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cosymilko's review against another edition
5.0
I love this series.
The third installment picks up where the second one finished and it is go, go, go!
Snyder's skills are definitely improving. The plot itself matured brilliantly and Opal became a character you'd be proud to know.
The initial plot twisted and turned all over the place but at the end it tied together to form a very convenient ending which I'm not ashamed to say I loved.
The several love interests throughout this series did annoy me. The final decision for Opal would rival any love story. There is enough seizing the moment and redemption for all characters to get in on it.
I hope Snyder plays in this world a little longer. I'd love to see the next generation or even a different angle. The female heroine is brilliant and complex and twice now Snyder has done them justice!
I'm so sad these books are over. I could start with the study series all over again!
The third installment picks up where the second one finished and it is go, go, go!
Snyder's skills are definitely improving. The plot itself matured brilliantly and Opal became a character you'd be proud to know.
The initial plot twisted and turned all over the place but at the end it tied together to form a very convenient ending which I'm not ashamed to say I loved.
The several love interests throughout this series did annoy me. The final decision for Opal would rival any love story. There is enough seizing the moment and redemption for all characters to get in on it.
I hope Snyder plays in this world a little longer. I'd love to see the next generation or even a different angle. The female heroine is brilliant and complex and twice now Snyder has done them justice!
I'm so sad these books are over. I could start with the study series all over again!
sophiepaige227's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
outsyinsy's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
christineponkey's review against another edition
3.0
I thought the ending was really badd...
the relationships were messed up ><
LIKE NOOO!!!
the ending.. succked DDDDDDDDD;
the relationships were messed up ><
LIKE NOOO!!!
the ending.. succked DDDDDDDDD;
brendalovesbooks's review against another edition
3.0
I liked it , but there's only so many times a person can get kidnapped or nearly killed before things just start becoming ridiculous.
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
I feel like I have to come up with new ways to describe the plots in Maria’s books but I’m not that eloquent and there’s not enough synonyms in the English language. As always, the plot is super fast paced and action packed. There’s magic and disguises and danger and abuse and a bunch of different crazy things happening. These books are just nonstop back to back plot twists and turns and new details and scenes you were never expecting. Loved it.
Writing Style – 4 out of 5 stars
Maria’s writing is very straight forward and fast. It helps move the filled to the brim plot and keeps the reader interested and on their toes. Yet at the same time, it’s simple. Because it represents the narration of the main character, the writing style is pretty intense. She is torn and confused a lot of the time but also becomes more confident, powerful and I love her development and the way she changed throughout the series.
Characters – 4.5 out of 5 stars
While I wasn’t the biggest fan of Opal in the beginning, I warmed up to her in the second book and in this one I was definitely on her side. Her character development throughout the series is amazing. It became very frustrating sometimes but also felt realistic. In the beginning of this book, she’s frustrated and particularly obsessed with a new goal. It kind of makes her selfish and blind to others and super mopey and depressed. While it’s understandable, it got annoying really quickly. Luckily, I wasn’t the only one that felt that way and the side characters kicked her butt. She slowly got her things together and was almost completely back to being caring and confident as well as powerful. She shined in a way that combined the way she used to be and what she learned in her journey to make her best self. I don’t really know how to feel about the side characters anymore. There are so many and so many things shift and change in this book. The romance is one of my biggest issues with this book because it’s such a difference from the first trilogy in these companion series and yet at the same time, I understand it. I understand how the main character shifted her focus from one guy to the other and why it makes sense to the kind of life she wants to lead, but still it’s kind of weird.
