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cottage_goblin's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
wildfaeriecaps's review against another edition
5.0
I love this series. I love this book. Some day very soon I'm going to marathon all three of together and it's going to be glorious!
branch_c's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this one, though not quite as much as the earlier ones in the series (The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters, Volume One, The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters, Volume Two and The Dark Volume). The writing is polished, the protagonists are quirky and interesting, and the story is cleverly dark. There is a strong thread of eroticism throughout the books that's not my usual style, but I have no complaints about the way it was handled. The plot is convoluted, but less so in this volume than the earlier books - the basics of this creative steampunkish world have already been established, and the characters here are pretty much picking up where they left off, so the story here is one long extended climax to the series - a rush from beginning to end with barely a pause to breathe. This works well from a pacing point of view, although it also meant on a few occasions I was drawn forward by the action, only to question a few pages later how exactly we got to this point. Some of the minor villains were less well-drawn than they might have been, and tended to blur together in this frenzy, but all was clear by the end, and all in all it was a fun and engaging adventure.
jaenpual's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
3.0
silquesoleil's review against another edition
3.0
Well, that certainly was a wrap-up. It felt a bit draining at some point, to be honest, but the same can be said for rereading The Dark Volume and I felt very accomplished when it was all over.
I cannot say a lot about the style, I feel like it did not change much throughout the books, nor did it entice me. And I have to confess the amount of side characters was rather overwhelming, I could not keep track, nor could I remember the roles of the men that resurfaced from the other books.
That being said, there were too many men in these books. Do away with the men, I say. Just keep Chang. Chang is the only one I actually wanted t read about in these books. Also it could not have hurt to put more effort into Miss Temple's sexual liberation, like, I get that it's hard to shake good old Victorian indoctrinations about ~purity~ but her acceptance happened rather sudden towards the end and I would have liked a more gradual approach. Especially because she was from the colonies and it has been mentioned that she used to masturbate even before she ever had contact to a glass book so its not like she had been your typical British Rose anyway. That being said, I fully approve of the orgasms she had in this book. She deserved them.
I cannot say a lot about the style, I feel like it did not change much throughout the books, nor did it entice me. And I have to confess the amount of side characters was rather overwhelming, I could not keep track, nor could I remember the roles of the men that resurfaced from the other books.
That being said, there were too many men in these books. Do away with the men, I say. Just keep Chang. Chang is the only one I actually wanted t read about in these books. Also it could not have hurt to put more effort into Miss Temple's sexual liberation, like, I get that it's hard to shake good old Victorian indoctrinations about ~purity~ but her acceptance happened rather sudden towards the end and I would have liked a more gradual approach. Especially because she was from the colonies and it has been mentioned that she used to masturbate even before she ever had contact to a glass book so its not like she had been your typical British Rose anyway. That being said, I fully approve of the orgasms she had in this book. She deserved them.
laviskrg's review against another edition
4.0
So I finally finished this trilogy. Although, after the previous book ("The Dark Volume") I had some qualms about jumping into "The Chemickal Marriage" right away, I did want to finish this story and move on with my life. In the end, I was not disappointed. It was a fun ride, action-packed and mostly exciting, but it failed to permanently engrave stupendous loving memories within my soul. I have no regrets reading the trilogy, but I did not feel the exquisite need of picking the first one up immediately after I finished the third (like I constantly feel when it comes to the Song of Ice and Fire series or the Fever series). Still, 4/5 for the entire trilogy for the effort it must have taken to sustain such complex writing, for the research that has obviously been done and for three awesome characters.
I will keep this one short. Most of the things that I found to suck and annoy in "The Dark Volume" were brought down to a minimum in this final installment. There was more interaction between the three main leads, not much development (although yay for Doctor Svenson who really gets to shine in this one, especially at the end), and the action scenes were far more cinematic and easy to understand and like. This could indeed be made into a movie, but I would prefer if it became a TV show instead. The sexy Cardinal Chang remains my favourite of the three, and one of the best anti-heroes I have recently read, and I would have given this book 5 stars only on his account had I not been once again (sadly) bombarded by too many minions, irrelevant secondary characters and the false hope of a tough, hardcore twist at the end in the form of Drusus Shoepfil (who turned from prospective awesome villain to one of the weakest and most pathetic creatures I have ever encountered on a page; this character would have fit in just fight had there not been another ten or so like him in the story already).
