The Crimson Moth and Rebel Witch by Kristen Cissarelli

 Spoiler Free Review

I absolutely loved heartless hunter. I have to say without a doubt that rebel witch is better. There are some reveals in this one that I kind of predicted before they happened but I was still blindsided by some of the things that did come up. My favorite parts of this book were how we could see the real character growth with all of the witch hunters who even though they had been brutalized by witches in the past, were so loyal to Gideon that they willingly worked with witches to make sure that they had a future that they all wanted to live in. This is by far the best book I've read this year. The ending had me sobbing, like full on having a panic attack crying because of something that happens that caught me completely off guard. I will literally read whatever Kristen writes next.

Spoiler Review

I'm going to go into depth here about my favorite scenes that I still remember vividly.

The build up to the whole Cressida fight kind of felt a little anticlimactic in the endonly because I was expecting way more encounters with Cressida but she definitely took a haunting background to a new revolution with all our favorite characters from the first book. I loved how in heartless hunter Rune was the main source of strength for everyone around her and in the end having lost all that Gideon in Rebel Witch became the main source of strength for everyone around him and that makes me super happy getting to see this boy who was absolutely brutalized by witches in the past become their greatest ally in Rebel Witch. This is honestly what I will now be looking for in enemies to lovers books now because the characters growing to realize that witches are really just like them with families and lives just like their own they switch to a more we need to work together attitude instead of killing all witches. 

I do have to say I feel like the whole jealousy angle that was going on the Arcadia was kind of silly and foolish given the stakes that were happening with the fact that Rune could have been killed had she been found out by everyone to being a witch was kind of weird. Like these characters still really feel like 18 and 19 year olds which kind of made them sound immature what with all the war happening. 

I really loved the love blooming between Gideon and Rune in Rebel Witch. In Hearless Hunter you just started to get that tension and the crush part of their relationship but in this one you could see the trust and the acceptance that came out of Rebel Witch. The fact that Gideon tried so hard to hold onto what he believed was right until you could see that he literally didn't care about the same things anymore, he just wanted Rune to be safe. 

Watching Gideon become a vital part of the new revolution by being the guy that all the old blood gaurds turned to was a really satisfying thing to watch unfold. I loved that even in the midst of all the chaos and betrayal his friends were fiercely loyal to him even when they thought he was crazy for loving Rune. And him being shocked that his fellow gaurds would still back him up in his choices was so satisfying, made me realize that witches may have stolen his family from him but he ended up making his own family in the end was beautiful.

The visions into the future that Rune was seeing was kind of nuts to introduce kind of last minute in Rebel Witch. Like all of a sudden she can future just as we are introduced to a Witch that can also see into the future is kind of too lucky. However I still loved that once she saw her future children she was all in with Gideon because she wanted that future for him. 

And that ending left my jaw on the floor. Like using her life to give Gideon immortality was kind of nuts, but it felt like two seconds later it's revealed that Seraphine was Wisdom and she ends up using the reincarnation spell on Rune with Cressidas life was a great uno reverse but just kind of felt too convenient, like it happened so fast that I didn't even get to mourn Runes death. Kind of felt like I was robbed of a heartbreaking ending. 

Even with some of the faults in this book this is still one of my favorite duologys and I already want to reread them even though I had already reread heartless hunter so I could remember what happened when Rebel Witch came out. Will recommend this to literally everyone I know from now on.