The Ivory Tomb is the final book in the Rooks and Ruin trilogy and is literally the only thing that kept me sane during the many queues for rollercoasters during our recentf vacation. I read 75% of this book while surrounded by noisy, fidgety people and it was able to totally transport me, which I think is quite complementary to Melissa Caruso’s storytelling ability. Be forewarned, the rest of this review will contain spoilers for all the books in this series, including this one!

This picks up right after the worst of the demons were released from the Nine Hells. Carnage is slaughtering her way through the Raverran countryside while Corruption is rotting Vaskandar one village at a time. Ryx and her friends in the Rookery are trying their best to curb the monsters plaguing the human world, but some simply cannot be reasoned with. The artificers developed a device that can theoretically trap the demons when they leave their host and of course some idiot from Raverra decides that Ryx is the perfect demon to test this on. You know, the same demon that thought she was a human until recently and has been trying to help stop the others. Poor Ryx spends the entire book either watching out for potential treachery from the Raverrans, looking out for Hunger or Carnage (who both want her blood), and running from location to location trying to stay one step ahead. Rather stressful.

I thought the friendships and relationships in this series were handled really well and had nice, believable development. I am totally a sucker for the aethlings, so Ryxander, Severin, and the lovely tension between them might have been my favorite part. I also love that the Rookery totally stands behind Ryx, even when outside forces are trying to shoehorn her into the role of monster and it puts them at risk by association. I do think things with the demons wrapped up very quickly. I could have sworn I had a hundred pages left (those darn previews for others books at the end tricked me) and suddenly the nasty demons are back in the Nine Hells and the reformable demons are doing fifty years of penance to make up for their crimes. Including Ryx, which was totally unfair but hey, at least she gets visitors and gets to remain the Warden of Gloamingard and the epilogue was heartwarming. 

Overall, I thought this was a solid wrap up to the series, though I think the second book might be my favorite because it was absolutely fraught with revelations and drama. These books are a great mix of political drama, magical throw down, and slow burn romance (just a bit, not too much). I think they can easily appeal to readers across a wide range of ages and they’re really fun while also handling some pretty serious topics/issues in a fantasy setting.

I enjoyed this book greatly. It was an amazing sequel, and I loved diving back into the world of the series.

My thanks to Orbit books, Melissa Caruso and Netgalley.
Egads! I have dearly loved and enjoyed these books!
I hate to see it come to an end, but now I'm curious to read whatever is coming next from this author.

The Ivory Tomb is the conclusion of The Rooks and Ruin series. The Demons have returned to earth and Ryx must find a way to send them back and save the planet.

I really enjoyed the return (and finale!) to the Rook and Ruin series. It picks up right after the end of book 2 and never slows down from there. It is paced super fast with tons of running and fighting and snark from the outset. She does a fantastic job of moving through Ryx's now and then, letting the backstory come to the fore in a way that's woven in nicely. The endings are all well earned and true to the characters throughout.

Love this series and I'm excited to see what's next from this author.

I received an advance copy from the publisher and Netgalley to review.

Well I loved reading these books! I previously read The Obsidian Tower, but that was just before it first came out, and before I read her first series. Now that I read that, I was really excited to read this whole series, but I was waiting to be closer to The Ivory Tomb's release-and then I got an ARC, so I had to read them all now!

Now that I'm more familiar with this world, I was looking for mentions of familiar faces, and maybe names. This is set 150 years later, so only some of the Witch Lords are around, like the Crow Lord, which was nice. But he and Amelia founded the Rookery, so there is that!

Knowing the reveals of the first book, I was like, gate from hell, this is important, this is dangerous, and most of you are not going about this is the right way. But then we get to the second book, and oh, the reveals there! I think Ashe and Severin are the only ones who don't have a personal drama going on, and they're drawn into what was going on with the rest of the team. That reveal for Ryx is the biggest, but Kessa and Foxglove's was pretty big, as well!

While this book has more of a focus on the magic, it does deal a lot with politics, between the two nations, and with the demons, Ryx has an interesting place, given her heritage with a parent from both, and that she's also the Demon of Disaster. Each time that they had to go up against a demon, she had a huge role of being the communicator, one who had faint memories now of her past, of who the other demons are.

I loved how things wrapped up, it was really satisfying, and now that she has Gloamingard, that was really great. I do wish we could've had more of the past, who the Graces were and how they sent the demons back, and how Laeka was when Disaster took down Carnage, and when Disaster when back to the Hells. Alas.

This was such a fantastic series, and I can't wait to see what Melissa Caruso writes next, in this world, or something else!

I requested a digital copy in order to sample the prose on my phone (since I don't have a eReader) before requesting a physical copy for review. My review will be based on the physical ARC I read (if I qualify)