Lady of Starfire by Melissa Roehrich is the fifth and final book of the Lady of Darkness series. This is a new adult, dark fantasy romance. Scarlett fights against the fates and destiny for her family, her twin flame and the realm. Succeeding May cost her everything but she’s determined to play the game and make her own path. Tropes include banter, touch her and die and slow burn. Trigger warnings include sexually explicit material, references to sexual trauma, violence, and jealous/possessive themes.

The Lovely: This final book of the series does an amazing job of wrapping up all of the threads and stories of the prior books. They weave together at the end to reach a satisfying conclusion. Some might say too neat of an ending, but I like a happily ever after.

The Mundane: So this is a good and bad. This book spends a lot more time with the other characters and their relationships as compared to the prior books. On one hand, I loved seeing those relationships develop and deepens. But, at the same time, I didn’t feel like we had much time overall with Sorin and Scarlett, which was sad.

The Dreadful: There was one small part of the ending that I’m upset about. The book wrapped up the stories of all the characters (or, those that survived) except Sorin and Scarlett. They never really had their own final scene together and I’m lacking a sense of closure around them, especially after loving their relationship for the prior books.

Rating: 4/5 stars

Recommendation: Aside from the dreadful item above bringing me down, this series as a whole was gut wrenching and epic (and traumatizing). I’m going to miss the characters and their relationships, the found family, the banter, the mysteries and the magic. I’m so sad this over and I will never hear new stories of these characters, or see Sorin and Scarlett banter again. How soon is too soon to re-read? ( )

5⭐️ 3.5🔥

"I will always come for you"
"All the way through the darkness"
"So many stars were gone from the sky"

Words simply cannot express my feelings about this book and ultimately the entirety of the series. I am not okay. I don't know how to move on. I don't want to. I love this world and the characters. They will all live with me forever. This series is a part of me now. I was intentionally reading as slow as I could because I was attempting to savor every single word that was written in this book. I spent weeks of life with this series, even dreaming of this world. It is a bitter sweet ending for me.

It's hard to judge just this book alone because it is so entwined with all of the others preceeding it that I have to include all of them in my thoughts. The series was very smart. So many details that were crucial. In fact, every detail was crucial to the story. I never once lost interest and I was constantly craving more and getting very little sleep over the weeks because I couldn't put them down. I was obsessing. This book was heavy and intricate but even with all of that Melissa was able to smoothly incorporate light to help break up all of that heaviness so that it wasn't too much but just enough to portray the severity of the story.

If I had to compare this series to other books, I would equate it to A Court of Thorns and Roses mixed with Game of Thrones.
This series is so much more than just a fantasy. It's deeper than that. It teaches you so much about how to deal with the hardships of life. It's about love and sacrifice and finding the light in the darkness of life. I'm so sad it's over but it had a wonderful ending that had me in tears.It has caused me to see things differently. Each chapter is a cliffhanger and going to a different pov. Makes it hard to stop reading at all.

Characters
I loved all of the characters! Every single one was perfectly portrayed. I was so annoyed with some and some I had conflicting feelings about but I was supposed to. And now that it's over, I miss them. All of them. The Wraiths were a formiddable team of death that were so perfect and it wouldn't be a complete set without Cassius. Sorin, Briar, and the Inner Court have become my own family and I love dearly. Talwyn, Azriel, and Ashtine are essential to the fae courts and I wouldn't want this story without any of them. Tava and Drake are fierce and loyal friends I couldn't live without. Callan was a pain and, to me, annoying.

Emotions
Melissa has an amazing ability in creating such strong emotions that you feel them in your soul. My heart broke, my soul splintered, I laughed from deep in my chest, and I felt such warmth in the love that was portrayed. I actually mourned for the characters that were lost. And the ending had me in tears (happy and sad) that I still have tear marks on my glasses.

Writing and Plot
The writing was so good that most of the time I didn't even realize I was reading and it was a movie in my head. Everything was so well described that I even felt like I could nearly smell and feel at times. Like I was really there. I became immersed in this world day after day, page after page. The plot constantly had you on your toes and I felt like I was holding my breath the entire time.

