I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own. 

Even though this is a companion novel and set in the same world as the other two books it can be read as a standalone. As the story is separate and things and characters from past books are explained and introduced well enough that you don’t have to have read the other books.

So I really struggled reading this book so much. I got about halfway through and I wanted to DNF it because it felt like nothing was happening and I had to push myself to finish it. I think that if I hadn’t gotten an ARC copy of this book through NetGalley I probably wouldn’t have finished it. I just lost interest in the story and the characters when it felt like they were just going around in circles and like the story was moving at a snails pace.

I did put it down once or twice and take a break from reading it. It was a little like a roller coast; it’d be going slow then fast then suddenly it be slow again. I think that the past two books written in this world had much better pacing in comparison.

The characters were fine. I didn’t feel that attached to them. In the past two books I found Safire to be interesting and a good side character but I felt that in this book she just wasn’t big enough to be a main character. I sympathised with her for what had happened to her in the past and her struggle with being the commandant. But for a lot of this book I found her to be just a bit too self-righteous. Once I got past halfway I found that I liked her more as she began to really see things from Eris perspective.

Eris I did find more interesting and I was so intrigued by how she was a wanted criminal with a the ability to travel the world with just a spindle. Eris I found really moved the story forwards and was the heart of this story. I loved learning more about her past, who she is and was, and just what she was running from.

Out of the two main characters I definietly liked Eris more. I thought she was the more interesting of the two. But I do think that Safire had more character growth and grew on me more as the story went on.

In each of the three books in this series there are smaller stories or past events in between chapters. And in this one it was the story of the Sky Weaver and how she came to be the Sky Weaver. It was really interesting to see how that story influenced and shed light onto parts of the story. Like the place that Eris goes to to travel from one place to the next, and also how it’s limited to only places that Eris has created a door to. Which I found very interesting.

Also I really liked the parts about the girl that fell in love with a god, a part of the Sky Weaver myth, and I would have loved more of it. I actually at times found it more interesting than the main story!

This is a companion novel to The Last Namara so it is a separate story but I would recommend reading both The Last Namsara and The Caged Queen before reading The Sky Weaver.

I liked seeing characters from the past novels and would’ve liked to see more of some of them. I also liked that parts from past books were still parts of this one. Like Asha and Torwin trying to protect the dragons and stories that were outlawed before the start of the first book. And the blight that was a driving force in the second book.

Also, in this book there was more about the dragons! And there was also pirates!

There wasn’t that much about them in the second book, The Caged Queen, so I was happy to see more of them again.

While reading this book I was really in the mood to read a book about some pirates so I was definitely happy to see some pirates and to get to now about some of the characters. And how they played into the story and Eris’s life/backstory.

I liked seeing another country too and what god they worshipped. I really interesting to see a country that contrasted with the one that the rest of the series has been mainly set in. It has different laws and religion; although the Sky Weaver does appear as one of the gods in the scrublands.

I liked reading the romance between Eris and Safire, especially as one’s a thief and the other is the commandant (leader of the palace/city guards). I do like reading romances between characters that are from very different worlds/walks of life. It’s always really interesting to see that sort of dynamic. So, it was really fun to read an F/F dynamic and romance like this in fantasy (where they’re the main characters and couple).

Both Eris and Safire grew a lot and had a lot of character development as they learnt how to see things from the others perspective. While also trying to protect and help the other. I especially liked seeing Safire’s conflict about her growing feels for Eris and her position as commandant as she came into situations that changed or conflicted with her views on the law and how it is upheld.

I felt like the beginning and end of this book were both really strong but the middle was a bit meh. I really got bored about halfway through this book and would’ve liked it if this book had moved a bit faster really.

I thought that this book was good. I do think that it’s a shame that this is the last companion novel in The Last Namsara world, because I have really loved reading these books and I’m going to miss reading about these characters. I think that out of the three books this was my least favourite.