Emotionally
The plot is heavy. We follow Opal after she siphoned all her powers to escape and awful showdown that happened in the last book. She feels lost, on the inside and the outside and she begins to follow a trial that might lead to her getting her powers back. As always with Maria’s books, there’s a lot of side plots, things that are mentioned here or there that don’t really seem like they connect, but end up interconnecting in the end. Opal travels a lot in this book, and gets into different roles that I found really interesting. She becomes assistant and protector for awhile and I feel like that affected her personality a lot. With that, she also spends some time learning with Valek and I absolutely loved those scenes. Their connection and comradeship was really sweet and genuine while still feeling like they were learning from each other. There is so much going on in this book: violence, kidnapping, betrayal, cults, abuse, magic and so many other crazy kinds of things. After all of those crazy things, I realized why these books were marketed as adult books first. Some of the things that happen are really heavy and graphic and it might not be suitable for some of the younger side of the young adult genre. I was really blown away by everything that was going on and how things managed to straighten themselves out in the end. It wasn’t really what I was expecting would happen, but I feel like it did the story and the main character justice and that it was a satisfying ending.
Opal’s character development in these books is insane. She’s a totally completely different person in this last book than she was in the first book. She was kind of meek and a bit of a pushover and she kind of beat herself up about things in her past. And slowly but surely, the tough situations that happened in the last three books kind of taught her different things about life. How not everyone is nice to her and she has to toughen up. But at the same time, that there are people who love her and want to support her and that she can’t always take all the burden on to her shoulders and that she doesn’t need to do that. The person that acts in this book and takes care of things in this book is amazing. She’s tough and honest and selfless and conscious of the people around her and tries her best to make everything well for everyone. She slowly but surely reminded me of the things I love about Yelena while still being Opal.
Like I said above, I’m still not 100% sold on the romance. I talked about it before and how it’s been my biggest issue throughout this trilogy. It was very confusing for awhile because I had no idea who endgame was and that is just not okay for a shipper like me. It’s agony. And even in the end I had no idea who it was until things started to reveal themselves. I understand why the main character feels the way she does about her partner. But there is a lot of complicated history between them and its not the best kind of history to build a relationship on. It’s really hard to talk about this without spoilers ya’ll. But in the end, I feel like the ending was the perfect situation for the main character.
And I just want to briefly mention that there are two side characters that completely took over my heart. Reagan and Teegan are the sweetest and smartest kids I have ever encountered in a book and I beg the universe that they appear in the third trilogy from the Chronicles of Ixia.
Overall, the plot was amazing and packed of all different kinds of crazy things, it kept me on my toes the entire time. The development of the main character was amazing and she’s on the list of greatest character comebacks. While I’m not the biggest fan of the romance, I understand why things happened the way they did. And I loved how things ended and it felt totally satisfying.
Critically
Plot – 4.5 out of 5 stars
I feel like I have to come up with new ways to describe the plots in Maria’s books but I’m not that eloquent and there’s not enough synonyms in the English language. As always, the plot is super fast paced and action packed. There’s magic and disguises and danger and abuse and a bunch of different crazy things happening. These books are just nonstop back to back plot twists and turns and new details and scenes you were never expecting. Loved it.
Writing Style – 4 out of 5 stars
Maria’s writing is very straight forward and fast. It helps move the filled to the brim plot and keeps the reader interested and on their toes. Yet at the same time, it’s simple. Because it represents the narration of the main character, the writing style is pretty intense. She is torn and confused a lot of the time but also becomes more confident, powerful and I love her development and the way she changed throughout the series.
Characters – 4.5 out of 5 stars
While I wasn’t the biggest fan of Opal in the beginning, I warmed up to her in the second book and in this one I was definitely on her side. Her character development throughout the series is amazing. It became very frustrating sometimes but also felt realistic. In the beginning of this book, she’s frustrated and particularly obsessed with a new goal. It kind of makes her selfish and blind to others and super mopey and depressed. While it’s understandable, it got annoying really quickly. Luckily, I wasn’t the only one that felt that way and the side characters kicked her butt. She slowly got her things together and was almost completely back to being caring and confident as well as powerful. She shined in a way that combined the way she used to be and what she learned in her journey to make her best self. I don’t really know how to feel about the side characters anymore. There are so many and so many things shift and change in this book. The romance is one of my biggest issues with this book because it’s such a difference from the first trilogy in these companion series and yet at the same time, I understand it. I understand how the main character shifted her focus from one guy to the other and why it makes sense to the kind of life she wants to lead, but still it’s kind of weird.