As I mentioned before, I liked the three main leads and this third book did them justice, but I would have preferred an actual graphic romantic scene before the end. Call it fan service, call it whatever you like, but I need more skin and less suggestion in books classified as "Adult". The superb villain which is the Contessa did not disappoint, of course, but then again, she was probably the best part of this entire trilogy.
There were more puzzles in this book, which is always a plus if you are into good mysteries. The scene at the end is a bit far-fetched and you kind of expect some of the twists (I foresaw all of them, so yeah), but this does not spoil the intensity of the action and the quality of the usage of the characters.
Probably what really takes away from the re-readability of this series is the convoluted writing and the fact that there are too many villains running around in disarray. Barely escaping is nice to read, but it gets kind of old after the tenth or so time. Still, I do recommend giving it a shot. The first book is the best by far and it could be read, in my opinion, as a stand-alone. The second book I personally did not like. The third is much better, not as perfect as the first, but it wraps things up quite well. I am curious what they will do with the movie adaptation.
I will keep this one short. Most of the things that I found to suck and annoy in "The Dark Volume" were brought down to a minimum in this final installment. There was more interaction between the three main leads, not much development (although yay for Doctor Svenson who really gets to shine in this one, especially at the end), and the action scenes were far more cinematic and easy to understand and like. This could indeed be made into a movie, but I would prefer if it became a TV show instead. The sexy Cardinal Chang remains my favourite of the three, and one of the best anti-heroes I have recently read, and I would have given this book 5 stars only on his account had I not been once again (sadly) bombarded by too many minions, irrelevant secondary characters and the false hope of a tough, hardcore twist at the end in the form of Drusus Shoepfil (who turned from prospective awesome villain to one of the weakest and most pathetic creatures I have ever encountered on a page; this character would have fit in just fight had there not been another ten or so like him in the story already).
As I mentioned before, I liked the three main leads and this third book did them justice, but I would have preferred an actual graphic romantic scene before the end. Call it fan service, call it whatever you like, but I need more skin and less suggestion in books classified as "Adult". The superb villain which is the Contessa did not disappoint, of course, but then again, she was probably the best part of this entire trilogy.
There were more puzzles in this book, which is always a plus if you are into good mysteries. The scene at the end is a bit far-fetched and you kind of expect some of the twists (I foresaw all of them, so yeah), but this does not spoil the intensity of the action and the quality of the usage of the characters.
Probably what really takes away from the re-readability of this series is the convoluted writing and the fact that there are too many villains running around in disarray. Barely escaping is nice to read, but it gets kind of old after the tenth or so time. Still, I do recommend giving it a shot. The first book is the best by far and it could be read, in my opinion, as a stand-alone. The second book I personally did not like. The third is much better, not as perfect as the first, but it wraps things up quite well. I am curious what they will do with the movie adaptation.
ingypingy2000's review against another edition
4.0
I loved it! I loved it! I loved it! I thought this last installment of the trilogy was written much more like the first which I very much appreciated and had just enough twists and turns that I audibly gasped and cheered several times (gaining me several looks from people nearby). If you liked the first book, but started to lose interest with the second, have no fear because this book redeems itself. The action, intrigue, honor, and hints of a love story make this trilogy a wonderful read and this book a wonderful capstone down to the last page!
anatomydetective's review against another edition
5.0
Whenever I read a trilogy, I refuse to give my opinion on it fully until I've completed all of the books. I can say now that I thoroughly enjoyed Dahlquist's trilogy and that I'm excited that he's left room for further adventures of these characters.
victoriabh's review against another edition
3.0
Not as good as the first book in the series, but still fun to read