Name: All This Twisted Glory (This Woven Kingdom)
ISBN: 9780755500147

Tahereh Mafi

From the award-winning and bestselling author of Shatter Me comes All This Twisted Glory, the highly anticipated third novel in the Persian inspired mythology This Woven Kingdom series

All This Twisted Glory (This Woven Kingdom)

I love when they roast each other💀😂

Sophia

So when he'd fled the palace on a mysterious - and likely nefarious - quest, she'd felt compelled to follow.

Of course Cyrus knew he was being followed.

She possessed all the subtlety of a dragon in slumber.

She’d been unable to look away as he performed this small task, fascinated by his unshakable bearing. Just hours ago he’d been battered nearly to death by the devil only to be dealt further blows by Alizeh herself, his mother, and the threat of violence against his home. These strikes had rained down on him one after another without pause and still, he remained composed. He wore a slight smile as he spoke quietly to a footman, his mannerisms easy but firm.

For as long as he lived he feared he’d know the scent of her, the sound of her walking toward him. She was a fool to think otherwise.

She could not know his dilemma: that her inexpert shadow infuriated him even as it soothed him, that he wanted to vanish even as he couldn’t bear the thought of abandoning her here, in the frigid dark.

He wanted her closer than he could express in words, wanted her bare and trembling in his arms, wanted to excoriate these sensations from his skin.

He wanted to lop off his own head and hurl it into the river.

It was a torturously long moment before she said –

Cyrus swallowed. “Yes,” he whispered.

Fate, he thought bitterly, was only romantic when one was destined to be the hero.

Alizeh was the fulfillment of his most desperate, undisclosed desire. The constant, gnawing ache inside him – this pitiful need that grew only more fraught in the wake of every darkness that devoured him – He longed for her warmth, for her radiance. She’d been, from the first moment she’d wandered into his dreams, an enduring flame in the endless night, his only haven in the madness that inhaled him. This was his real weakness, and the devil had marked him easily.

Cyrus had not slept since first laying eyes on Alizeh. He hadn’t dared.

He’d never forget the first time he saw her on that calamitous night, the way she’d stepped out from behind the dressing screen. She’d appeared in the golden lamplight of Miss Huda’s bedroom like some impossible vision. Only when she’d lifted her eyes to his face and the sight of her had nearly killed him did Cyrus realize just how artfully he’d been outmaneuvered.

He’d absorbed the blow with immaculate outward calm, letting the bomb explode inside him, liquefying his core. This inner destruction birthed a staggering, terrifying anger he’d been almost unable to conceal.

He felt he’d gone mad, swinging wildly between desire and fury and disgust and fear, hardly able to manage himself or his reactions to her. He knew at once he’d been tricked; he knew at once she was an instrument of the devil, sent to ruin him. And yet, he weakened each time she looked in his direction. His need grew only more explosive as she solidified into someone real; always he desired another glance, another accidental graze of her skin –

He was terrified to ever dream of her again.

Panic inhaled him. He felt blind with it, blind with madness. Alizeh whispered something incomprehensible against his neck, and he closed his eyes against a destructive swell of emotion, wishing desperately that he’d never been born. He didn’t realize at any point that he’d stumbled, that he’d lost his footing, or that they were falling – not until he felt the wind, like a heavy hand, rise up beneath them.

“Don’t worry, angel,” he said quietly. “You won’t have to.”

“Good God.” Cyrus sighed angrily. He stared the lot of them in the eye. “Enough of this. Show of hands, who here wants me dead?”

“Is this some kind of joke to you –” Kamran began angrily, cutting himself off as the boy, the girl, and the older one began slowly raising their hands.

He shook his head, inhaling sharply as he finally tore himself away. “I won’t survive it,” he said. “It’s your job to make sure I don’t.”

He watched, transfixed, as she tended to him with a benevolence he did not deserve, and then he went with her blindly, their hands clasped once again, as she guided him back to the bed. It occurred to him then, with a vague panic, that he’d follow her off a cliff if she were the one to lead him there.

He swallowed, still staring at her. He wondered if she had any idea what he’d do for her, the worlds he’d destroy for her. “Okay.”

He shook his head, his eyes closing against his will. “Because,” he said, and sighed. “You’re never here when I wake up.”

This tremble inside him, this madness in his heart – it was all for her. All for her. He could hardly look at Alizeh without losing his mind; nearly four weeks he’d seen her only in his dreams, and he’d all but forgotten how finely wrought she was in real life, how delicate her features, how soft the curves of her cheeks.

He came to life when she smiled, drew breath when her eyes brightened, died when she left a room.

