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eacolgan's review
3.0
solid ending to the trilogy, even if the plot got a little overly twisty toward the end. i have a great appreciation for shepherd's finesse in not only reimagining these three books, but linking them into one coherent story. i like that they're centered on the women characters, given that the originals were all so focused on men.
quierocafe's review
4.0
Reading this book during a slump is so bad to do because it's so interesting and you want to do more but my brain is like no wait let's not read you have Netflix. I really enjoyed this series. It was a really tragic yet happy ending.
asteinke19's review
3.0
The series kind of lost it's allure for me, nevertheless it was still very good.
biblio_amy's review
4.0
Loved the ending to this series! I think this was well written and much more interesting than the second book. The first book is of course the best of all three,but I am happy that Juliet as a character redeemed herself from the second book.
readingoverbreathing's review
3.0
I expected a lot more from this book.
The previous two installments, [b:The Madman's Daughter|12291438|The Madman's Daughter (The Madman's Daughter, #1)|Megan Shepherd|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1354155885s/12291438.jpg|17268041] and [b:Her Dark Curiosity|16182304|Her Dark Curiosity (The Madman's Daughter, #2)|Megan Shepherd|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1370880514s/16182304.jpg|22085615], were amazing. They were dark, they were creepy, they were scandalous, they were good. They were everything they should have been.
This book fell flat.
The plot was all over the place. I understood Megan had a lot to wrap up in this book. But there were three different sort of "villains" in this story, two of which I felt were completely unnecessary. The way the book was structured, it felt like you were reading three separate books, one with each of the villains. It was just weird. It was like Megan didn't know what she really doing with these characters anymore.
And speaking of characters, I could not handle Juliet in this book.
The entire series has pretty much been her going on and on about how conflicted she is about not following in her father's footsteps. I understood it in the first book. It was slightly irritating in the second book, but still tolerable. But by this book, I was done. It was an internal conflict that needed to be solved a long time ago. It just got really annoying.
Also, the whole thing with keeping secrets from Montgomery??? LIKE HUN THE ONE THING THAT ALWAYS GETS YOU INTO TROUBLE IS WHEN YOU DON'T TELL MONTGOMERY. I really couldn't take it. I think Juliet was really the main issue I had with this installment. She just could not get over herself.
I still think Megan has an excellent writing style, and while I feel she could have done more with the Scotland thing, she does do an excellent job with her settings, and I'm excited for her new fantasy book, [b:The Cage|16071187|The Cage (The Cage, #1)|Megan Shepherd|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1414088833s/16071187.jpg|21864995], which comes out in May.
The previous two installments, [b:The Madman's Daughter|12291438|The Madman's Daughter (The Madman's Daughter, #1)|Megan Shepherd|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1354155885s/12291438.jpg|17268041] and [b:Her Dark Curiosity|16182304|Her Dark Curiosity (The Madman's Daughter, #2)|Megan Shepherd|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1370880514s/16182304.jpg|22085615], were amazing. They were dark, they were creepy, they were scandalous, they were good. They were everything they should have been.
This book fell flat.
The plot was all over the place. I understood Megan had a lot to wrap up in this book. But there were three different sort of "villains" in this story, two of which I felt were completely unnecessary. The way the book was structured, it felt like you were reading three separate books, one with each of the villains. It was just weird. It was like Megan didn't know what she really doing with these characters anymore.
And speaking of characters, I could not handle Juliet in this book.
The entire series has pretty much been her going on and on about how conflicted she is about not following in her father's footsteps. I understood it in the first book. It was slightly irritating in the second book, but still tolerable. But by this book, I was done. It was an internal conflict that needed to be solved a long time ago. It just got really annoying.
Also, the whole thing with keeping secrets from Montgomery??? LIKE HUN THE ONE THING THAT ALWAYS GETS YOU INTO TROUBLE IS WHEN YOU DON'T TELL MONTGOMERY. I really couldn't take it. I think Juliet was really the main issue I had with this installment. She just could not get over herself.
