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4.21 AVERAGE
4.21 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
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
Great fantasy trilogy.
I really wish that I had read the books in this series back to back because there were so many details that I feel like would have meant a lot more if I could remember exactly what had happened in the previous two books. I will say, what was memorable from book to book, even taking time between reading them, was the characters!! The characters in these books all have pretty incredible arcs, and it was really cool to see how each of them turned out. I do think there was a little bit of convenient plotting toward the end, but I still really enjoyed it, and I love a happy (for the most part) ending.
adventurous
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
J'ai adoré le premier livre de la trilogie, et aimé le deuxième. La trilogie m'a moins captivée. J'aime autant les différents points de vue, mais trop se passait en même temps. Les péripéties s'étiraient sur trop long par moment, et je ne ressentais plus vraiment de nervosité pour nos personnages principaux puisque je sentais dans l'écriture qu'elle n'allait pas vraiment en tuer un.
This book was terribly, TERRIBLY, boring. I get what it was trying to say: about the importance of free will; the difference between faith and dogma; and the two-sided coin which is love, how people will do both great and terrible things in the name of love. But I never felt like the book was delivering its messages /well/. Sometimes it was too heavy-handed, other times too abstract, it was messy. And a book has to be balanced between its messages and its STORY. This /story/ was blah :/. The characters travel aimlessly, endlessly, aware that they have no plan and no powers, and in the last 20 pages are handed the answer a la Dorothy had the ruby slippers all along!
It would be one thing if the heroes were hitting rock bottom before the finale, a hopeless /moment/ before rallying to save the day. But when I look back on the trilogy as a whole, I see how ineffectual our merry band was.
Book 1 - Was at least interesting, getting all the principle players in the same space at the same time, and introducing all their personal conflicts and key abilities... They were flawed in a fun way!
Book 2 - Threw all of that out the window to have our heroes hunt down McGuffins which THEY KNEW shouldn't be in the same place at the same time, or else bring about an apocalypse... But they did it anyway... Because book's got to book, I guess. So all the interesting aspects of how these characters behave, clash, or work together, were diminished to exalt the importance of these special shinies.
Book 3 - Throws the shinies out the window, too!! Now, the most special special SPECIALS are dead Prophets, who just give their magic away to our heroes. The protagonists "choices" don't /really/ matter, their friendships are tenuous and forced because, hey, the world is ending right the beep now, so what are they going to do, deny this chance for a magical power-up and die?! And up until the point that they receive said power-up, each "friend" is snipping at the other "How dare you throw your life away to try and save the world!" "How dare YOU put your life on the line when countless others are dying?" So much, "I love you, dangnabbit!" that it was painful, actually unfun to read. The stakes are so disproportional:
- World ending.
- Usurper needs deposing.
- Aaaand "why don't you love me enough to survive The Apocalypse?!"
Really? Why are these three different threads being given equal time and weight? They are not equal conflicts, whatsoever! XD
The griping, the hopelessness, the ineffectuality of our heroes... all to be deus ex machina'ed away at the end, was very dissatisfying. Why introduce characters with diverse abilities, if they're all going to be leveled and equaled in the finale? Why introduce powerful McGuffins not to use them? Why write 500 pages agonizing about choices, when really there are none?
I also gave the first book a lot of respect for being diverse, and being inspired by cultures I don't normally get to see front-and-center in a YA novel. BUT, I lost all of my respect over books 2 and 3, which lost most of the diversity it had set up, and just turned into Christian fanfiction. The name of God has the power to create, destroy, and grant the total knowledge and power /of/ God. The sacred grail - sorry, chalice. The perversion of the flaming sword. The Garden, now being tended by a gay couple instead of Adam and Eve. Where, in the beginning of the series, it seemed like the author was finding inspiration in blending a lot of ancient cultures, giving nods to how multiple religions/cultures have common roots... the series going forward seemed to double-down on being a Christian story for teens. "Hey, it doesn't matter what you were taught; just trust your heart and don't be a selfish d---! Now, who wants a shoutout to their favorite part of the Bible?! Yeeey, Anton gets a Jesus reference! Look at you, alive again after 3 days!" It was more interesting, and more emotionally impactful to me when the series was drawing inspiration from real-world religions and cultures for its world-building (so it was grounding the fantasy in something relatable), than when it was just making shoutouts to Bible passages but adding a twist (making it only relatable to people who have studied the Bible). I mean, thanks for the PSA that one can be both Christian and gay. But I wish that the books had more to say than that, in the end.