Cyrus was out of his head, and she – She was a vision crafted by a generous maker. She was everything sweet, her every instinct to be kind. Even her anger was exquisite. 

Knowing he was to die by her hand made the reality almost bearable.

He couldn’t name this storm inside his chest; there were no words to describe the tumult of feeling he struggled then to tame. He only knew that he felt feral and scorched and terrified, and every minute demanded more of a withering self-possession he fought desperately to maintain.

I loved book 3, it was more playful and comedic than the other two, a band of misfits with good intentions. Loved the character development, the blossoming romance and the yearning was really well done! 

Saffia

Ok so I thought book three would be when the plot finally started but we kind of ended back where we started after book 2. I have no idea how she will cram all the plot in the last two books (assuming she does 5 as I have no idea how many lol). This book was exactly like book 1 and 2. I loved it and it was pure vibes but plotwise literally nothing was happening. I was so confused in the end when I realized we were right were we started haha

However, we did see more background information about Cyrus and his deal. His upbringing and what his dreams once were really broke my heart. Knowing why he acts the way he does is so devastating.😭

I really need a happy end in the very end of the series. The theories of people saying he will die and Alizeh and Hazan will be endgame are keeping me awake at night. I didn't even really see them as friends before book 3 tbh because they had maybe three interactions in total. No clue where the friendship came from in book 3 but I guess it is because she is his promised saviour and he is the only one unmistakingly on her side. Still, I only see platonic vibes like Kenji with Juliette. So if they are endgame, and - even worse - if Cyrus dies, I will throw my physical copies away. No way will I accept that outcome.

》He’d stopped fighting it. He willingly drowned in the feel of her, intoxicated by the taste of her. It was a torture he struggled to define. Every night he slept with his face pressed to her skin. 

Every night a new facet of his soul died for her.

Cyrus really killed me in this book. I had my own theories involving his brother and the devil but the involvement of his father really shocked me for some reason. I just took the gossip of the prior books when it came to the old king for face value💀

I was screaming when Cyrus did what he sought out to do in the end. I'm still mad it happened. As if the marriage wouldn't work without it. How could they ever be equals knowing what he did? I really hope they find a way for him to get it back.😭 At least he didn't include that he HAD to die only that he was willing to.

I hoped Kamran and Huda would be a thing but I'm really happy to see she actually starts to build their foundation. Their bickering was refreshing and Kamran was only not insufferable when Huda lectured him. His arrogance and stubborness to not connect the dots infront of him and to look at the bigger picture was infuriating. I hated how he spoke about Huda, as well. How he spoke about ALL of them. He really needs to work a bit on himself.

Ok so I thought book three would be when the plot finally started but we kind of ended back where we started after book 2. I have no idea how she will cram all the plot in the last two books (assuming she does 5 as I have no idea how many lol). This book was exactly like book 1 and 2. I loved it and it was pure vibes but plotwise literally nothing was happening. I was so confused in the end when I realized we were right were we started haha

However, we did see more background information about Cyrus and his deal. His upbringing and what his dreams once were really broke my heart. Knowing why he acts the way he does is so devastating.😭

I really need a happy end in the very end of the series. The theories of people saying he will die and Alizeh and Hazan will be endgame are keeping me awake at night. I didn't even really see them as friends before book 3 tbh because they had maybe three interactions in total. No clue where the friendship came from in book 3 but I guess it is because she is his promised saviour and he is the only one unmistakingly on her side. Still, I only see platonic vibes like Kenji with Juliette. So if they are endgame, and - even worse - if Cyrus dies, I will throw my physical copies away. No way will I accept that outcome.

》He’d stopped fighting it. He willingly drowned in the feel of her, intoxicated by the taste of her. It was a torture he struggled to define. Every night he slept with his face pressed to her skin. Every night a new facet of his soul died for her. He felt ill, all the time.《

Cyrus really killed me in this book. I had my own theories involving his brother and the devil but the involvement of his father really shocked me for some reason. I just took the gossip of the prior books when it came to the old king for face value💀

I was screaming when Cyrus did what he sought out to do in the end. I'm still mad it happened. As if the marriage wouldn't work without it. How could they ever be equals knowing what he did? I really hope they find a way for him to get it back.😭 At least he didn't include that he HAD to die only that he was willing to.

I hoped Kamran and Huda would be a thing but I'm really happy to see she actually starts to build their foundation. Their bickering was refreshing and Kamran was only not insufferable when Huda lectured him. His arrogance and stubborness to not connect the dots infront of him and to look at the bigger picture was infuriating. I hated how he spoke about Huda, as well. How he spoke about ALL of them. He really needs to work a bit on himself.

All This Twisted Glory (This Woven Kingdom)

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