I still think Megan has an excellent writing style, and while I feel she could have done more with the Scotland thing, she does do an excellent job with her settings, and I'm excited for her new fantasy book, [b:The Cage|16071187|The Cage (The Cage, #1)|Megan Shepherd|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1414088833s/16071187.jpg|21864995], which comes out in May.
erinarkin20's review
3.0
3.5 stars
A Cold Legacy is book 3 in The Madman’s Daughter series and the final book of this series. If you haven’t started this series yet, definitely consider it. Each book ties back to another classical book and this one is inspired by Frankenstein.
We dive right back into Juliette’s life which now has her on the run with Montgomery, Lucy, and Balthazar. The group heads for safety to the Scottish Moors to stay in Elizabeth von Stein’s house and find a house full of mysteries. As Juliette digs into what is going on, she finds out that Elizabeth has been keeping a big secret. Not only that, Elizabeth wants to share the secret with Juliette and pass on the family science to ensure she keeps it safe.
Juliette continues to struggle with whether she is evil and her father’s daughter or not and as she finds out more about who he really was, she also finds out more about who she really is. Regardless of who her father is, Juliette realizes she needs to be true to who she is no matter who her family is or what others might think about her. I will say, the continual back and forth in Juliette’s head about is she or is she not evil because of her father, wore on me a bit. I know it was a critical thing for her to resolve but it got to be somewhat repetitive.
The relationship between Juliette and Montgomery definitely progresses and I loved seeing the change in how these two related to each other. Montgomery continues to push Juliette to realize she is more than who her father made her but he also tries to push her away from the science she loves and that is where Juliette feels she needs to hide things. I get why he was doing it but don’t know that it was the right thing. It obviously created some tension between them as did the murders of the men who tried to steal her father’s research.
I have to admit, Lucy annoyed me in this book. She was always focused on what she wanted and what she thought should be happening for Edward. And speaking of Edward…I wanted Juliette to admit that she had more than a friendship with him. I mean, I wasn’t happy about it but I also thought it was fairly glossed over.
So there isn’t much I can say about the story without giving anything away so just know that if you enjoyed the first two books of this series you will definitely want to read this one to see how things end up for these characters. I am happy I was able to see how things ended up for them all and I can’t wait to read more from Megan Shepherd.
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy.
A Cold Legacy is book 3 in The Madman’s Daughter series and the final book of this series. If you haven’t started this series yet, definitely consider it. Each book ties back to another classical book and this one is inspired by Frankenstein.
We dive right back into Juliette’s life which now has her on the run with Montgomery, Lucy, and Balthazar. The group heads for safety to the Scottish Moors to stay in Elizabeth von Stein’s house and find a house full of mysteries. As Juliette digs into what is going on, she finds out that Elizabeth has been keeping a big secret. Not only that, Elizabeth wants to share the secret with Juliette and pass on the family science to ensure she keeps it safe.
Juliette continues to struggle with whether she is evil and her father’s daughter or not and as she finds out more about who he really was, she also finds out more about who she really is. Regardless of who her father is, Juliette realizes she needs to be true to who she is no matter who her family is or what others might think about her. I will say, the continual back and forth in Juliette’s head about is she or is she not evil because of her father, wore on me a bit. I know it was a critical thing for her to resolve but it got to be somewhat repetitive.
The relationship between Juliette and Montgomery definitely progresses and I loved seeing the change in how these two related to each other. Montgomery continues to push Juliette to realize she is more than who her father made her but he also tries to push her away from the science she loves and that is where Juliette feels she needs to hide things. I get why he was doing it but don’t know that it was the right thing. It obviously created some tension between them as did the murders of the men who tried to steal her father’s research.
I have to admit, Lucy annoyed me in this book. She was always focused on what she wanted and what she thought should be happening for Edward. And speaking of Edward…I wanted Juliette to admit that she had more than a friendship with him. I mean, I wasn’t happy about it but I also thought it was fairly glossed over.
So there isn’t much I can say about the story without giving anything away so just know that if you enjoyed the first two books of this series you will definitely want to read this one to see how things end up for these characters. I am happy I was able to see how things ended up for them all and I can’t wait to read more from Megan Shepherd.
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy.
daphnemarie's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
orygunn's review
4.0
The most frustrating things about this series are all the assumptions that the characters jump to and are right.