Reviews with content warning for Blood - Finale

“Most of my life, I’ve romanticized death. I used to love the idea of something being so tremendous that it was worth dying for. But I was wrong. I think the most magnificent things are worth living for.”

I liked this more than Legendary but less than Caraval. I loved getting more Scarlett and Julian and I thought it was interesting getting to learn more about the Fates. I still didn’t really like Tella and Legend but I’m glad they ended up together and happy. Overall, I liked this world and I’m excited to get to Once Upon A Broken Heart.

Content Warnings

ambenicole418's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I’m sorry, but as much as I enjoyed Caraval and as much as Jacks carried Legendary for me, unfortunately, even the Prince of Hearts could not save the finale installment of this series. Honestly, I was ready to give this book a 2.5 stars and DNF it at the 50% mark, but the only reason I didn’t is because the whole reason I started this series in the first place is because I wanted (and still do) to read Once Upon A Broken Heart.

Let’s start with the positives shall we:
Jacks, my baby 😍, my Prince of Hearts❤️‍🔥. Idk what this says about me, but I LOVE a hot, flirty, villain🤤! I’m sorry, but I am who I am and I cannot change 💖. I also LOVED Scarlett and Julian!!! I’m pretty sure I said this in my review of Legendary and I still can’t explain it, but they remind me of two of my favorite fairy tale romances, Rapunzel x Flynn Rider and Emma x Captain Hook from Once Upon A Time (a show about fairytale characters is considered a fairytale right?). They just have a cute and wholesome romance, and I truly wish nothing but the best for them! The fact that they had such little screen time in this book is downright CRIMINAL! Lastly, one thing about Stephanie Garber is she KNOWS how to write an ending! Honestly after finishing the book I was almost tempted to give it 4 stars, but then I started to remember all the things that pissed me off while reading and I settled at 3 stars. Speaking of things that pissed me off….

Let’s talk about the negatives (fair warning ⚠️ since this is the 3rd book in the series, I’m gonna assume if you’re reading this review you already read the book and I’m not gonna mark spoilers):
There were so many points throughout the book where it felt like Ms. Garber was trying to retcon, rewrite, or just pretend like certain things in the previous books didn’t happen. For example, at the end of this book when Legend started becoming mortal again he tells Tella “I can’t say that I understand love, or that I’m very good at it, because I’ve never loved anyone before,” but that’s a LIE because in the very first book we’re told that the whole reason Legend became Legend is because he was in love with Annalise Dragna (Scar and Tella’s grandmother), and since he was poor he thought the only way her father would let Annalise marry him was if he performed at Empress Elantine’s coronation and gained fame and fortune! This is a story that both Scarlett AND Tella learn during the first book! So, since Tella doesn’t call him out on this blatant lie are we just supposed to pretend that Legend’s entire backstory didn’t happen??? Are we just rewriting history now?? ALSO during one of Tella and Legend’s little flirt sessions Tella makes a comment about Legend’s rose tattoo being gone and Legend says, “Did you really think I’d keep it? You don’t have to be jealous of the tattoo anymore”, and Tella and him joke about it. But in the first book it’s said that Legend got the tattoo because a girl named Rosa who he was sleeping with unalived herself because he didn’t reciprocate her love. AGAIN another story Tella already knows! So, why are acting like this tattoo is a joke? Also joking about “being jealous” over a tattoo that was gotten in the honor of someone you drove to su*cide is CRAZY to me, but the fact that they both act like this tattoo means nothing is again another instance where it feels like Ms. Garber is trying to rewrite the books and Legend’s history!

While we’re on the topic of Tella x Legend, can I say that I absolutely HATE this couple! Idk something about Legend f*cking her grandmother back in the day, trying to get with Scarlett to the point where other Caraval performers literally say to his face in the 2nd book, “I thought you liked the other sister better?”, and him just deciding to make out with Tella at the end of the first book is just really weird to me. Why was Legend sliding down Tella’s family tree like that? I mean shit the only person in Tella’s family he DIDN’T try to start a relationship with (that we know of) after her grandmother was Paloma lol😭. Tella was quite literally just the last stop 🛑 on Legend’s tour of the women in the Dragna family😂💀.

