While it is better than the previous books, it’s nowhere near the level it should be, and the undertones are concerning as always.

I chose this ARC because at first glance it seemed like a stand alone book. I really tried to read it but I (understandably because I wasn’t familiar with the series) couldn’t get into it. I had to do a quick Google search to find out why I wasn’t able to understand what was going on or visualize the scene, and only then did I find out that the cover is misleading. Nowhere on it does it mention needing to read other books first. The Barnes and Noble listing was way more clear because the first book was also recommended, but NetGalley definitely wasn’t.

Overall, the first 500 words were fantastic! But as a personal preference, I dislike the need for a name pronunciation guide in the beginning. If it weren’t for the misleading aspect, I would rate the cover highly, it’s simplicity makes it work.

Before reading this book, I was worried that it would be hard to top the first two books in this series, but I was so happy to be wrong. For a third installment in a series, this book was fantastic and was a strong read throughout every single page. Piper CJ is so talented and has created this universe with such carefulness and depth. The series itself is so unique and I just absolutely love the writing.

In this book, the story continues to grow with all of the characters we have grown to love in the first two books. I loved getting to learn more about their history and their lives and what makes them so unique. The story sucked me in from the very beginning and I flew through the pages so fast, as I was drawn to the characters and their unique storylines. Although, sometimes I find myself having to re-read certain paragraphs due to the writing being a little complex. Yet, I don't mind it at all because I learn to appreciate it more!

Overall, this was such a great read and I enjoyed every minute of it. I highly recommend reading this third installment if you've read the first two! It's a great continuation of the stories of the characters we have grown to love. Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Bloom Books for this free arc in exchange for my honest review.

Humans, fae, and monsters. Central characters two women and their tangled relationships as the battles proceed with monsters and action. I found it uneven and perhaps could do with an edit. Sections were gripping. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy.

Every time I opened the story I felt like I was placed in a whole new world, which is exactly what I hope for when I find a good story. The personalities of the characters and banter are so good. I really enjoyed how everything flowed and how the focus was more inner change and growth then constant progression. It is difficult to follow some story when there is multiple points of view, but I never had difficulty keeping up with how it was written. If you have enjoyed the first two books of this series, you will not be disappointed with how much more there is to enjoy in this beautiful world created.

Yes. Just finished an advanced copy of this book. Really, really enjoyed it. It was very character driven and I felt like I was really getting to know the characters. There was enough action for it not to be slow. A fair amount of spice. But overall it was definitely about the people. Nox is my favourite she has overcome awful things and is still able to be trusting and kind. The ending definitely left me wanting more.

Greetings, reader and likely Piper Cj; I would like to make it very clear that in this review, I will not be at my kindness regarding the text and the author. It is no secret that I have a dislike for these books. Still, the author has broken my brain because The Gloom Between the Stars is an eldritch horror of sorts that has clawed its way out of Piper's mind until somehow it made its way to being published and truly made me regret ever learning how to read.

Implications
As a queer woman of color, I want to start this review talking about the fact that books don't exist in a vacuum; the words put on to the page by Piper are something that needs to be addressed by more than waving around a degree on tik tok or sending fans after reviewers. On a fundamental level, these books are racist and perpetuate the idea that women of color exist only as an object within a story to be played with. The novel's foundation makes me sick because all the POC characters live to be objects for the white to desire or experience trauma. A rather strange example of Piper's racism takes place in a bar in which all the characters are people of color, minus Amaris, who everyone is enamored with, not because of her actions but because of her whiteness. Her beauty and power all stem from her literal whiteness.
The people from the northern part of the country are given a reason why everyone else believes them to be monsters after leaving the mountains. A man was abusive and horrible to a woman who then cursed the whole land; these are the only nonwhite characters from the North. The idea that this group of people is inherently violent and abusive makes it clear that Piper may, in fact, know what she is doing in creating a world that is built on a foundation of people of color being violent.

Plot
Like the previous two books, the plot could be more explicit; Piper fails to create even the bones of a story. For most of the novel, the characters spend their time in a castle doing nothing until the last 50 pages, when something finally happens; even then, the battle is poorly described and has no consequences whatsoever. No one is injured or dies. For an over 400-page book, I expect something of substance to happen, but Piper has no interest in creating a novel with a plot because that would mean her having to leave the 30-plus pages of poorly written smut on the editor's floor.

