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hope97's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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? Yes
3.5
christineponkey's review against another edition
4.0
omggggggggg. the ending. was. so... OMG. wished they got married. like OH. EM. GEE. YOU'VE JUST GOT TO READ IT PEEPS.
I loved the way the novel ended; it was very well organised and there was suspense left after every chapter; every page; every paragraph. The clues were all building up but what shocked me was the twist that occurred towards the ending. Roze Featherstone? Really? Or should I say... Jal Daviian?
The thing was... I just couldn't stopped reading. I continued reading on the bus, in the middle of class and late into the night, the suspense was eating at me.
After all the wariness that Yalena had throughout the story, I, myself was also wary of Cahil's change of heart; how did we know we could trust him?
I continually screamed through my thoughts at Yalena for all the mistakes she made. Things like: 'Yalena! Hello~! Valek is like right behind you!' or 'OMG Yalena! Don't trust that bastard. He's a son of a bitch!' or 'OH. EM. GEE. Yalena, girl, don't walk into his trap! Isn't it obvious.. (agitated) YALENA. STOP. NO. JUST NO. OH GREAT.'
When the novel ended I felt miserable. I wanted to know more. More! Even though there's the Glass Trilogy, it's about Opal, and really, I never liked her... she's well... in my opinion, a bit on an attention seeker. Reading the Glass Trilogy before the Study Trilogy was a mistake that I paid. I loved Yalena's story. Loved! Loved! Loved! I just can't seem to find the novellas of this book such as Assassin Study, Ice Study and Power Study. -screaming-
AHH!
I loved the way the novel ended; it was very well organised and there was suspense left after every chapter; every page; every paragraph. The clues were all building up but what shocked me was the twist that occurred towards the ending. Roze Featherstone? Really? Or should I say... Jal Daviian?
The thing was... I just couldn't stopped reading. I continued reading on the bus, in the middle of class and late into the night, the suspense was eating at me.
After all the wariness that Yalena had throughout the story, I, myself was also wary of Cahil's change of heart; how did we know we could trust him?
I continually screamed through my thoughts at Yalena for all the mistakes she made. Things like: 'Yalena! Hello~! Valek is like right behind you!' or 'OMG Yalena! Don't trust that bastard. He's a son of a bitch!' or 'OH. EM. GEE. Yalena, girl, don't walk into his trap! Isn't it obvious.. (agitated) YALENA. STOP. NO. JUST NO. OH GREAT.'
When the novel ended I felt miserable. I wanted to know more. More! Even though there's the Glass Trilogy, it's about Opal, and really, I never liked her... she's well... in my opinion, a bit on an attention seeker. Reading the Glass Trilogy before the Study Trilogy was a mistake that I paid. I loved Yalena's story. Loved! Loved! Loved! I just can't seem to find the novellas of this book such as Assassin Study, Ice Study and Power Study. -screaming-
AHH!
homefornina's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-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? Yes
2.0
I initially reviewed this above 3 stars thinking it was not the final book of a trilogy but a smaller part of a larger series. Knowing now what I do the ending is largely unfulfilling. As is the plot of the novel on a whole. I'm sure this is to leave room to explore the world, but to just leave it empty and incomplete (as a trilogy) seems a bit silly?
svillanu's review against another edition
3.0
I like the characters and the plot was interesting, but it took me so long to finish.
brendalovesbooks's review against another edition
4.0
I didn't like this as well as the rest of the series, but it was still a good book. One thing that soured it for me a little was all the recapping, throughout the whole book. I guess that might be a good thing if I had read the previous books a long time ago, but since I had just finished them, it got to be a little annoying. I don't need every little detail repeated about every person and thing, I already know.
freadomlibrary's review against another edition
5.0
I just love this series so much. My heart feels so full.
This review was originally posted at https://freadomlibrary.wordpress.com/
Critically
Plot – 5 out of 5 stars
I loved how Maria does plot. It’s always extremely fast and full of action packed adventures and magic. It’s full of tension and overloaded with dangerous situations that keep you on your toes. There’s suspense and intrigue and it makes you want to completely devour the pages to find out what is really going on and how everything will turn out.
Writing Style – 4 out of 5 stars
I am a huge fan of her writing style because I feel like it lends really well to the type of plot that she creates. It’s very straight forward yet simple. There’s a lot of explanations and descriptions but they don’t overwhelm you in a way that makes it feel like an info dump. It feels a lot like the main character is speaking out her situation so it’s dry and sarcastic and has a great displacement when it comes to all the different elements. Totally addicting and I want more.
