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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I didn’t like it as much as the previous two which is why it took me so much longer to get though. But in the end it was still a good read.
A very unnecessary scene towards the end soured this book for me. Otherwise, it was a good conclusion to the series.
This book is such a fucking slog. I've been "reading" it since the end of last year. I took it up to the mountains with me as a last ditch effort to finish it. It didn't work. It's just so uninteresting, which sucks. The last two books were pretty good. I'm just not a fan of weird gross age gap relationships, which this book focuses on! The whole soulmates thing is annoying on its own but when one of the people dies and then is "back" as a new person and the relationship continues I start wanting to make a pulp with the pages so something better can be written on them. This book singlehandedly turned me off reading any more Mercedes Lackey, it's just that bad.
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Things turn much darker in the conclusion (including sexual violence that really didn't contribute much of anything to the story). It's really weirdly paced - a combination of fan service, angst and a final confrontation that happens off page. In fact, a lot of this book could be used to illustrate a lesson on how not to write one's fantasy epic. And yet - there is some charm to this book and to this series, regardless of harmful tropes (less obvious at the time of writing than now), regardless of exaggerations, regardless of some saccharine moments. It's a book for an angsty teen more than for anyone else, and there's better books like that now, certainly, but I don't think there were always many like it, in the mainstream areas of fantasy at least.
(I did like the introduction of new intelligent beings and everything connected to the cursed/blessed border of Valdemar, and bits of dynastic politicking.)
(I did like the introduction of new intelligent beings and everything connected to the cursed/blessed border of Valdemar, and bits of dynastic politicking.)
adventurous
dark
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
This book was beautifully written. I wasn't expecting a happy ending, and I guess it wasn't really "happy," was it? More like bittersweet. I might come back later and rewrite this review once I process my emotions, because I'm feeling so many of them right now, but I will be thinking of this series for a long time. Easily one of my favorites.
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Torture