Amaris
Let's start with Amaris; as a character, she is just as dull and bland as ever, the perfect hero. However, this book also places a strange fixation on Amaris being pure in conversion about her as a person and sex. Outside of that, her magic is intermixed with a kind of godhood that gives her an unbelievable set of powers that, outside of compelling people, allow her to create shockwaves that destroy buildings with little to no practice. All of which I could excuse if not for the treatment of Nox, which could have made Amaris a villain of the series, someone, the hero, once loved but realized the abuse and terrifying situations she was in. But the reader is meant to support Amaris throughout her treatment of someone she apparently loves.

Nox
Of all the terrible treatment given to characters throughout the books, Nox's character could become genuinely harmful. A woman of color who exists only to be an object of desire and whose magic is tied to sex appeal, Piper took every horrid stereotype about women of color and placed them upon Nox. From the moment Nox begins to gain control over her succubus powers, the novel makes it out that she is some monster demonizing her through sex scenes that focus on how she only takes from those around her. When the reality of the novel is that she has been given nothing, and without Amaris, she is nothing. Even the name of the series, The Night and its Moon makes the implication that Nox does not exist without Amaris; this book had me wanting Nox to snap at Amaris because the life of this woman has been to be abused in place of a girl who truly never cared about her.

Other characters
My criticisms of the other characters remain the same; however, I want to comment on adding two characters. One is Tanith, who is a nazi referring to characters as half breeds and is placed in the care of Ash, who ends up falling for her, which is not enemies to lovers but rather some twisted idea about how you can fall for someone who believes in an ethnic cleansing that would lead to your death. The other is the return of Milicent, the brothel owner, and is some of the most ableist characterization I have ever seen; evil because of her disability.

Nox & Amaris
Piper began promoting this book on tik tok by saying it was about the love between two girls but not; Nox & Amaris have no romantic relationship, minus a kiss in the first book and a brief moment in the second. I bring this up because this novel was marketed as a WLW romance between the two main characters. Instead, readers were stringed along for 1,000-plus pages. I also would like to clarify that the love between these two characters is not what you think. So let's explain: these girls do not love each other; Nox is a punching bag made to take the fall for Amaris since she was a young child. The love between them is far closer to that of an abuser and the abused; there is not a moment in which Amaris realizes that what she has done for years to Nox could possibly traumatize her. One character lives through trauma repeatedly and is told that the one person in her life who she believed loved her does nothing but watch her suffer.

Final thoughts
Piper has openly spoken about how she wrote these books within fourteen days and it shows; I understand that she used these books as a means to coming out but maybe that's all they ever should have been something to live on a google doc or a fanfiction site but never published. The only thing that these books will bring is harm to women of color who are hypersexualized because of their bodies; many people reached out to Piper about this telling her using these tropes in her writing are harmful. Yet she ignored them, choosing to dive deeper into the racism and never ending nightmare of alphabet soup she called a novel.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

This is the 3rd book I have read in this series, and I tried to go in with an open mind. I may not have enjoyed the previous two books, but I hoped that the author would have spent enough time with an editor- in fact, multiple rounds of edits, as she claimed on social media- would have solved some of the issues. Unfortunately, this was not the case, and after reading this novella, I am not confident that this editor exists.

The world-building in this series confuses me more with each new instalment. I don't mind having questions as I read, but I should have enough in-world knowledge to understand how societies function. This is important for me to understand how the character reacts to situations, and it helps me have fun by guessing what might happen next. It's a neat vehicle for foreshadowing, and arguably it's crucial to include the basis of your big reveals in the world-building so that the reader feels they are plausible.

This is book 3. I have read 1590 pages of this world. But I still don't have answers to so many questions. The magic system is confusing. This is frustrating because I'm not sure what is a big problem for the characters and what is normal. Was everyone so relaxed about the skeleton army because it's a regular occurrence? I have no clue, and I really should after all this time.

