

---

Likes:

Okay, so, um, LOTSA Jace!!! It’s mainly narrated by him, and honestly, I adored that. 😍

But yeah. We have a whole lot of tension in this book because, as it was said in the synopsis: we have an entirely devastating illness. MY HEART WAS NOT HAPPY WITH THIS. I WAS READY FOR ALL THE FANGIRL EMOTIONS. NOT ALL THE TEARS.

Don’t worry, though! There were still a ton of fangirl moments … so that’s okay. (I also lowkey said on a Goodreads updates that as long as Jace and Tyra made it through this book … everything would be okay. I kind of now retract that statement… 😛 ) About 3% into the book, I was already dying due to my face being split in two due to extremely cute, shippable moments.

---

Characters:

As I said, Jace, my man, was our main narrator. (But as is the true style of Ilyon, there were numerous narrators.) He experiences a set of different struggles then he has in previous books, which was actually really interesting to read about. Taking his life – and others – into his own hands. Etc. ALSO. Jace is a complete fangirl of Kyrin, and it just adorable. Be still my beating heart.

Daniel! Daniel! I had (oops) forgotten a lot about everything from Exiles, but I quickly caught up and I am absolutely in love with his character! He’s grown so much in the span of these five books, and I love to see who he has become. (Now we’d better leave before I go all teary-eyed, mushy proud mama on you.)

I’M SO PROUD OF MY MAN, LIAM. Like, I have teary eyes at how he is stepping up and accepting himself and where his skills lie. He’s shaking off his good-for-nothing grandfather and keeps strong morals/integrity. ALSO, LIAM’S GOT A GIIIIIIIRL. 😍😍

Otherwise, I felt that we really didn’t get a whole lot from other characters. (Though we DO see a set up with Aaron for the Ilyon novella, Lacy!!!) I have so much love for Kyrin and Rayad and the whole Altair clan! ❤ Loved seeing Timothy and Aaron, as well!!!

---

Writing/Plot:

If you have read any of the Ilyon books, then you know that there are always tons of narrators. (Basically every main and side character has a chapter to share.) I actually love this! You can definitely tell who the main character is – in this case, Jace – but you also get others’ perspectives. And Jaye writes it SO WELL. I am in awe. *applause*

Bitter Winter was definitely plot driven versus character driven. So we have lots of action and intense (especially emotionally) moments. BUT THERE ARE SO MY CUTE, FANGIRLY SQUEALING MOMENTS. I AM IN LOVE. ❤

---

Dislikes:

This is definitely a personal pet peeve for me, but everyone got “paired” up with everyone … and now all the peeps are in super happy courtships (though there’s still another book for conflicts!!!). I don’t usually like the happy stuff (unless it’s Jace x Kyrin), but yeah.

I also feel that this book left out a lot of the character building and quality time. It was definitely more action/plot focused, which isn’t always a bad thing, I just loved Resistance for the characters.

just because this was a hilarious scene

---

Other/Summary:

The book is definitely a lot more quick and intense then the others, but still managed to hold on to the sweet and emotionally-tormenting bits at the same time. SOME SCENES WERE INCREDIBLE. (Both for my fangirl soul and for how they were written.)

I will warn you, there will be tears. Some happy. Mostly sad. Okay, almost all sad.

DEATH, DISEASE, DEATH. Nothing too descriptive. Sweet romance moments. (All the ships!) I definitely don’t think that I’m ready for the final Ilyon book…

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

---

Have any of you followed along or read parts of the series? If you have, let’s fangirl! Otherwise … what is a book that brutally tore your heart out? Was filled with death? LET ME KNOW. I LOVE ALL THE DARK AND SAD THINGS.