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4.14 AVERAGE
4.14 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
Okay the pacing picked up like crazy in the last book of this series.
The tell-dont-show inner monologue writing style still isn't my favorite but I grew invested in this story and needed to see it through.
The info dumps were still a lot and I had no idea what was going on half the time, I was just along for the ride. But, the magic system and world building are so complex and unique and I loved that.
I also thought the underlying themes of humanity and our choices and their effects on the world was so beautifully tied into the story. It wasn't super in-your-face and there were so many great parts of this series that made me stop and think.
The twists were fun and shocking, but the ending felt a little rushed, and I did miss the academia vibes we had in the first 2 books.
The tell-dont-show inner monologue writing style still isn't my favorite but I grew invested in this story and needed to see it through.
The info dumps were still a lot and I had no idea what was going on half the time, I was just along for the ride. But, the magic system and world building are so complex and unique and I loved that.
I also thought the underlying themes of humanity and our choices and their effects on the world was so beautifully tied into the story. It wasn't super in-your-face and there were so many great parts of this series that made me stop and think.
The twists were fun and shocking, but the ending felt a little rushed, and I did miss the academia vibes we had in the first 2 books.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Great end to the series. I typically can’t finish book with this narrative style, but these were so well written and narrated that I enjoyed it! The last book in the series had me emotional at parts, that’s how well Novik did with these characters and El’s perspective of them. Great ending, good series!
I really enjoyed this book. For me, it retroactively made the first two books of the series better by bringing everything together thematically. I was lukewarm-to-disappointed by the first two books (Novik’s other books, Uprooted and Spinning Silver are two of my favorites), but this book makes it clear what she was doing with the whole trilogy and it’s lovely.
I was trying to decide whether I thought I would’ve liked it better if the trilogy had been condensed into one or two books, to get to this payoff sooner, and I think the groundwork laid in the first two books really is necessary to get here. I don’t think this book would’ve been as effective without all the time we spent toiling in the drudgery of the Scholomance.
So, I’m not sure I’m going to be recommending this trilogy to people, because it takes so long to get to the payoff, but I’m very glad I read it.
I was trying to decide whether I thought I would’ve liked it better if the trilogy had been condensed into one or two books, to get to this payoff sooner, and I think the groundwork laid in the first two books really is necessary to get here. I don’t think this book would’ve been as effective without all the time we spent toiling in the drudgery of the Scholomance.
So, I’m not sure I’m going to be recommending this trilogy to people, because it takes so long to get to the payoff, but I’m very glad I read it.
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Loved this return to the scholomance and the drama of the enclaves. It's fast-paced, trippy, moralistic, and gruesome. I think there might be a commentary about the real world and power structures, how the world responds (or doesn't) to our intentions, consumerism, more, but if you don't think about it you can go about your life like a total enclaver and just be entertained.
They never thought they’d make it out, no one ever talks about actually doing it, so when Orion risks his life to save El and a bunch of their classmates, they have really made it out of the Scholomance. But just before they can celebrate, someone else has taken over the destruction, this time destroying enclaves across the world, which could start a war. In order to put a stop to it, El must return to the place she’s been spending years trying to escape, the Scholomance. This novel was probably the most fast-paced out of the whole trilogy. It was still very wordy, and goodness did El have quite a few monologues, but this still moved quickly. Now that we’re outside the school, this final book had a different feel to it; not necessarily bad, but it wasn’t the same familiar feeling we got from the first two books. It came off as more emotional. This started off right where the last book ended which was great because it felt like we didn’t miss a beat. We got to meet El’s mum, which this reader was really excited about; it felt a little lacklustre at first, but as we made our way through the novel and we saw her more, we started to see her character better. At first it felt kinda lame why she was warding El off of Orion, but when we got to learn more about Orion and his family, their background, where he came from, it made more sense and the reader appreciated the layers that went into her warning, she was a mother protecting her daughter the best she could. Learning about Orion was a lot of fun, if not a little confusing at times, but still fun nonetheless. We haven’t really gotten much from him, so it was nice to put understanding behind everything we’d learned. The characters were good, since we got lots more on them in this novel, and we got a bunch of new ones that helped us understand the plot more, especially Orion’s mother, but the reader didn’t really understand the relationships. Was El and Orion supposed to be a couple? They acted like it, but at the same time El also didn’t act like it. It was just very confusing and we don’t get what the author was trying to get across with that. This novel definitely tied up loose ends really well, but the way this ended felt very abrupt. After everything that had happened, and it felt like a lot, it just ended. It didn’t feel like the end of a trilogy, it felt like there was either more to come or the author got lazy and didn’t know how to conclude the world she created. In the end, this was a very interesting trilogy with a cool concept that the reader enjoyed going along the ride for.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
6/6
THE ENDING WAS CHEESE AND THEY REALLY PING PONG ALL OVER THE WORLD WHICH IS MAYBE A BIT RUSHED BUT IDC I GOT EVERYTHING I WANTED AND MORE OUT OF BOOK 3.
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes