Book Review ~ The Emperor
5 Stars | 4 Spice
Book 3 of the Dark Verse series by RuNyx
RuNyx does it again with book three! The mystery of The Syndicate keeps you hooked, while fresh character perspectives add new depth. The writing is masterfully tense, revealing just enough to keep you craving more. Amara and Dante’s story is beautifully tragic, with deep emotional layers and gripping backstories. If you haven't started this series yet—drop everything and read it now!
QUICK REVIEW
Love. I just love this series. The mystery of The Syndicate is just so darn good. Every moment of reading is thrilling, it truly feels like your walking through a dark maze and you're having to pause at each turn to check if somethings going to jump out. Book three focuses on two different characters, but the main plot is still continued, and seeing it from different characters perspectives keeps the series feeling fresh. Seriously, if you haven't read the first two books yet, drop everything, and I mean everything and read them. Right now.
FULL REVIEW
SPOILERS AHEAD ~ SPOILERS AHEAD
Writing & Plot
Yes, I'm going to say it again. RuNyx is the MASTER of tension. You cannot convince me otherwise so don't even try.
I'm not normally a mystery/ thriller person because I get too frustrated because I like to have all the information as quickly as possible (likely due to my anxious nature), but the way these books are written, with readers getting just enough of the information before we realise that it was actually only a teeny tiny piece makes hungry for more rather than frustrated that you don't have it all (if that makes sense). We're drip fed just enough to keep us ravenous for more.
That's another thing RuNyx is so good at. Timing. Everything that has been revealed to us so far - which honestly isn't actually much haha because every time we find out something, we find out something else that puts us like two steps back - has been revealed at the perfect moment. The flow of plot keeps you needing more, but also keeps you entertained at each point.
I loved the structure of this one. We start right from when they were children and watch them growing up. We don't get back to the present until about two thirds of the way through. Now, yes, it was lovely to see how they fell in love and how they grew together as people, but that's not why I loved the structure. We get to see hints of The Syndicate appearing in their lives at points in time when none of the main characters so far (Dante, Amara, Morana, and Tristan) have any clue that The Syndicate even exists, let alone is so intertwined with their lives.
Characters
Amara is a beautiful soul and so DAMN strong. I really like how we see her grow and find her strength the older she gets.
Her and Dante are just a perfect blend of beautifully tragic and excruciatingly perfect. I loved how this started when they were both children (as I mentioned above), and how we got to see their bond develop over time. I also really enjoyed this as we got more of an insight into both Dante and Amara's relationships with Tristan. We got to see the 'human' side of Tristan at different stages in his life in more detail as well. That was a great touch.
Dante, Dante, Dante... I like him. I don't necessarily agree with how he always handled his relationship with Amara, but his choices did always seem to come from the right place. You can feel how much he loves her, and while what he did sometimes hurt Amara, I think he hurt himself a lot too. He has so much pressure on his shoulders - he hates his father (and rightly so let's be honest), but he's heir to his empire. Seeing that inner turmoil from his perceptive (as we got some idea in the previous books) allowed us to see another side to him. In the first 2 books, he's calm, collected, a shoulder to lean on, but in this book we get to see how stormy and stressed he's really feeling inside. It makes him more well rounded as a character. I'm excited to see how he leads the family now.
Some other characters I would like to briefly mention...
I want Vin to also be my best friend. I swear to the book gods he better not die.
I can already tell I'm going to love Xander.
Alpha...eye patch...this dude is gonna be so fun to get to know.
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