It would be one thing if the heroes were hitting rock bottom before the finale, a hopeless /moment/ before rallying to save the day. But when I look back on the trilogy as a whole, I see how ineffectual our merry band was.
Book 1 - Was at least interesting, getting all the principle players in the same space at the same time, and introducing all their personal conflicts and key abilities... They were flawed in a fun way!
Book 2 - Threw all of that out the window to have our heroes hunt down McGuffins which THEY KNEW shouldn't be in the same place at the same time, or else bring about an apocalypse... But they did it anyway... Because book's got to book, I guess. So all the interesting aspects of how these characters behave, clash, or work together, were diminished to exalt the importance of these special shinies.
Book 3 - Throws the shinies out the window, too!! Now, the most special special SPECIALS are dead Prophets, who just give their magic away to our heroes. The protagonists "choices" don't /really/ matter, their friendships are tenuous and forced because, hey, the world is ending right the beep now, so what are they going to do, deny this chance for a magical power-up and die?! And up until the point that they receive said power-up, each "friend" is snipping at the other "How dare you throw your life away to try and save the world!" "How dare YOU put your life on the line when countless others are dying?" So much, "I love you, dangnabbit!" that it was painful, actually unfun to read. The stakes are so disproportional:
- World ending.
- Usurper needs deposing.
- Aaaand "why don't you love me enough to survive The Apocalypse?!"
Really? Why are these three different threads being given equal time and weight? They are not equal conflicts, whatsoever! XD
The griping, the hopelessness, the ineffectuality of our heroes... all to be deus ex machina'ed away at the end, was very dissatisfying. Why introduce characters with diverse abilities, if they're all going to be leveled and equaled in the finale? Why introduce powerful McGuffins not to use them? Why write 500 pages agonizing about choices, when really there are none?
I also gave the first book a lot of respect for being diverse, and being inspired by cultures I don't normally get to see front-and-center in a YA novel. BUT, I lost all of my respect over books 2 and 3, which lost most of the diversity it had set up, and just turned into Christian fanfiction. The name of God has the power to create, destroy, and grant the total knowledge and power /of/ God. The sacred grail - sorry, chalice. The perversion of the flaming sword. The Garden, now being tended by a gay couple instead of Adam and Eve. Where, in the beginning of the series, it seemed like the author was finding inspiration in blending a lot of ancient cultures, giving nods to how multiple religions/cultures have common roots... the series going forward seemed to double-down on being a Christian story for teens. "Hey, it doesn't matter what you were taught; just trust your heart and don't be a selfish d---! Now, who wants a shoutout to their favorite part of the Bible?! Yeeey, Anton gets a Jesus reference! Look at you, alive again after 3 days!" It was more interesting, and more emotionally impactful to me when the series was drawing inspiration from real-world religions and cultures for its world-building (so it was grounding the fantasy in something relatable), than when it was just making shoutouts to Bible passages but adding a twist (making it only relatable to people who have studied the Bible). I mean, thanks for the PSA that one can be both Christian and gay. But I wish that the books had more to say than that, in the end.
I CRAWLED through this book because I simply didn’t want this series to end. I love all these characters so much, I loved the time I spent with them, so I’d have to stop myself from reading too much because I knew this was the last I would see of them.
This series has such a special place in my heart. I am so glad I picked up that ARC four years ago. I miss these kids already.
This series has such a special place in my heart. I am so glad I picked up that ARC four years ago. I miss these kids already.
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a good conclusion to the series. The whole series is very character driven, and it was great to see them all become friends, and spend time together. I do think it could of been faster paced in terms of plot. I think the plot is weaker in this book compared to the previous two, but it does wrap things up well. There were some good twists as well. In the past two book Jude and Anton were my favourite characters. For book three though, I think the rest are all on pretty much equal footing. The character development over the whole series was great.
Spoiler
Hector did not deserve to be killed off at the end, and Beru as well, kind of, after what she went through the whole book.
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4.5 stars
rep: mlm protagonists
wow, that was such a great conclusion?? heart-pounding plot, great endings to all the character arcs, one of the better trilogy finales I've read in quite a while tbh
(I might write a review just for the completed set but also we all know how putting "rtc" goes...)
rep: mlm protagonists
wow, that was such a great conclusion?? heart-pounding plot, great endings to all the character arcs, one of the better trilogy finales I've read in quite a while tbh
(I might write a review just for the completed set but also we all know how putting "rtc" goes...)