Characters – 5 out of 5 stars
Hands down, one of my favorite parts of this entire trilogy are the characters. Yelena is my absolute favorite female character of all time. She’s opinionated and kind and smart (most of the time) and totally kick ass. But at the same time, she’s stubborn and wayy too independent so that sometimes it gets in her way instead of helps her. She’s very powerful but she was a little on the annoying side in this installment because she was just so fixated on doing everything on her own when it was completely unnecessary. Having said that, I loved her character development, not only in this book but the entire trilogy and I adore her with all my heart. All of the amazing, complex and intriguing supporting characters that appeared in the series are in this book and it made me so happy to meet old friends. It was also great to get to know some of them a little bit better, specially Opal who is the protagonist to the Glass trilogy which is a companion to these books. It was really bittersweet to get to the end of this particular journey with them but I can’t wait until I can read the Soulfinder trilogy and see more of Yelena.
Emotionally
The plot is intense. The villain who was captured at the end of the last book escaped and is getting help to cause havoc all over Sitita. Yelena is doing everything in her power to stop but everyone is wary of her thanks to the reveal of her real power and what it does. There is so much going on in this book which I’ve become accustomed to with this series. There are always a million different threads in the plot and you’re with the characters in the race to figure out what the hell is going on but it just makes it that much more exciting. There’s a new group of magicians who’ve gone to the dark side and are doing blood rituals to become more powerful. The Council is working to determine Yelena’s fate: is her magic too powerful to be accepted or can she be an asset to Sitia? And with all of those things, Yelena is still trying to figure out what she can and can’t do with her magic, how to control and how to make sure she doesn’t harm anyone by accident. And that’s not all there is either! There’s a lot of action and traveling through Sitia and it’s a great way to see more of the world and how all the clans are. Because there are so many different facets to the entire plot, it can get a bit confusing but if you’ve read the first books, it’s easy to get back into the same rhythm again. There’s a lot of suspense and so many twists and turns that keep you on your toes and begging for more. SO GOOD.
Yelena annoyed me a bit in this installment. I’m used to her being incredibly independent and stubborn but not to the point where it ends up harming her and what she is trying to do to help people. But in this book that is exactly what happened. She was so stubborn that she got in her own way and wouldn’t let other people help her, even the ones she trusts more than anything. It made things so much more complicated when they already were that way and it’s frustrating to witness and not be able to shake her to get her out of it. Considering how powerful she really is, there were some things that escaped her notice and I expected her to be quicker on her feet and more cunning like she had been in the previous books. But considering all she’s been through in the short amount of time the books talk about, it makes a lot of sense. Still this amazing woman manages to save the day with the greatest and coolest idea in the world and it was really interesting to see how everything was resolved in the end.
I absolutely loved seeing a lot of the old characters come back around for this installment. Kiki is the best animal I have ever read about in a book, I adore her. Leif is quite hilarious and I liked that we got to know him little by little as him and Yelena built their sibling relationship. Valek is… well Valek. You have to love him, there’s no other possibility. Aro and Janco are some of the best side kicks/not really side kicks in a book and their relationships in really funny and entertaining. Opal is still kind of an enigma but I am interested in getting to know her powers and personality more. Something I always have to mention for this series is that romance is present, but it’s not an in your face all the time kind of thing. It’s quiet, deep and powerful and honest and while the development is a lot slower due to them being separated most of the time, Valek and Yelena are my ultimate OTP.
This review was originally posted at https://freadomlibrary.wordpress.com/
Critically
Plot – 5 out of 5 stars
I loved how Maria does plot. It’s always extremely fast and full of action packed adventures and magic. It’s full of tension and overloaded with dangerous situations that keep you on your toes. There’s suspense and intrigue and it makes you want to completely devour the pages to find out what is really going on and how everything will turn out.
Writing Style – 4 out of 5 stars
I am a huge fan of her writing style because I feel like it lends really well to the type of plot that she creates. It’s very straight forward yet simple. There’s a lot of explanations and descriptions but they don’t overwhelm you in a way that makes it feel like an info dump. It feels a lot like the main character is speaking out her situation so it’s dry and sarcastic and has a great displacement when it comes to all the different elements. Totally addicting and I want more.