Let’s talk about Tella specifically now because her and her constant dumbass decisions is 100% the reason why I wanted to DNF this book. Idk if she was like this in Legendary and I just didn’t notice it because I was obsessing over Jacks, but she is so STUPID. I mean this girl literally sold the weakness of her unborn child just to learn the same information that she should’ve been able to put together herself! Let me ask you a question, if you find out that your mother knows the secret weakness of the Fates, she had a romantic relationship with one of the Fates that ended in the BIRTH OF YOUR SISTER, then you see her kissing and proceeding to stab the Fate in order to kill him, and then you find out that the Fates’ weakness is love wouldn’t you then assume that your mother and the Fate in question were in love and she was trying to use that weakness against him? So why is Tella surprised by this information?? Why would it surprise her that Gavriel’s love for Paloma made him mortal when she was TOLD VERBATIM love makes Fates mortal? She literally sold her unborn child out because she couldn’t make 2+2=4 🙄 (this is never addressed or brought up by the end of book by the way; we kinda just immediately forget it happens lol). Tella comes up with so many half baked stupid schemes that consistently fail that for the LIFE of me I couldn’t understand why Tella couldn’t just follow Scarlett’s lead and let her enact her plan to kill Gavriel in peace.

Speaking of having to spend the majority of the book following Tella make dumb choices, why wasn’t the majority of the book spent with Scarlett and Gavriel as Scar tried to learn how to control her powers and get Gavriel to love her?? Considering that Gavriel is the main villain of the book, he’s Scar’s secret father, he was in love with their mother so much that it made him human, and the whole “kill Gavriel plan” hinges on this, why did we spend as little time as possible with them? More importantly why was Tella spending all of her time coming up with stupid half baked plots when she could’ve used Jacks (aka the Fate she’s supposed the “one true love” of) to get closer to Gavriel and help Scar from the inside?? I mean we learn that Tella is the “one true love” of the Prince of Hearts in the second book and yet for like 70% of this book we were doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING with this information, until the very end where Jacks tries to get Tella to choose him over Legend 🙄. Considering BOTH sisters are completely intertwined with the Fates, the majority of this book should’ve been spent with Scar living with Gavriel, learning how to control her powers, finding out more about his and Paloma’s relationship, and sorting through the complicated feelings Gavriel should’ve felt, considering how much he loved her mother, how much Scarlett looked like her, and how Paloma’s betrayal made him hate love. While in the background, Tella used Jacks to get closer to the Fates and find out more information about Gavriel. But instead in a book where the biggest threat is Gavriel and the Fates we spent little to no time with them.

There are other things that really pissed me off while reading this book, but I’ve been incoherently angry typing and rambling for way too long as it is, so I’m gonna end it here.

Final thoughts💭:
Even though I didn’t enjoy Finale, I did really enjoy the first book in this series, I LOVE Jacks, and I know Ms. Garber can write a romance I adore and root for (Scar x Julian 😍), so I will definitely be reading Once Upon a Broken Heart!💔🦊🏹🍎 (Although if I find out that Evangeline is Tella’s daughter, or granddaughter, or something like that, I WILL scream.)

Content Warnings

sweetbrinas's review

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adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Content Warnings

bel017's review

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Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

It was very entertaining. Nice to see the girls get a little agency.

Content Warnings

hq_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense 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

4.5

This was such a fantastic end to the series! What a rollercoaster - the story just kept moving and evolving so quickly, so much happened and yet it didn’t feel rushed. garner did such a great job of maintaining the magical essence of Caraval… This book also contained much darker tones with many of the Fates acting with brutality and no mercy.

Although, is it bad I prefer Jacks…??? Although Legend is still a great love interest. Overall I much preferred Tella’s story but I wish she featured more heavily at the end. While Scarlett’s story was good, I wish we got to read more interactions between her and Gavriel

Content Warnings

aas's review

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adventurous emotional 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

5.0

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