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4.32 AVERAGE
4.32 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Unfortunately, this just didn’t hit the way I needed it to. It’s a wonderfully written finale to a fantasy, but I somehow became detached from the characters. Loved book 1 and 2, but 3 and 4 just fell flat for me.
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I need time to process this series but so damn good, I’m emotionally fragile rn but what an excellent series.
👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻 This book is a masterpiece and this series is a masterclass.
I was stressed reading this book, I gasped, I cried, I cheered… Tahir does not care about your heart or your feelings, it makes the series all the better for it. For every emotion this book made me feel, for the journey it took me on, for the amount of times it made me gasp and have to close the book, there is no other fair rating but 5 ⭐️
It’s been a while since a fantasy series has made me as invested and all consumed as this has. Loved it.
I was stressed reading this book, I gasped, I cried, I cheered… Tahir does not care about your heart or your feelings, it makes the series all the better for it. For every emotion this book made me feel, for the journey it took me on, for the amount of times it made me gasp and have to close the book, there is no other fair rating but 5 ⭐️
It’s been a while since a fantasy series has made me as invested and all consumed as this has. Loved it.
adventurous
dark
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
I'm feeling torn between 5 stars and four stars right now, but I think I'm going to have to bring the rating down on this one. It sucks because while "A Sky Beyond the Storm" was good it (and "A Reaper at the Gates") just wasn't as exceptional like the first two books were.
The plot was good in this book. I felt more engaged with the plot than I did in the previous book. I personally did not find it to be overly long and arduous, as that seems to be a common complaint. I was never bored but I was frustrated during certain plot points. For instance, the world building kind of fell off. I think the more fantastical route Sabaa Tahir took was a little confusing and honestly, not really needed. The books were strong without all the fantasy creatures and special powers and what not. I think Tahir should’ve kept it to a minimum, the bare bones really, with this aspect of the book, for the Jinn, Nightbringer, etc. were never properly explained. Same goes for the huge climax at the end of this book; I didn't really get it.
The character arcs in this book, and the unseen in-between from this to the previous book, were overall great. I liked Elias's POV more in this book. His battle with his human emotions and Mauth's magic were interesting and his POV actually contributed something. Laia's POV was possibly my least favorite. Her character was strange: reckless, arrogant, and slightly annoying. I still love her a lot but I couldn’t get with where she was taken in this book. Helene is by far my favorite POV. As I said for my review of "A Reaper at the Gates", I was always dying to get back to her POV. She's an exceptionally written character in my eyes. As for her relationship with Laia... I think it makes perfect sense. Helene never really "hated" Laia (I think that's a strong word to use for how she felt towards Laia) and there was quite a bit of time that passed from the last book to this one, so it's not really surprising that they'd become friends. Not only that but Helene has lost a great amount of people. Is it really crazy to think she could make a new friend?
I liked how this book wrapped up at the end, however, it's not without it's criticism, but overall one of my favorite fantasy series of all time.
The plot was good in this book. I felt more engaged with the plot than I did in the previous book. I personally did not find it to be overly long and arduous, as that seems to be a common complaint. I was never bored but I was frustrated during certain plot points. For instance, the world building kind of fell off. I think the more fantastical route Sabaa Tahir took was a little confusing and honestly, not really needed. The books were strong without all the fantasy creatures and special powers and what not. I think Tahir should’ve kept it to a minimum, the bare bones really, with this aspect of the book, for the Jinn, Nightbringer, etc. were never properly explained. Same goes for the huge climax at the end of this book; I didn't really get it.
The character arcs in this book, and the unseen in-between from this to the previous book, were overall great. I liked Elias's POV more in this book. His battle with his human emotions and Mauth's magic were interesting and his POV actually contributed something. Laia's POV was possibly my least favorite. Her character was strange: reckless, arrogant, and slightly annoying. I still love her a lot but I couldn’t get with where she was taken in this book. Helene is by far my favorite POV. As I said for my review of "A Reaper at the Gates", I was always dying to get back to her POV. She's an exceptionally written character in my eyes. As for her relationship with Laia... I think it makes perfect sense. Helene never really "hated" Laia (I think that's a strong word to use for how she felt towards Laia) and there was quite a bit of time that passed from the last book to this one, so it's not really surprising that they'd become friends. Not only that but Helene has lost a great amount of people. Is it really crazy to think she could make a new friend?
I liked how this book wrapped up at the end, however, it's not without it's criticism, but overall one of my favorite fantasy series of all time.
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
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
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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:
Yes
I was really holding out for an amazing ending to this series, but to be honest the final part fell pretty short. The final battle started really well, and everyone’s individual parts were all woven together really well. It started to go downhill with the giant maelstrom cyclone thing and all of the abstract stuff that goes on. I guess it was kind of hard to imagine the things that happen and something were just sort of explained rather than demonstrated. The part that really got me was “I touched the star, remember” because the author probably knew it didn’t make much sense so she had to explain how this thing happened. With that said, I think Cook/Mirra becoming soul catcher was a really fitting ending for her. I think Avitas really didn’t have to die. Initially I thought it made sense because Helene needed to have the Empire be her husband, mother, sister, brother etc, but then that kind of gets contradicted at the end when a romance between her and Musa is alluded to. So basically that could’ve been Avitas. Darin dying also felt unnecessary, almost like people were dying just to have less important people die rather than the main characters. Anyway, I really enjoyed this series and it never really felt like a chore to read even though it was 4 books. I cared about the stories of everyone, and when it switched POVs from character to character none of them were boring. Would definitely recommend if you like fantasy without all the annoying booktok-esque cliches (i.e. faeries, dark love interest somehow able to wield shadows, main female character is just so stick thin and frail, etc etc).