Very conflicted about this one. The first half or so was amazing. Even though I often wanted to scream at Rin. (But I suppose if she had made the right choices, there wouldn’t be a book.) I was really loving the lead up to the school and her time at Sinegard (even though she was pretty miserable). I loved the world building and everything about it. But once the school part ended, the book lost me a bit. I knew going in that the book had a strong military focus, but was actually less interested in that part once we got to it. And then we were just thrown in too many directions - like the scene with the chimei was cool, but it didn’t really fit with what was going on in the world that had been built up so far. Then the actual war part - I get that the book is showcasing the horrors of war (and pulls from historical sources), but some of the scenes/descriptions were just too brutal for me. So grotesque it made me feel a little sick. Maybe I’m too soft, but it really brought the book down for me because those parts weren't enjoyable at all. Still I guess I won't forget it. I’ll also say the book did make me do my own (admittedly light) research into the Sino-Japanese war, which I didn’t know anything about.

I still thought this was a little too violent for my taste (though not as bad as the first one), but at least I knew that going in this time. And I guess it is military fantasy, so that is sort of baked in. But even though there are still some things I didn't love about this book, the characters' journeys are just so good. This one goes hard on Rin's character and it doesn't let up. You understand where Rin is coming from, but it's hard to watch her make decisions with these horrible consequences. I can't say I'm rooting for her, and think I know where the third book is going (and I'm dreading it), but I still want to watch how we get there.
I appreciated some of the characters from the first one more here, especially Kitay. The discussions about the Hesperians were also super interesting.

So I think this was a good end to the series. But I just didn’t enjoy the series as a whole as much as I hoped. It was just so hard to like Rin (which I think was on purpose, but didn’t make it any more enjoyable to read). I also just think I’m not a fan of the violence and other bleak elements, which are a large part of the books.
But more importantly, I was annoyed at how incompetent Rin was in this book (which maybe also was on purpose? But that didn't work for me). I don't know why they kept putting her in charge of things because she kept messing up all the time!
I also don’t know if we were supposed to be surprised at Rin’s descent into cruelty and madness, but based on the first couple of books, it went basically exactly where I thought it would. I wish Rin would have been kinder and more generous in the first and second books so that her descent had a bit more impact. I just couldn't connect with it.
I also wish this book had more Nezha. And though I liked the plot lines with the Trifecta and the Hesperians, I just wish that plot line would have been more the climax of the book instead of closer to the middle. It was stronger than the climax we got. The book just went on a little long, and some things could hav been cut between the Trifecta stuff and the end.
Overall, it did a good job of what it set out to do. But I wish the series as a whole was a bit less "realistic" and tied to history and a bit more creative. I guess I should have just stopped at the first one, but I fell prey to the hype about how good this last book was!