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emrodav's review against another edition
2.0
This was, unfortunately, probably my least favorite book in the series. It’s not necessarily the plot, though it did seem repetitive of book two. It’s not really the characters, either, though they all seemed to be lacking a little of the magic of the earlier installments.
Instead, my main problem with the book is the way the colonization of Egypt is handled. I understand that the books are mostly from Alexia’s perspective, and that she would have been raised to believe in the importance of empire, imperialism, and colonization. However, just because that would be the case for the characters, the book was written in the twenty-first century.
The author could have included criticism of these things (or, you know, treated Egyptians like regular human beings with their own culture who are relevant and important not just relating to whims of white people). But instead Egyptians are exoticized and often kind of infantilized in the book in a way that I'm not comfortable with.
Some examples I noted are:
1) "No decent person, not even a native of this wild land, would condone such a thing in the middle of the street." (236)
2) "A collection of excited Egyptians, eager to touch the hero and heroine of the play, press small gifts into their hands, and in one extreme case kiss the hem of Ivy's gown." (268)
3) "It's all so very primitive!" (289)
There are probably more, but those ones stood out to me.
I guess it all just rubbed me the wrong way. If Alexia had at least been critical of the situation or something, it would’ve been better. But reading something written by a white woman about a white woman talking that way about a colonized country without any criticism of the situation is not what I enjoy reading.
Unfortunately, this has kind of put me off this whole universe for now. I was looking forward to reading Prudence next, but now I'm not so sure I want to. I'm just not comfortable with the way Carriger writes uncritically about colonialism and the racist attitudes imbedded in that time period. From what I've read about some aspects of Prudence, especially relating to how Indian culture is handled, I just can't do it.
I really loved these books, but I, personally, have to draw the line somewhere.
Instead, my main problem with the book is the way the colonization of Egypt is handled. I understand that the books are mostly from Alexia’s perspective, and that she would have been raised to believe in the importance of empire, imperialism, and colonization. However, just because that would be the case for the characters, the book was written in the twenty-first century.
The author could have included criticism of these things (or, you know, treated Egyptians like regular human beings with their own culture who are relevant and important not just relating to whims of white people). But instead Egyptians are exoticized and often kind of infantilized in the book in a way that I'm not comfortable with.
Some examples I noted are:
1) "No decent person, not even a native of this wild land, would condone such a thing in the middle of the street." (236)
2) "A collection of excited Egyptians, eager to touch the hero and heroine of the play, press small gifts into their hands, and in one extreme case kiss the hem of Ivy's gown." (268)
3) "It's all so very primitive!" (289)
There are probably more, but those ones stood out to me.
I guess it all just rubbed me the wrong way. If Alexia had at least been critical of the situation or something, it would’ve been better. But reading something written by a white woman about a white woman talking that way about a colonized country without any criticism of the situation is not what I enjoy reading.
Unfortunately, this has kind of put me off this whole universe for now. I was looking forward to reading Prudence next, but now I'm not so sure I want to. I'm just not comfortable with the way Carriger writes uncritically about colonialism and the racist attitudes imbedded in that time period. From what I've read about some aspects of Prudence, especially relating to how Indian culture is handled, I just can't do it.
I really loved these books, but I, personally, have to draw the line somewhere.
stepriot's review against another edition
3.0
Ending on a relatively high note, but I'm not sad to be done!!
greygryph's review
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.5
hannahhbic's review against another edition
3.0
These books were a great guilty pleasure, read only late at night type of series. Quick reads that I didn't get extremely attached to. Personally I enjoyed Carriger's YA series more.
magikspells's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book so much, it took me in so many different directions, I didn't know what to think and that was a good thing. Emotional roller-coaster. My only problem was actually finishing it because I didn't want it to end. I still don't want it to be over. Come back to me Alexia, my spirit animal!!
edshara's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this series quite a bit. Not everything wrapped up the way I like but in the end, I didn't hate it.
freadomlibrary's review against another edition
5.0
This review was originally posted at https://freadomlibrary.wordpress.com/
Critically
Plot - 4.5 out of 5 stars
The magic is back people! This had everything that I love about this series and more. It’s mysterious and action packed. There are some strange and weird things happening. There’s drama and unexpected changes and some things that just made me think “ew gross.” And the ending was just incredibly bittersweet.
Writing Style – 4 out of 5 stars
There isn’t much more I could say about her amazing writing style so I’m just gonna keep it simple. It’s historically accurate, detailed, descriptive, verbose, incredibly hilarious and wonderfully imaginative. I love it, obviously.
Characters – 5 out of 5 stars
I love all the characters in this series, even the ones that show up briefly and for only one book, because all of them give something to the series and they all leave an impression on you. Alexia is just amazing. In this particular installment, she’s curious, extremely so about her new surroundings. She’s strong, smart and determined. As always, she knows what she wants and how to get it and when in a moment of trouble, you want her around with her ability to get everyone in gear and everything in order. There’s also a few instances where she’s apologetic, which if you know her, it’s very hard to get her to do that. Conall is such a great counterpart to Alexia, although he’s not as involved in this book as I would’ve liked him to be. Because of a particular situation, he’s hurt and he wanders off alone for awhile. Of course he comes back right on time to show off his strength and his protectiveness over his family. It was perfect.