There's a lot of talk about someone being raised "culturally Southern". I don't know what that means within the context of the world, and it should be explained so the cultures can be contrasted against one another. The religion doesn't make sense. The author uses religious systems from multiple cultures and mixes them but doesn't tell us how they fit together. What's the point of calling back to real-world symbols and histories if they're not used as such? If the religion was completely made up, I would know just as much as I do now. This doesn't sit right with how the author is marketing her academic background.

The author's style is a big barrier to readability. I love sensory depictions and lyrical prose like Nghi Vo's and Catherynne M. Valente, and I can forgive poor plotting when I'm focused on beautiful writing; I was not able to do this with this book. There is so much repetition! It doesn't serve to emphasise an idea and often detracts from it by having a good line immediately followed by 4 sentences that say the exact same thing. The word choice can be confusing, but I often struggled with the sentence construction and would have to go back to reread it to understand. Again, I want to ask who is editing these books? I've seen the author posting about working with beta readers and sensitivity readers, developmental edits and line edits... but I see no proof.

The content warnings. The author has established an interactive following with fans, and they trust her. When there is a content warning for "consensual breath play", it sets the standard that the author will give warnings as appropriate and centres the reader's personal context in relation to the book. To then have a scene depicting suicide, especially a parent's suicide, ESPECIALLY in front of their child- it seems then that content warnings are not meant to protect readers but rather signal that there may be spicy scenes. I also feel that if there is a content warning for "consensual breath play," then sexual assault, in general, should be flagged.

There are many reviewers who have spent the time to write very detailed critiques of the book, especially regarding the problematic depictions of race and disability. For an author who regularly interacts with her followers and claims to want to protect them, the tasteless handling of sexual assault and suicide may harm that audience. The critical reviews of this book have great suggestions that would really have strengthened the books in terms of world-building and overall quality. I have also seen some really insightful commentary regarding her prose given by people who come from a creative writing background. I hope that the author will engage with editors who have similar experience and a dedication to quality; I do think that if she is willing to put in the time and work that is required in ANY book, she would be pleasantly surprised to see the difference in her own work. I hope she does herself the favour of giving herself time with her next book to turn it into the best product she can; unfortunately, I don't believe that this novel is it.

How very dare she!?!?! The Gloom Between Stars is easily my favorite book in the series so far. 10/10. 5 stars. Full review is up on my blog!

I absolutely love this series. Each book better than the last. I was so happy to get the ARC so I could jump back into the world so quickly and now I’m sad because that just means it’s that much longer until the next book. The ending has me hanging on a thread. I really enjoyed truly getting to know the characters and the balance of joy and sorrow this book had to offer.

This book started off with a plot centric battle, then quickly tapered off to the characters not doing anything for the bulk of the book. There's a plethora of spicy scenes and relationship building, but all of the actual plot points (doing recon, finding items that will help in invading farehold) are done off page by nameless characters. Having the main cast actively working towards the invasion, rather than sitting around while other people do it, would have been more interesting. The climax, with the invasion of Farehold and invasion of Raascot happening simultaneously, was the best part of the book.
I think this book should have been revised a bit more for plot. I understand that it's character-driven, but there is genuinely nothing happening for most of this book. There isn't an undercurrent of tension outside of relationship drama, when there's lives at stake and they're about to go to war.

The good= I love a book with maps and a pronunciation guide, and a music list to listen to for each part. If you follow Piper there are also candles and scent oils for Amaris and Nox. Very immersive.
This book starts out going fast. It starts right after the fae king finds Amaris and they take off down south. Nox and company have to rescue her again. It ends in blood and fire, demon creatures that are supposed to be extinct, and a zealot fae new character. First spicy scene is in the first 17ish pages ( I read it digitally so it may be different in a print copy).
I enjoyed the world building. I know there have been comparisons to The Witcher series and I see them, but to me they are related but not directly pulled. Just like The Redwall series by Brian Jaques is taken from Tolkien, The Court of Thorns and Roses is pretty much Beauty and the Beast, ect. It's there but I don’t feel that it pulls you out of the story.
I enjoyed the folklore and mythology wound throughout the story. She pulls from all different backgrounds and lore and throws it all in this country. Scandinavian, Norse, Christian and it fits if you look at all of these different towns and treat them as such. They are days apart from each other and if you look at our folklore and mythos you can see a difference in history and lore within the same country anywhere. I think some people don’t realize how close some of these different lore are geographically in the real world.

