Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Vampires
This story gets better and better each book and of course leaves on a major cliffhanger
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
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
Oof. This was a rough one. This was the book where the series jumped the shark.
I understand what I’m getting with YA fantasy romance stuff. It’s generally going to have characters making questionable choices that serve to put them in the most possible danger at the worst possible times. Mostly it’s explained away as “Oh, you know teenagers always be acting crazy. Am I right?” The rationalization for abandoning all logic is that things are so dire that this is their only chance to survive. It works as an explanation, but when it’s being used over and over and over in every single novel, that shit gets old. Incoherent storylines and characters with no consistent personality traits. Everything seems off the cuff. I could deal with a lack of witty dialog and some other annoying tropes, but it’s a little too much when the story is no longer making sense. Everything about the prison was dumb.
It is very weird when the characters that are YA are actually hundreds of years old, and they know every single thing that has ever happened in this history of forever, but they are still teenagers? I love Baby Yoda as much as anybody, but it’s jarring when they are graduating in the same high school class as characters that age as normal humans. I don’t understand that choice. Also, the child death rate for this school is really high for supposedly immortal beings.
Finally, I don’t like the direction Grace is going with her personality and her magic. Her narration strayed from the story to tell us about Hudson’s sexiness way too many times. It got repeated so many times it almost seemed like the author was trying to hit a word count goal of some sort. Her magic was vaguely explained as something different in either this book or the previous one. Then she got new powers, so she isn’t strictly gargoyle/human, she’s gargoyle/human/undetermined magic creature. Ok, whatever. There are no rules for any of the magic systems anyway, so give them all new powers I guess. Just deus ex machina the hell out of it.
I understand what I’m getting with YA fantasy romance stuff. It’s generally going to have characters making questionable choices that serve to put them in the most possible danger at the worst possible times. Mostly it’s explained away as “Oh, you know teenagers always be acting crazy. Am I right?” The rationalization for abandoning all logic is that things are so dire that this is their only chance to survive. It works as an explanation, but when it’s being used over and over and over in every single novel, that shit gets old. Incoherent storylines and characters with no consistent personality traits. Everything seems off the cuff. I could deal with a lack of witty dialog and some other annoying tropes, but it’s a little too much when the story is no longer making sense. Everything about the prison was dumb.
It is very weird when the characters that are YA are actually hundreds of years old, and they know every single thing that has ever happened in this history of forever, but they are still teenagers? I love Baby Yoda as much as anybody, but it’s jarring when they are graduating in the same high school class as characters that age as normal humans. I don’t understand that choice. Also, the child death rate for this school is really high for supposedly immortal beings.
Finally, I don’t like the direction Grace is going with her personality and her magic. Her narration strayed from the story to tell us about Hudson’s sexiness way too many times. It got repeated so many times it almost seemed like the author was trying to hit a word count goal of some sort. Her magic was vaguely explained as something different in either this book or the previous one. Then she got new powers, so she isn’t strictly gargoyle/human, she’s gargoyle/human/undetermined magic creature. Ok, whatever. There are no rules for any of the magic systems anyway, so give them all new powers I guess. Just deus ex machina the hell out of it.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Ahhhh Team Jaxson??? Team Hudson????????
TEAM HUDSON ALL THE WAY!!!! This book give you a little bit of everything. I was on the edge of my seat reading this one. The way she builds the world and the scenes I can see them so vividly! So many twist and turns that will have you jaw dropped. Then my poor Flint, I hurt for him in this one. I can’t wait to see it she brings everyone from all of Graces in counters back together again.
TEAM HUDSON ALL THE WAY!!!! This book give you a little bit of everything. I was on the edge of my seat reading this one. The way she builds the world and the scenes I can see them so vividly! So many twist and turns that will have you jaw dropped. Then my poor Flint, I hurt for him in this one. I can’t wait to see it she brings everyone from all of Graces in counters back together again.
Overall I love this series. Hudson is probably my favorite character. I enjoyed the story and the prison was probably my favorite part just because of how cool I thought the Dante’s inferno reference was.
That said, this book was a little bit of a drag compared to the other 2. I felt like there was so much going on from beginning to end that I can’t even remember what happened at the beginning. Grace’s repetitive inner dialogue was driving me nuts, also. She kept having these epiphanies in the middle of conversations, like how she let remembering that Hudson was in love with her and was being very descriptive about that. Over and over and over again. Plus, the interactions with Calder, Remy and the other characters felt so weirdly forced.
I love this series, it’s definitely top 10 for me. But this book was weaker than the others. I’m really excited for the next book, though.
That said, this book was a little bit of a drag compared to the other 2. I felt like there was so much going on from beginning to end that I can’t even remember what happened at the beginning. Grace’s repetitive inner dialogue was driving me nuts, also. She kept having these epiphanies in the middle of conversations, like how she let remembering that Hudson was in love with her and was being very descriptive about that. Over and over and over again. Plus, the interactions with Calder, Remy and the other characters felt so weirdly forced.
I love this series, it’s definitely top 10 for me. But this book was weaker than the others. I’m really excited for the next book, though.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
relaxing
fast-paced
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
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:
Complicated