I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. It has not affected my opinions.
Genre: Dystopia
Age Range: YA
Star Rating: 5 stars
Series: final book of trilogy
*SPOILER ALERT: contains SPOILERS for THE BUTTERFLY ASSASSIN and THE HUMMINGBIRD KILLER*
Blurb:
Isabel Ryans has fled Espera, leaving behind her identity as teen assassin the Moth. Now she’s trying to adjust to the reality of the outside world. But her grief and trauma are catching up with her, and surrounded by civilians who will never understand what life is like in the walled city, she feels more alone than ever.
When a journalist is murdered nearby, suspicion automatically falls on Isabel. And inside Espera’s walls, the abolitionist movement is gaining strength. When Isabel’s search for the killer leads to an unexpected reunion, she’s forced to decide whether she can really leave the city behind, and what part the Moth might have to play in the uprising.
Is Isabel Ryans the city’s saviour . . . or its scapegoat?
Blurb taken from Goodreads. Add to your shelves here.
Review:
MOTH TO A FLAME is a trilogy ender all about healing, hope, and working towards a better world.
This is a much gentler book than the last two. It is not a constant run of awful, impossible choices and death, Isabel (and the plot) moving at a hundred miles an hour through betrayal and anguish. Instead, it’s slower paced as Isabel begins the slow process of recognising and healing from all the trauma she’s experienced (so there’s a fair amount of anguish still!)
It is a book about healing, tearing down walls, and building back better. It’s about acceptance of the past and finding a way to move on. It’s about justice and freedom and culpability – how scapegoats are often used to avoid states owning up to the part they had in it all. It’s about community and finding less violent ways to enact change.
This all means that, shockingly (for the series) there are very few deaths in this book compared to THE BUTTERFLY ASSASSIN and the bloodbath that was THE HUMMINGBIRD KILLER – only three total by my count. People I like actually get to survive for once (which was a relief my heart!)
I liked getting a book about healing a hope. It is a brutal trilogy about valuing weapons and money over lives, particularly children’s, so to end on a strong note of hope that there can be change is very necessary and powerful given the wars waged and collective punishments being carried out in the world right now.
Read my reviews of other books by Finn Longman:
The Butterfly Assassin (this series):
- THE BUTTERFLY ASSASSIN (#1)
- THE HUMMINGBIRD KILLER (#2)
Sifa Elizabeth Reads 