A Curse of Memories continues the story of The Greatest Sin, this time in a ‘closed house’ sort of murder mystery. Fallen have been killed and now everyone is locked into the Tower until the perpetrator is found. At this point, you’re not (and really shouldn’t) start this far into a series… but if you’ve read this far, this is a more than adequate continuation of the story. It’s only a bummer that (as of this writing), this is the end.

Chivali remains still the real draw of the series. She’s wonderfully snarky and capable of either lying blatantly or making the truth dance as she needs. Take this scene where a truth finder is employed to question her:

“That’s impossible,” Andres said. He turned to Dowal. “That can’t be true. He’s dead.”

Dowal jabbed a finger at her. “Did you sneak past the guards to go see his body?”

Chavali had to stop herself from laughing. The corner of her mouth twitched despite her best efforts. “Do you frequently visit corpses? Is that something the Princess and her people consider normal? Consorting with death is unclean.”

“When was the last time you saw Harris while he was still alive?” Dowal asked through gritted teeth. “I don’t care if you were alive then or not.”

“Ah,” Chavali said, as if this phrasing meant she would behave for them. “That was yesterday. Today, I have only seen him dead.”

“This is pointless,” Andres said with a huff. “She’s still telling the truth. Which makes no sense. I can’t get any control over her.”

She bared her teeth. “This is a common problem among men. Ask anyone here. They will agree.”

Wonderful.

On top of that, we get a lot more of Chivali and Colby in particular. They have such a fun dynamic.

“Should we go to your room or mine?” Colby asked, failing to contain his amusement. “Yours is closer, but mine has my sword.”

“I am not participating in a conversation about your sword.”

Colby laughed. “That’s probably for the best.”

Or Colby going to save Chivali–and nothing will stand in his way:

As his flesh knitted, Colby straightened with a sigh of relief. “Send me in.”

“Send you in? I—” Railan stopped in the face of Colby’s fierce, determined anger. “—will have to think about how to do that. Give me a minute.”

Perhaps my favorite part of the worldbuilding? We finally get an answer for what the Healers have to pay to bring back the Fallen. They can no longer bear children. Which is somewhat of a trope, but in a magical world makes sense. (Potential future) life for a life. I’ve been waiting for this particular answer since the first book… and it works.

Looking forward to whenever/wherever the series goes from here.