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tparm1's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
katja98's review against another edition
5.0
What an exciting ride this whole series is. I was so invested. It broke my heart but also healed it at the same time. Danielle's characters are so raw and everything makes sense. Every twist, every struggle, every moral twist. It all makes sense. It's not very spicy but I really don't mind that she rather took the space to paint to let them connect on a deeper level. Which made the redemption way more exciting.
dayamarie's review against another edition
4.0
Ohhhhh! I thought this was the last book. I was quite surprised when it just ended. It took me about 30% of the way in to get into the book, but then it really held my attention. I’m glad I got used to 4 different POV’s.
otaryseal's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
tense
slow-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? It's complicated
4.25
beth_reading33's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
ametakinetos's review against another edition
3.0
Yes. And no.
Dark Shores was a great ride and Dark Skies even better. I was apprehensive coming into Gilded Serpent with its higher POV count and a now concurrent storyline, and overall I think Jensen accomplished this task well. It is no small feat to maintain four distinct voices especially as they experience the same events.
But for those voices to remain original in their own right is another matter. Lydia makes the greatest strides as a character (villain arc! villain arc! I'm BEGGING), whereas Killian seems to just retrace the same mental steps over and over. The worst offenders of this are Teriana and Marcus. They end the book in physically and mentally the exact same place they started and seem to have learned nothing through their adventures together.
Plotwise, little is accomplished. The tension is ever-present and the action is breakneck, yet the only revelation of note are the xenthier stems and perhaps Lydia's heritage. Serrick devolving into the corrupted or Rufina's reveal as Cyntha didn't move the needle for me. Evil characters already established as evil, just taking a different form, is not all that revolutionary.
All in all, the worldbuilding is extraordinary, it's an easy read, but I feel that this third installment is merely dragging out the series to keep it from being a trilogy. It didn't have enough to make the length feel warranted. Still, I look forward to Scorched Earth which should, by definition of being the last book, escape the doldrums of plot bloating that Gilded Serpents found itself caught in.
Dark Shores was a great ride and Dark Skies even better. I was apprehensive coming into Gilded Serpent with its higher POV count and a now concurrent storyline, and overall I think Jensen accomplished this task well. It is no small feat to maintain four distinct voices especially as they experience the same events.
But for those voices to remain original in their own right is another matter. Lydia makes the greatest strides as a character (villain arc! villain arc! I'm BEGGING), whereas Killian seems to just retrace the same mental steps over and over. The worst offenders of this are Teriana and Marcus. They end the book in physically and mentally the exact same place they started and seem to have learned nothing through their adventures together.
Plotwise, little is accomplished. The tension is ever-present and the action is breakneck, yet the only revelation of note are the xenthier stems and perhaps Lydia's heritage. Serrick devolving into the corrupted or Rufina's reveal as Cyntha didn't move the needle for me. Evil characters already established as evil, just taking a different form, is not all that revolutionary.
All in all, the worldbuilding is extraordinary, it's an easy read, but I feel that this third installment is merely dragging out the series to keep it from being a trilogy. It didn't have enough to make the length feel warranted. Still, I look forward to Scorched Earth which should, by definition of being the last book, escape the doldrums of plot bloating that Gilded Serpents found itself caught in.
tweezy1121's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
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? It's complicated
4.0