Reviews - The Legendary Scarlett and Browne

81 reviews for:

The Legendary Scarlett and Browne

Jonathan Stroud

4.33 AVERAGE

zhogg's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous dark emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

carrieoleary's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous funny lighthearted 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: Complicated

What an explosive conclusion to this wonderful series. I have really enjoyed Scarlett and Albert’s romp through this dystopian world and am sad to leave them behind. Watching the characters evolve has been interesting and I love the diversity. I’m glad I finally managed to read the series and that I binged the whole lot over the period of about a week. I listened to the audio version of the series and it has been beautifully narrated throughout. All in all a humorous, fast-paced YA series.

keepurheadinthebooks's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring reflective 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

Amazing

bbanditt's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Jonathan Stroud has been my favorite author for nearly 20 years now and he just keeps getting better. This whole trilogy is fantastic- so creative, so engaging, and with the sense of humor signature to all of Stroud’s work. Brilliant.

got_sass's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous emotional funny tense fast-paced

Excellent like all J Stroud's series', but I had a lot of unanswered questions and the finish to the plot felt a bit rushed and more open ended than I expected.

Consistent with the rest of the series, I struggle a little to visualise some of the specifics of the world. I had hoped it would be clarified for me in the final book, but it wasn’t.

Still a great trilogy that I’ll return to for rereads, but I don’t love it as much as I love Lockwood & Co or the Bartimaeus trilogy (2 of my all time faves).

mo_racca's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous emotional fast-paced

Loveable characters: Yes

naphthalene's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

luciandenvers's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous challenging funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

diana_dea's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Aaaaaah I might have become a little bit teary eyed at that ending...

SPOILERS AHEAD

I think this is actually my favourite book in the series. It takes place two years after the end of book 2, and I love how you can immediately tell that time has passed just by the subtleties of characterisation. Following the events of the last book and their subsequent time together, Albert has grown more confident and learned to control his powers, while Scarlett has become more open emotionally and less scared to let people in and confide in them. The intimate, unspoken trust between her and Albert is obvious and feels a rewarding end of their journey of growing together. Scarlett's openness to Albert, her undisguised affection, as well as her bonds with the rest of their group, a found family in many ways, are truly touching.

The book moves quickly as Scarlett's search for her brother and Albert's quest for his own origins intertwine and mysteries start to unravel. The book is nicely paced, with action-packed scenes but still many moments for the characters to shine. Stroud also doesn't shy away from showing us the severity of the stakes the characters face and exhibiting the darkness of this dystopian world they traverse. The hints of mystery from the previous books tied together nicely, revealing the true plans of the power-hungry Faith Houses.

I found Mallory an intriguing addition to the cast of characters and a nice, pleasantly unexpected follow-up from Albert's conversation with him at the end of book 2. His journey reminds me somewhat of Lockwood & Co.'s Quill Kipps as he has to face that those he devoted his efforts to only care for him as long as he is useful and has to grapple with his sudden powerless-ness. I wouldn't have minded some more exploration of his character and his journey, but considering the book was more focused on Scarlett and Albert, his story tied up nicely.

Perhaps my only gripe with the book is that I love this world building so much and I would have loved to find out more about it - about what exactly happened surrounding the Cataclysm etc. I was expecting more answers and I wouldn't have minded for the book to be a bit longer and dive into that more. On the other hand, I understand the focus on the now rather than the before, rooting the story in the present moment and focusing on the consequences of the Cataclysm rather than the event itself - a choice that is very much represented by Albert's (hesistant) choice to bury the Ancients' library under the rubble rather preserving it. It also presented a nice exploration of the potential of technological knowledge to make the world better versus its possible use for evil, which tied in well with the post-apocalyptic world.

Overall, I really loved this book, it made my heart wrench and pound, and it was a successful end to the series. I will miss these characters...

Content Warnings

sentynel's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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