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aceinit's review against another edition
3.0
After building solid momentum for four novels, the ending felt so rushed and underwhelming. So many big events take place off the page, or rush by too quickly.
dowryofbooks's review against another edition
2.0
2/5 stars .... y'all.
I love and adore this series and these characters with all of my heart. The first three books all being 5 star reads for me, the conclusion was a little disappointing. The other books were intense, full of this captivating mystery of 'the eye' and 'the king of crows' and the stakes were high. I feel like this book lacked in all of that. I think the other books were leading to this epic conclusion, but once I arrived at the ending it all got wrapped up super fast and easy.
Another thing- I genuinely love this whole cast of characters and I don't mind hanging out with them, but this is almost a 600 page book and there were a lot of moments where nothing was happening to progress the plot, only slowing the pace. Honestly a hundred or two pages could have been cut. I did enjoy the last half of the book once the pace picked up some, it all just wrapped up a little to easily and neatly for me.
To change the tone of this negative review, one of my favorite things about this series (and historical fantasy in general) is when the author can blend historical fact in with the fiction seamlessly. Libba Bray did a fantastic job with that. You can tell how well researched each of the books in this series are. And I appreciate the historical facts/events she incorporated into the story are great discussion/learning topics and are still relevant to this day.
My other favorite thing about this series is the flawed and diverse cast of characters. Even Evie the beautiful, blonde stereotypical it-girl is selfish, vain, and unlikeable and I love her for it. I love that all the other characters are just as much the protagonist as Evie, because they all have interesting stories.Not to play favorites, buuuut Theta and Memphis are the cats pajamas.
I'd still consider this series as one of my favorites though and highly recommend to anyone who thinks the premise sounds interesting.
SPOILERY SECTION!
There's two spoilery things I wanna talk about here:
1. I'm disappointed Theta's backstory was left open ended and we never really found out where she came from and the story never went deeper than Eevie's vision of the village on fire and Theta's dad saving her.
2. Libba Bray did Jericho SO DIRTY. The whole scene where he attacked her was only a service to get Jericho out of the way so Evie could be with Sam. And then giving him a surface level insta-love romance before killing him off. Really ?????? Why ??????
I love and adore this series and these characters with all of my heart. The first three books all being 5 star reads for me, the conclusion was a little disappointing. The other books were intense, full of this captivating mystery of 'the eye' and 'the king of crows' and the stakes were high. I feel like this book lacked in all of that. I think the other books were leading to this epic conclusion, but once I arrived at the ending it all got wrapped up super fast and easy.
Another thing- I genuinely love this whole cast of characters and I don't mind hanging out with them, but this is almost a 600 page book and there were a lot of moments where nothing was happening to progress the plot, only slowing the pace. Honestly a hundred or two pages could have been cut. I did enjoy the last half of the book once the pace picked up some, it all just wrapped up a little to easily and neatly for me.
To change the tone of this negative review, one of my favorite things about this series (and historical fantasy in general) is when the author can blend historical fact in with the fiction seamlessly. Libba Bray did a fantastic job with that. You can tell how well researched each of the books in this series are. And I appreciate the historical facts/events she incorporated into the story are great discussion/learning topics and are still relevant to this day.
My other favorite thing about this series is the flawed and diverse cast of characters. Even Evie the beautiful, blonde stereotypical it-girl is selfish, vain, and unlikeable and I love her for it. I love that all the other characters are just as much the protagonist as Evie, because they all have interesting stories.
I'd still consider this series as one of my favorites though and highly recommend to anyone who thinks the premise sounds interesting.
SPOILERY SECTION!
There's two spoilery things I wanna talk about here:
1. I'm disappointed Theta's backstory was left open ended and we never really found out where she came from and the story never went deeper than Eevie's vision of the village on fire and Theta's dad saving her.
2. Libba Bray did Jericho SO DIRTY. The whole scene where he attacked her was only a service to get Jericho out of the way so Evie could be with Sam. And then giving him a surface level insta-love romance before killing him off. Really ?????? Why ??????
bluejaybooks's review against another edition
Prereading: Got to admit that it's been so long since the last book came out that I basically forgot this existed. But now that I remember this series, I can't wait!
Postreading: Great ending to the series! I've got to warn anyone planing to pick it up that the characters can be a bit hard to warm up to at first, but once I did, this was quite a fun series. I love the 1920s ambiance, the unsettling undertones, and inclusion of characters of different backgrounds often not seen in historical fiction.
Postreading: Great ending to the series! I've got to warn anyone planing to pick it up that the characters can be a bit hard to warm up to at first, but once I did, this was quite a fun series. I love the 1920s ambiance, the unsettling undertones, and inclusion of characters of different backgrounds often not seen in historical fiction.
samanthakarma's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
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? Yes
4.5
ciarafarris's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars! Honestly a super great ending to a pretty fabulous series. This conclusion totally makes up for any complaints I had about book 3 haha. Kinda crushed me at some parts though, ouch.
pmoreside's review against another edition
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? No
4.0
dogmom198611's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
joana_stormblessed's review against another edition
5.0
The grand finale...
I won't say much because I do not want to spoil the rest of the books, but this was really good. I had a few issues with the pacing, but the characters, the plot and the atmosphere more than made up for it.
I won't say much because I do not want to spoil the rest of the books, but this was really good. I had a few issues with the pacing, but the characters, the plot and the atmosphere more than made up for it.