Emotionally
The plot was a little strange to be quite honest. We travel to Egypt with the Maccons, the Tunstells and some of their acting troupe. They are there to pay a visit to the infamous Queen Matakara, the oldest vampire in existence. Yeah, that sounds like insanity right? Well it is! The entire time is just crazy happenings right after another, there is so much going on at once: the God-Breaker plague that renders all supernaturals human when in its path, which causes a near death experience for Conall; there’s a kidnapping of an infant (yes, there are now infants in this series); in London, there’s a dead Scottish werewolf which then brings the appearance of Lady Kingair and Lyall and Biffy have to help her figure out who got her beta killed and that’s just the beginning! It was downright insanity. I almost couldn’t keep up with everything that was going on. There were so many twists and turns and unexpected revelations which surprised the heck out of me. You’d think it being the last book that there wouldn’t be that much more to throw you off but you’d think wrong. Because I am a greedy person, there was still a lot of things that I wanted to know about, but I feel like in general, the loose ends of the series were tied up really nicely in this last book.
Alexia is such a badass. She’s so amazing and intuitive. She has a slight new side to her personality thanks to the changes in her lifestyle and it’s amazing to see. I love how it’s just another aspect to her and that her character didn’t do a complete one eighty because of it. The only thing that bothers me a little is that she didn’t have a big character development in the series, it was more like adjustments. She’s the same person she was in the beginning of the series, which is not bad considering she was so freaking amazing in the first place, but the growth she went through is more subtle than I usually like.
There are so many other small but still crazy details that I wish I could spill my guts about but I don’t want to be such a spoilery reviewer. This is technically the spoilers section but I still want whoever reads this to want to read this book and this series so I’m just going to list things you should watch out for: Ivy, Biffy, and Floote. Keep your eyes on them when you dive into this, you’ll be glad you did.
Critically
Plot - 4.5 out of 5 stars
The magic is back people! This had everything that I love about this series and more. It’s mysterious and action packed. There are some strange and weird things happening. There’s drama and unexpected changes and some things that just made me think “ew gross.” And the ending was just incredibly bittersweet.
Writing Style – 4 out of 5 stars
There isn’t much more I could say about her amazing writing style so I’m just gonna keep it simple. It’s historically accurate, detailed, descriptive, verbose, incredibly hilarious and wonderfully imaginative. I love it, obviously.
Characters – 5 out of 5 stars
I love all the characters in this series, even the ones that show up briefly and for only one book, because all of them give something to the series and they all leave an impression on you. Alexia is just amazing. In this particular installment, she’s curious, extremely so about her new surroundings. She’s strong, smart and determined. As always, she knows what she wants and how to get it and when in a moment of trouble, you want her around with her ability to get everyone in gear and everything in order. There’s also a few instances where she’s apologetic, which if you know her, it’s very hard to get her to do that. Conall is such a great counterpart to Alexia, although he’s not as involved in this book as I would’ve liked him to be. Because of a particular situation, he’s hurt and he wanders off alone for awhile. Of course he comes back right on time to show off his strength and his protectiveness over his family. It was perfect.
Emotionally
Spoiler
Finally reaching the ending of this series is bittersweet. But I am so happy it ended on a high note.The plot was a little strange to be quite honest. We travel to Egypt with the Maccons, the Tunstells and some of their acting troupe. They are there to pay a visit to the infamous Queen Matakara, the oldest vampire in existence. Yeah, that sounds like insanity right? Well it is! The entire time is just crazy happenings right after another, there is so much going on at once: the God-Breaker plague that renders all supernaturals human when in its path, which causes a near death experience for Conall; there’s a kidnapping of an infant (yes, there are now infants in this series); in London, there’s a dead Scottish werewolf which then brings the appearance of Lady Kingair and Lyall and Biffy have to help her figure out who got her beta killed and that’s just the beginning! It was downright insanity. I almost couldn’t keep up with everything that was going on. There were so many twists and turns and unexpected revelations which surprised the heck out of me. You’d think it being the last book that there wouldn’t be that much more to throw you off but you’d think wrong. Because I am a greedy person, there was still a lot of things that I wanted to know about, but I feel like in general, the loose ends of the series were tied up really nicely in this last book.
Alexia is such a badass. She’s so amazing and intuitive. She has a slight new side to her personality thanks to the changes in her lifestyle and it’s amazing to see. I love how it’s just another aspect to her and that her character didn’t do a complete one eighty because of it. The only thing that bothers me a little is that she didn’t have a big character development in the series, it was more like adjustments. She’s the same person she was in the beginning of the series, which is not bad considering she was so freaking amazing in the first place, but the growth she went through is more subtle than I usually like.
There are so many other small but still crazy details that I wish I could spill my guts about but I don’t want to be such a spoilery reviewer. This is technically the spoilers section but I still want whoever reads this to want to read this book and this series so I’m just going to list things you should watch out for: Ivy, Biffy, and Floote. Keep your eyes on them when you dive into this, you’ll be glad you did.
hmblvj's review against another edition
3.0
Not bad. Not the strongest book of the series, but it did do a nice job wrapping up various story lines. A fun read.
wishfulfillment's review against another edition
4.0
I thought this was a great part of the series. Over the course of the books, the characters who appear to be secondary or minor characters become protagonists, and that's personally my favorite thing about how this series progressed. Also, all of the subplots and plots made sense together and resolved in a way that doesn't leave you wanting more, which imo is imperative in a finale.
brianne_k's review against another edition
4.0
*4/5*
I'm sad I've finished this series. it was fun. I enjoyed Alexia and Conall's adventures immensely.
I'm sad I've finished this series. it was fun. I enjoyed Alexia and Conall's adventures immensely.