Characters – 5 out of 5 stars
Hands down, one of my favorite parts of this entire trilogy are the characters. Yelena is my absolute favorite female character of all time. She’s opinionated and kind and smart (most of the time) and totally kick ass. But at the same time, she’s stubborn and wayy too independent so that sometimes it gets in her way instead of helps her. She’s very powerful but she was a little on the annoying side in this installment because she was just so fixated on doing everything on her own when it was completely unnecessary. Having said that, I loved her character development, not only in this book but the entire trilogy and I adore her with all my heart. All of the amazing, complex and intriguing supporting characters that appeared in the series are in this book and it made me so happy to meet old friends. It was also great to get to know some of them a little bit better, specially Opal who is the protagonist to the Glass trilogy which is a companion to these books. It was really bittersweet to get to the end of this particular journey with them but I can’t wait until I can read the Soulfinder trilogy and see more of Yelena.
Emotionally
Spoiler
This was one of the most exciting finales I have ever read and I’m already feeling so nostalgic over this trilogy.The plot is intense. The villain who was captured at the end of the last book escaped and is getting help to cause havoc all over Sitita. Yelena is doing everything in her power to stop but everyone is wary of her thanks to the reveal of her real power and what it does. There is so much going on in this book which I’ve become accustomed to with this series. There are always a million different threads in the plot and you’re with the characters in the race to figure out what the hell is going on but it just makes it that much more exciting. There’s a new group of magicians who’ve gone to the dark side and are doing blood rituals to become more powerful. The Council is working to determine Yelena’s fate: is her magic too powerful to be accepted or can she be an asset to Sitia? And with all of those things, Yelena is still trying to figure out what she can and can’t do with her magic, how to control and how to make sure she doesn’t harm anyone by accident. And that’s not all there is either! There’s a lot of action and traveling through Sitia and it’s a great way to see more of the world and how all the clans are. Because there are so many different facets to the entire plot, it can get a bit confusing but if you’ve read the first books, it’s easy to get back into the same rhythm again. There’s a lot of suspense and so many twists and turns that keep you on your toes and begging for more. SO GOOD.
Yelena annoyed me a bit in this installment. I’m used to her being incredibly independent and stubborn but not to the point where it ends up harming her and what she is trying to do to help people. But in this book that is exactly what happened. She was so stubborn that she got in her own way and wouldn’t let other people help her, even the ones she trusts more than anything. It made things so much more complicated when they already were that way and it’s frustrating to witness and not be able to shake her to get her out of it. Considering how powerful she really is, there were some things that escaped her notice and I expected her to be quicker on her feet and more cunning like she had been in the previous books. But considering all she’s been through in the short amount of time the books talk about, it makes a lot of sense. Still this amazing woman manages to save the day with the greatest and coolest idea in the world and it was really interesting to see how everything was resolved in the end.
I absolutely loved seeing a lot of the old characters come back around for this installment. Kiki is the best animal I have ever read about in a book, I adore her. Leif is quite hilarious and I liked that we got to know him little by little as him and Yelena built their sibling relationship. Valek is… well Valek. You have to love him, there’s no other possibility. Aro and Janco are some of the best side kicks/not really side kicks in a book and their relationships in really funny and entertaining. Opal is still kind of an enigma but I am interested in getting to know her powers and personality more. Something I always have to mention for this series is that romance is present, but it’s not an in your face all the time kind of thing. It’s quiet, deep and powerful and honest and while the development is a lot slower due to them being separated most of the time, Valek and Yelena are my ultimate OTP.
subparcupcake's review against another edition
2.0
This was extremely frustrating for me. I liked Poison Study. Magic Study as well, though not as much. I did not like Fire Study.
The plot.. Well, it sucked. The same old thing, over and over and over again. There was so much pointless travelling from one place to another... Everyone and their mom has discovered and has endless caches of curare, so every fight is completely dominated by people being paralyzed or trying not to be paralyzed or paralyzing other people. It usually goes something like this... Travel to one location, ambush involving lots and lots of curare, someone is captured, someone escapes or is rescued, rinse and repeat for 400 pages. Seriously. I'm not even kidding.
The characters are annoying and inconsistent. The whole thing was predictable. It was just not enjoyable at all for me. I had to force myself to finish it, just so I could be done already. Not recommended.
The plot.. Well, it sucked. The same old thing, over and over and over again. There was so much pointless travelling from one place to another... Everyone and their mom has discovered and has endless caches of curare, so every fight is completely dominated by people being paralyzed or trying not to be paralyzed or paralyzing other people. It usually goes something like this... Travel to one location, ambush involving lots and lots of curare, someone is captured, someone escapes or is rescued, rinse and repeat for 400 pages. Seriously. I'm not even kidding.
The characters are annoying and inconsistent. The whole thing was predictable. It was just not enjoyable at all for me. I had to force myself to finish it, just so I could be done already. Not recommended.