Pacing
This is the only part that I have anything remotely negative to say about this book. I feel like the pacing was a bit off. About halfway through the book, it was starting to feel rushed. I feel like this could have gone into another entire book. Also, not all of my questions have been answered. I'm not entirely sure that they were supposed to be but a couple probably should have been explained but they weren't. Other than that, the pacing was on par.

World Building
As I said before, this world is one that I didn't want to leave. No, the world building wasn't absolutely perfect but it was still amazing! I never questioned where things were and I was able to imagine it all with ease.

With the new series coming out, and all of the future series, I am looking forward to the continuation of this universe. I know that Melissa will deliver on the cravings that her readers have for more of her work. Thank you for writing this series Melissa. I will forever miss Halaya.

Tropes:
Slow Burn
Fated Mates
Friends to Lovers
Found Family

Ending Type:
HEA (with room to build on)

Below are my SPOILER thoughts and reactions as I read throughout the book (helps refresh my memory/ summarize):
[
13%: Wait hold up, Eline killed her sister Henna?? Their world is called Halaya.

38%: Why has she been here this long and not told of those beings? I'm so annoyed with these characters trying to fight their feelings. Poor Cyrus... I hate that he's being tortured but there's nothing anyone can do. oh shit! I think he's about to get his powers back! Fuck yeah! He got even greater powers and his twin flame bond back! This punishment for Talwyn is so much better than death. "For the love of your mother" 😂 She has to leave this world in order to save it?? wtf! no. That's bullshit. I knew Talwyn and Azrael were twin flames! But now that her magic is gone they can't perform the trials and that's incredibly sad. He's loved her and always known yet she just used him for "distractions". Cass and Cryus... is about time! Shadowfire is badass. "Queen of the continent"

55%: I'm confused. Which side is mordecai on? SAWYER! NOOOOO! He sacrificed himself, happily, for Ashtine and the babes. And I'm fucking ugly crying so hard I can't see the pages.
I am so sick of Eliza and Raz not being a thing. She is just being so damn stubborn and he's patient as fuck. All these girls in this series, "oh no the big, strong powerful male wants me and has a bond with me but I couldn't possibly and I'm going to fight it for no good reason!" stfu and do him already 🤣
Okay so the bargain that Cyrus made with the sorceress really doesn't seem like that big of a deal. And Sorin's completion of his bargain seemed very anticlimactic. Sorin can make fire dragons! 🔥
Ho.ly. shit. They got the lock, destroyed the cliffs and Sorin can travel.

69%: Oh Callan and Tava married 🥰 It was very cute but very short lived. Then Juliette had to go and get all ominous and ruin the moment lol. So he's a super powerful dragon that got taken down in a second by one spear. Pisses me off. Cassius fought Cyrus so famn much about taking a Source and now he's all about it. Fuck yes I knew it it! Eliza and Razik are twin flames! "I hate that I love that you have ruined me"
Okay so Scarlett just released chaos from the lock. She's a world walker now. And I am so confused as to that entire conversation with Saylah. Not one bit of it made sense. So, now that Saylah made a big sacrifice of power to Scarlett, she's all loving for mommy. Okay.

87%: I like how Scarlett accidentally came upon the battle in the wind court and saved the day. YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE FIRE GENERAL! Oh Hazel... I didn't see that coming. At least Talwyn's staying won't end. Thank God Tarek is dead. I hated him so much.

100%: I did not expect Balam to do that. At all. But he wasn't actually all bad. I want more of his side. All the Maraans are dead. Honestly disappointed that there wasn't a more satisifying ending for Mikale. I expected more revenge to be taken with him rather than him just die in the background then not spoken of again. Alaric was killed by his precious wraiths doing exactly what he trained them to do! Wait Callan is her second soulmate? Callan is jealous of a guy Tava kissed one time but dances with a woman he did for a year? Pathetic. Nuri left 🥺 I'm crying. THE BABES ARE NAMED NAKOA AND SAWYER 😭🥹 And now I'm crying more! ( )