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4.27 AVERAGE
4.27 AVERAGE
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:
No
I loved so many things about this book and the whole trilogy. Primary is the beautiful, messy existence of the characters. Not one of them was clearly all good or all bad, they held so much conflict within themselves. They each had so many voices/powers trying to command who they were and yet found their paths forward. As I finished this book in tears I was reminded how often pain and beauty walk hand in hand. Rebecca Roanhorse so artfully tells the stories of Xiala, Serapio, Naranpa and Iktan. My heart broke multiple times. It took me a little bit to get into the book at first. The start was slower, but I think it was the moment Okoa decided he would kill his god, that I was absolutely sucked in to the world and the story again. Rebecca, Thank you for sharing your writing with us!
adventurous
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"'It is truly a tragedy that those we love most in the world must often bear the burden of our errors'"
-------------------------------------
Yeah, I don't know how to feel about any of this. I've gotta say, I am honestly so sick of adult fantasies, sci fis, etc. feeling like they need to make every single character have the worst ending possible cause it's an adult book and for some reason that means no one is allowed to be happy in the end, INCLUDING ME! I also don't like endings that don't actually fully wrap everything up and just leave their characters in weird places for, again, the sake of tragedy. Slight out of context spoiler here, but either the character is dead or they aren't, choose in the book and call it a day, PLEASE!
Basically the gist of my feelings about this book are that I loved the first maybe 500ish pages, maybe a little more, of the book and honestly hated a lot of, if not all of, the finale, so it's really hard for me to translate those feelings into an actually accurate rating. So this rating will probably change as I think on this more.
But, yes, the rest of the book was great. There were still a couple pov chapters I was less interested in (present day balam and okoa specifically), but overall I liked the plotlines of each character and found their stories/arcs throughout this book to be really compelling. I still love all of the characters I loved before (specifically iktan, Xiala, and serapio), but I did genuinely enjoy the other characters as well. And in a very shocking turn of events, I kind of liked okoa by the end?? Idk, he kinda grew on me. And I was kicking my feet and giggling at the iktan and naranpa and the serapio and Xiala content in this book; as little as there was, the scenes with those ships were amazing.
The ending though... kind of hated that. I'm not gonna go into a lot of detail cause a) I don't want to make this review even longer than it already will be and b) I don't want to spoil anything and have to tag this review for spoilers, but I just didn't like where any character ended up in this ending. It basically included every tragic/sad/bittersweet ending trope in series that I absolutely hate when it's done with characters I love, so it was a little miserable to read, ngl. A lot of parts felt rushed, specifically with character deaths. Like, a character would die with no build up to their death scene whatsoever and then we (the readers) would just be forced to move on from it immediately cause there was more shit happening elsewhere. As well, I really don't like that some characters ended up having finale battle scenes that actually didn't help anything whatsoever and actually just ruined said character's life (iykyk). In general, I just can't say there's a single part of the ending that I'm happy or feel a slight bit of joy at. It's all depressing. I'm depressed.
Part of me feels like there could be more books added to this world later, and the other part of me thinks that I'm just really hoping there will be to make up for the parts of this ending I really didn't like. But idk. Adult fantasy series' endings always fuck me up it seems. I hate unwarranted tragedies.
-------------------------------------
Bonus quotes 🌊
"The failure to act makes cowards of the brave"
"You were not only my sun and moon. You were the entirety of my heavens. What is there now for me but darkness? What is death but a desire long denied?"
"I would know you in the dark, the reflection of my heart, the mirror to my soul"
"I have saved a place for you, my love, in the quiet spaces between the stars"
-------------------------------------
Yeah, I don't know how to feel about any of this. I've gotta say, I am honestly so sick of adult fantasies, sci fis, etc. feeling like they need to make every single character have the worst ending possible cause it's an adult book and for some reason that means no one is allowed to be happy in the end, INCLUDING ME! I also don't like endings that don't actually fully wrap everything up and just leave their characters in weird places for, again, the sake of tragedy. Slight out of context spoiler here, but either the character is dead or they aren't, choose in the book and call it a day, PLEASE!
Basically the gist of my feelings about this book are that I loved the first maybe 500ish pages, maybe a little more, of the book and honestly hated a lot of, if not all of, the finale, so it's really hard for me to translate those feelings into an actually accurate rating. So this rating will probably change as I think on this more.
But, yes, the rest of the book was great. There were still a couple pov chapters I was less interested in (present day balam and okoa specifically), but overall I liked the plotlines of each character and found their stories/arcs throughout this book to be really compelling. I still love all of the characters I loved before (specifically iktan, Xiala, and serapio), but I did genuinely enjoy the other characters as well. And in a very shocking turn of events, I kind of liked okoa by the end?? Idk, he kinda grew on me. And I was kicking my feet and giggling at the iktan and naranpa and the serapio and Xiala content in this book; as little as there was, the scenes with those ships were amazing.
The ending though... kind of hated that. I'm not gonna go into a lot of detail cause a) I don't want to make this review even longer than it already will be and b) I don't want to spoil anything and have to tag this review for spoilers, but I just didn't like where any character ended up in this ending. It basically included every tragic/sad/bittersweet ending trope in series that I absolutely hate when it's done with characters I love, so it was a little miserable to read, ngl. A lot of parts felt rushed, specifically with character deaths. Like, a character would die with no build up to their death scene whatsoever and then we (the readers) would just be forced to move on from it immediately cause there was more shit happening elsewhere. As well, I really don't like that some characters ended up having finale battle scenes that actually didn't help anything whatsoever and actually just ruined said character's life (iykyk). In general, I just can't say there's a single part of the ending that I'm happy or feel a slight bit of joy at. It's all depressing. I'm depressed.
Part of me feels like there could be more books added to this world later, and the other part of me thinks that I'm just really hoping there will be to make up for the parts of this ending I really didn't like. But idk. Adult fantasy series' endings always fuck me up it seems. I hate unwarranted tragedies.
-------------------------------------
Bonus quotes 🌊
"The failure to act makes cowards of the brave"
"You were not only my sun and moon. You were the entirety of my heavens. What is there now for me but darkness? What is death but a desire long denied?"
"I would know you in the dark, the reflection of my heart, the mirror to my soul"
"I have saved a place for you, my love, in the quiet spaces between the stars"
challenging
dark
sad
tense
slow-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:
No
This was a looooong journey but a great journey. It felt unpredictable to the end. There’s many loves, fights, alliances and betrayals. There is so much sadness and yet still kind of hopeful. Glad I read the journey and I will miss the characters.
Content Warnings
Minor: Body horror, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
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:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This series is a slow burn for the ages. Reflecting back to Black Sun, we were always on a slow march to exactly where everything needed to end. And what an ending it was. I can see where some of the more negative reviews might be coming from, but I think this conclusion was shaped into exactly what it needed to be. As a frequent reader of the ‘romantasy’ genre, sometimes I forget that devastation can come in many forms, and Rebecca Roanhorse explores them all in Mirrored Heavens.
I know this is a trilogy, but if Roanhorse decides she wants to revisit this world or these characters in the future, I would be more than happy to take that trip with her.
I know this is a trilogy, but if Roanhorse decides she wants to revisit this world or these characters in the future, I would be more than happy to take that trip with her.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
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