The bad
There is no trigger warning for the suicide. It was not an issue for me but if there is a trigger warning for consensual breath play there should be one for suicide.
The spice falls flat. It starts well, the build up is there but the climax and release just eh, even between the couples that wouldn’t die or lose their soul if there was penetration. There are M/F & F/F scenes, all of them fell flat to me. I won’t get into details but none made me go to bed ;)
There is one relationship that does bug me the worse- the sub/DOM one- and it bugged me in book 2 as well. There is no discussion between the 2 of them. They do finally have a discussion in this book but its half way through the book. It really feels like she is just thrown into it, with no idea what is going to happen and it just feels icky.
The book starts out fast, and then slowwwwss down for part 2 & 3 , then we finally get rolling again. We spend parts 2 and 3 rattling around in the dark fae castle. We explore, or not really, the castle. We visit with our zealot prisoner and try to come up with ways to make her like the half fae, finally giving her a half fae babysitter. There is a good part with a father, son and the zealot fae that gets a little heated, and we eat.
I received a digital ARC copy of the book and there were several grammatical errors and misspellings. Whether they are there in print copy I can’t say but what I have is supposed to be the final manuscript.

All in all I think it's a decent read, not sure its re- read. I will buy the physical copy because I enjoy the author’s energy so I will support her.

This book is phenomenal. It is character driven without feeling slow, and was different enough from the other books in the series to feel integral to the story. The writing is immaculate and I would absolutely recommend this book to all.

How does she DO that? Again with all of the plot moves not going even sort of how I would have expected but somehow still ending up where I hoped and expected they would?

I love almost all of the main characters (I'm still doubting 1 or 2 of them) and the new things we're learning about them. The plot is both familiar and unexpected. The spicy scenes are deliciously spicy without feeling cheap or incongruous.

Would definitely recommend.

My favorite of this series. I want more!! I want a yearly update of each character. The steamy scenes added to the plot and didn't feel trite or gratuitous. Each character felt real, with flaws and loveability

DNF. Nox was self-serving, over-angry, wishy-washy, and incredibly unlikable.
I especially didn't like the scientific word choices—igneous, sedimentary, oxytocin, etc—not only was it over-explaining (on top of the initial info-dump), but these words would be unknown in a fantasy novel.
Don't recommend.

Sadly I had to DNF this book. There was a lot going on that I really couldn't stand in the first two books that got even worse for this third book. I know that CJ is capable of writing better.

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this book in the slightest. All of the technical issues with the previous installments are present in this book: convoluted writing style, gratuitous sensory details that bog down the pacing, anachronisms and inconsistent prose, and poor pacing, among many others. This book absolutely needed additional rounds of revision editing as well as further sensitivity reading to rectify the racist, ableist, internalized misogynistic, and generally insensitive content. There is a difference between including these topics in order to examine or deconstruct them and continuing to perpetuate the harm brought about by these systems, and ultimately, this book achieves the latter but under the guise of the former.

Aside from harmful content, the plot of this book is truly lacking and doesn’t particularly contribute to a larger overarching story. I felt that the middle 70% stagnates in conflict until it’s time for the mandatory climax, and the actual climax leaves much to be desired due to the relative ease with which the characters defeat the antagonists. This book quickly resolves the conflict created by the last book and then offers nothing of substance for the next 300+ pages with its mind-numbing narration of the daily lives of the characters for a few months.

In sum, this book had no particular need to exist. Not only does it diminish the previous installments, it also puts itself in an awkward situation for the next book by having no real conflict to continue to build upon because it was already solved in this book.

The author explores a lot of good, bad and ugly in her characters. This is my first I’ve read in this series. I enjoyed it enough to want to read the others. Her characters had lots of challenges that we got to see while also showing the challenges of the city weighing on its people. The ending was a terrible cliffhanger but I’m tempted to see how it all ends.

I have loved this series so much and I have been dying to read this thanks so much for the copy I absolutely loved it and devoured this