Week 13 Review: Holy Terrors

From Goodreads:

It's been nearly two years since Vanja brought down the cult she started, and she's still paying the price. As the Pfennigeist, she bucks the law in order to help the desperate and haunt the corrupt all across the empire—and no matter what, she works alone.

But an impossible killer is tearing through royalty, and leaving Vanja's signature red penny on every victim. Suddenly the Pfennigeist is no longer a folk hero but a nightmare. When even the Blessed Empress falls, the empire's seven royal families must gather to elect her successor within a matter of weeks, or risk the collapse of reality itself… even though it puts every house in the killer's sights.

Vanja tells herself she's wading into the royalty's vicious games only to save the name she made, and the loved ones also in jeopardy. But the Order of Prefects has also put their sharpest official on the case, the one who swore he'd always find Vanja—until she broke his heart. Journeyman Prefect Emeric Conrad may no longer be the boy Vanja knew, but they'll have to work together one last time to have any chance of surviving the deadly catastrophe coming for them all.

With bloody conspiracy, sinister magic, and old adverseries closing in, it will take everything Vanja has to save not just the people she loves, but the future she's fought for. In this thrilling final chapter of the Indie Next series Little Thieves, New York Times-bestselling author Margaret Owen shows us the pain and beauty of choosing which demons to face, and which to forgive.

My Review:
I loved reading this book so much! I love this series and Margaret Owen's writing, and I needed to know how this series was going to end, what was going to happen to Vanya and Emeric, if they were really not going to get back together, or if they would. I was worried, but I had to keep reading! 

The Fallow Years introduced us to a few important characters for this one, the 2 new loves in each other's lives, though Vanya had moved on from hers, and he was just a friend now, but both were pretty important to the plot, since they both got pulled into this threat against the nobility. 

I loved that we got to spend more time with Gisele and Ragne, together, with the pressures that are on them because they're married, and how while Ragne isn't stupid, she's straightforward, and isn't aware of most nuances. But with this killer going around, Gisele is being placed into a political position, and as her spouse, Ragne might be changed by that. I enjoyed seeing that play out! 

It was hard to see Vanja and Emric at odds. From the beginning, and the way that he treated her, well, there was an explanation, but it still hurt. That he didn't know why she walked away...she still had doubts about ruining peoples lives and didn't want to do that to his. The nerves were high, and I needed to continue on and find out whatw as going to happen with them! 

Each book in this series has had something in parts, the first was stories of her life leading up to this point, the second was lies, and in this one, it was choices, different ones she could've made going backwards in her life, from asking the villagers to gather her rubies with them being paid in a percentage of the recovered instead of accidentally starting to a cult, to when she was 13 and Death and Fortune gave her a choice of her serving one of them. I loved how that tied into the story! Plus the way that bookends the series, counting up in her life in the first book, and counting down in the last! 

Then there was the whole murder plot going on, going up in the highest offices of power in this empire-and it's implicating Vanja, which she can't have done. The investigation was so thrilling, and I loved seeing how it played out! There were some pretty shocking twists! 

Loved reading this book and I can't wait to read more by Margaret Owen!

Author: Margaret Owen 
Series: Little Thieves #3
Read: March 26th, 2025
Source: NetGalley 
Reason Why: Love her writing and this series, and it's a End of Series 2025 Book, Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2025 Books and a WoW Book! 
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Expected Publication: April 1st 2025 

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars