Reviews

As much as I liked how the story ended this last book left much to be desired. They story line felt rushed. There were a lot of new elements that were not fully developed. The story moved slowly and yet so much happened. There was a lot of mention of previous events to the point that reading the first two books is almost unnecessary. I enjoyed the series overall but this last book was not as good as the first two. If this was 2 or three books with more details and more full fleshed I think it would have been better. IMO.

ashndean88's review against another edition

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challenging dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I felt this was the weakest in the trilogy.

There was just so much repetition! I understand the need for a recap of information and significant plot developments between books because of how long publishing can take, but doing them constantly throughout the story is a bit ridiculous. Especially when we're at the end of the book and I'm being reminded of something for the fourth time. Once in the beginning is enough!

Another aspect that bothered me was how the characters would go against themselves. For example, there were a couple of times Deka would say something like "I will no longer allow my emotions to control me." Then a few paragraphs later, guess what happened? Her emotions controlled her. I wish she would've just experienced and work through them. That would've been much more compelling. The same thing would happen between characters both with emotions and in regards to tolerating one another. It was odd. Especially when the flip happened without any explanation.

Those were my big issues. However, there were still aspects I enjoyed. Having a group of people so loyal to one other was refreshing, as was witnessing Deka maneuvering through the path she was thrust into. Although I could predict how essentially the book would end, I didn't know how we would get there. So there were enough twists and turns to keep me interested, despite also really wanting to just get this book done with.

Content Warnings

elfsara's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional 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

3.75

tourmaline1703's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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

4.0

The worldbuilding and magic system of this series never fails to amaze me. It is so rich and complex, maybe hard to keep up with at times, but that's because it confuses the characters as well so I felt like it was deliberately a bit confusing. The descriptions of the magic and religion are so beautiful and it really helps add to its richness.

As aforementioned, I enjoyed the descriptions of the different characters' powers and every location the characters visited. The vibrant colours and dramatic battles were definitely some highlights and made it really easy to visualise in your mind. However, I felt like some plot points or worldbuilding were retold to the reader a lot in the writing and it became a bit slow at times.

I found the plot interesting, albeit slightly predictable as I found the plots of each book in the series followed a similar pattern. Go on an adventure -> discover a pantheon of Gods -> find out they are corrupt and there's new gods -> new adventure. Despite this, the stakes were really high in this book compared to the previous two and I found the quest they were on very enthralling.

I love every single one of the characters in this book. They are so mature and that's a pleasant change from most YA novels as they actually communicate, work through problems and genuinely support each other. They are all well developed and the relationships between them are fantastic. This is what really made me invested in the novel.

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