Emotionally
Spoiler
While this book didn’t turn out the way that I thought it was going to, I really loved it and I feel like it was a great way to end the trilogy.The plot is heavy. We follow Opal after she siphoned all her powers to escape and awful showdown that happened in the last book. She feels lost, on the inside and the outside and she begins to follow a trial that might lead to her getting her powers back. As always with Maria’s books, there’s a lot of side plots, things that are mentioned here or there that don’t really seem like they connect, but end up interconnecting in the end. Opal travels a lot in this book, and gets into different roles that I found really interesting. She becomes assistant and protector for awhile and I feel like that affected her personality a lot. With that, she also spends some time learning with Valek and I absolutely loved those scenes. Their connection and comradeship was really sweet and genuine while still feeling like they were learning from each other. There is so much going on in this book: violence, kidnapping, betrayal, cults, abuse, magic and so many other crazy kinds of things. After all of those crazy things, I realized why these books were marketed as adult books first. Some of the things that happen are really heavy and graphic and it might not be suitable for some of the younger side of the young adult genre. I was really blown away by everything that was going on and how things managed to straighten themselves out in the end. It wasn’t really what I was expecting would happen, but I feel like it did the story and the main character justice and that it was a satisfying ending.
Opal’s character development in these books is insane. She’s a totally completely different person in this last book than she was in the first book. She was kind of meek and a bit of a pushover and she kind of beat herself up about things in her past. And slowly but surely, the tough situations that happened in the last three books kind of taught her different things about life. How not everyone is nice to her and she has to toughen up. But at the same time, that there are people who love her and want to support her and that she can’t always take all the burden on to her shoulders and that she doesn’t need to do that. The person that acts in this book and takes care of things in this book is amazing. She’s tough and honest and selfless and conscious of the people around her and tries her best to make everything well for everyone. She slowly but surely reminded me of the things I love about Yelena while still being Opal.
Like I said above, I’m still not 100% sold on the romance. I talked about it before and how it’s been my biggest issue throughout this trilogy. It was very confusing for awhile because I had no idea who endgame was and that is just not okay for a shipper like me. It’s agony. And even in the end I had no idea who it was until things started to reveal themselves. I understand why the main character feels the way she does about her partner. But there is a lot of complicated history between them and its not the best kind of history to build a relationship on. It’s really hard to talk about this without spoilers ya’ll. But in the end, I feel like the ending was the perfect situation for the main character.
And I just want to briefly mention that there are two side characters that completely took over my heart. Reagan and Teegan are the sweetest and smartest kids I have ever encountered in a book and I beg the universe that they appear in the third trilogy from the Chronicles of Ixia.
Overall, the plot was amazing and packed of all different kinds of crazy things, it kept me on my toes the entire time. The development of the main character was amazing and she’s on the list of greatest character comebacks. While I’m not the biggest fan of the romance, I understand why things happened the way they did. And I loved how things ended and it felt totally satisfying.
kesbooks's review against another edition
As always with Maria V. Snyder, I love the world and magic. As a whole, I enjoyed my time with the Glass series, but I’m ready to head back to the Study series.
My biggest complaint with this series is how unlikeable Opal is. She was so whiny throughout the series and lacked common sense. HOW on earth does she go from Kade to marrying Devlen so quickly? He JUST got out of jail, and she hasn’t even spent time with him. I understand she needed to marry him to adopt the children but huh?! I feel so bad for Kade. He was such a sweet and loyal boyfriend to her. I understand that they were going in separate directions, but Opal was so awful.
My biggest complaint with this series is how unlikeable Opal is. She was so whiny throughout the series and lacked common sense. HOW on earth does she go from Kade to marrying Devlen so quickly? He JUST got out of jail, and she hasn’t even spent time with him. I understand she needed to marry him to adopt the children but huh?! I feel so bad for Kade. He was such a sweet and loyal boyfriend to her. I understand that they were going in separate directions, but Opal was so awful.
marie_reads_books's review
adventurous
mysterious
fast-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
3.0