Today I have my final review of the “Lady of Darkness” series for you, because Lady of Starfire is the final book in this series. I’ve read it straight after Lady of Embers, because I just wanted to finish this series before the month was over. I felt like I just couldn’t move on. This review contains spoilers for the rest of the series, so be aware of this.

About the book

Lady of Starfire by Melissa K. Roehrich
Series: Lady of Darkness #5
Published by Independently published on March 28, 2023
Pages: 742
ISBN: 9798985299182
Genres: Fantasy, New adult, Romantasy

The Final Game Begins.
Scarlett Sutara Aditya has finally learned the full cost to save her world and correct mistakes that are not hers, but she refuses to accept the fate that has been decided for her. Making demands of her own, she fights for her twin flame, her family, and the realm that balances on her destiny. She has always played games by her own rules, but this time, winning might cost her everything.
The broken are remade. The lost are found. Fate is defied, and new destinies are forged as the realm comes together to defend what is theirs. Kings will fall, and Queens will rise. Power is lost, and Chaos is born. Truth can be uncovered in the darkness, but some secrets can only be found among the stars.

This is the fifth and final book in the Lady of Darkness series. It is a new adult, dark fantasy romance novel. It features slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers troupes and may have triggers of love-hate themes, sexual scenes, references to SA trauma, violence, and jealous/possessive themes. It is part of a series. Fans of Sarah J. Maas, Jennifer L. Armentrout, and Raven Kennedy will fall in love with this series.

My review

Expectations beforehand

Even though the cliffhanger at the end of Lady of Embers wasn’t as huge as before, I still was curious for the continuation of this storyline. So, I dove straight into this book after finishing the previous one and I had high expectations. It’s a series finale and these could either be great, or very anti-climactic. I expected this one to fall into the first category, because the build-up towards this book was very, very intriguing.

Synopsis

The group is all over the place. Cyrus, Sawyer and others are captured, Ashtin is in danger, Talwyn is on the run… With Scarlett discovering more about herself and Sorin’s power rapidly plumishing, action needs to be taken. Are they still able to bring peace to the continent or was it all for nothing?

Characters

You wouldn’t have guessed, but there’s yet another new POV into this book. Eliza now gets her own voice as well, which is again very necessary because of the actions she’s taking. Although there are six different POVs now, there’s still room for the characters to develop themselves and grow. More background stories are revealed and they learn what it means to bring sacrifices for the greater good. Furhtermore, some of them find their twin flame or soulmate in this book and this adds up to this character growth. The cast of characters is huge and extremely diverse. Still, Scarlett is our main character and she discovers yet again a lot about herself. Sometimes, it felt a bit too much for me, it was quite unbelieveable and gives me the special snowflake vibes. I didn’t feel these at the start of the series, so that’s actually a pity. I thought we were over this trope, but apparently not.

Atmosphere

As war is at their doorstep, the atmosphere is again pretty tense. The fact that more characters relive their traumatic experiences adds up to this tension. There’s a lot of trauma, batlle planning, strategics and grief. Thankfully, there’s also room for developing relationships and deepen others. So, it’s kind of a mix, but the dark and tense atmosphere is dominating.

Writing and plot

The writing is good again, even though the quantity of POVs could make it a bit more difficult. I didn’t notice this as a reader, because I flew through the book pretty much. It’s a chonker and at some point I wanted it to be over, but that’s not because of the story. I just was a bit over fantasy I believe. There’s a reason I don’t read series back-to-back and that’s not for nothing. However, this story felt a bit dragging at times because of its length. It isn’t dragging at all though, because a lot is happening. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Scarlett being literally anything possible and her power keeping growing and growing. This reminds me of other fantasy series where the same is happening. I felt a bit betrayed by this because I didn’t expect this at first. However, the ending is satisfying and that’s all that matters right? It was a bit anti-climactic though as it felt a little rushed, but that didn’t take away my enjoyment of this book.

Final thoughts

Lady of Starfire is a worthy finale to the “Lady off Darkness” series by Melissa K. Roehrich. A lot happens, a lot has been revealed. The multiple POV narration again works really well, so does the storytelling and writing. The ending was a bit predictable and anti-climactic, but that didn’t take away my overall enjoyment. Even though this book has its flaws, I had a good time and therefore I still rated it 5 stars.