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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
my favorite book in the trilogy! gemma was so much more likable and much more independent and seeing that growth in her makes me so happy!!!! i love libba bray's writing soooo much, only 3 more book then i think i've read all of her novels (before the devil breaks you, vacations from hell, and it's just jump to the left for those wondering)
at first when i picked the book up, i was like sweet! 800 pages of gemma doyle goodness to read ravenously! but this book tested my love for libba bray and honestly, at one point around page five hundred, i almost just gave up. if you're going to read this book and my guess is, if you've gone this far in the series you're going to read it, but you should be aware that it's really and truly OVER EIGHT HUNDRED PAGES LONG and about five hundred of those pages are unnecessary. i read a few interviews with libba bray because she's hilarious and honest and she said this book was the hardest one for her to write, she wishes she'd outlined it in advance and that she had a really difficult time wrapping things up with the characters. it shows. it was endless dawdling around, in the realms, out of the realms, oh here's pippa AGAIN and oh here's circe AGAIN. didn't we wrap this up in rebel angels? no? did we wrap up anything in rebel angels or was that all in my imagination? everyones just doing the same shit? no character growth? no further world building? same problems? same everything?
sigh. SUPER FRUSTRATO. i will not lie, i totally skimmed a good section of the middle. and it took me, like, two months to read, which is ridiculous because books like this are meant to be devoured over the course of a long weekend.
but i stuck with it because a.) libba bray IS a really good, really funny, mouthy, smart alec writer who is a lot of fun to read even when things are boring and drawn out and b.) i think libba bray is at her best when things get nasty, dark, plot heavy and scary and i knew that she was going to pull the stops out somewhere....maybe page 750, but it would happen eventually because it's the final book in the trilogy.
the last three hundred pages are the real book contained inside this sort of overgrown book garden. and by the time we got there, i was ready to fucking kill pippa myself, but whatever, thing eventually got good and even emotional and all the character growth and proof of real friendships between the girls that i'd been looking for came flooding in. and i loved the ending, bittersweet and lovely. i want to write fan fic about felicity in paris.
anyway, i'd like to read some of her other stuff because it sounds like from her other book description she maybe realized that the scary, dark, tongue in cheek stuff is where her power lies.
this book squeezed a third star out of me at the very end because i've had a good time with gemma doyle and i have faith in libba bray.
sigh. SUPER FRUSTRATO. i will not lie, i totally skimmed a good section of the middle. and it took me, like, two months to read, which is ridiculous because books like this are meant to be devoured over the course of a long weekend.
but i stuck with it because a.) libba bray IS a really good, really funny, mouthy, smart alec writer who is a lot of fun to read even when things are boring and drawn out and b.) i think libba bray is at her best when things get nasty, dark, plot heavy and scary and i knew that she was going to pull the stops out somewhere....maybe page 750, but it would happen eventually because it's the final book in the trilogy.
the last three hundred pages are the real book contained inside this sort of overgrown book garden. and by the time we got there, i was ready to fucking kill pippa myself, but whatever, thing eventually got good and even emotional and all the character growth and proof of real friendships between the girls that i'd been looking for came flooding in. and i loved the ending, bittersweet and lovely. i want to write fan fic about felicity in paris.
anyway, i'd like to read some of her other stuff because it sounds like from her other book description she maybe realized that the scary, dark, tongue in cheek stuff is where her power lies.
this book squeezed a third star out of me at the very end because i've had a good time with gemma doyle and i have faith in libba bray.
adventurous
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Still a pretty solid meh on this series in general. Never did manage to sparkle. It suffers in that I don't actually like any of the characters, and while the friend who lent it to me pointed out that their flaws make them more realistic, I still don't generally go out of my way to hang out with people I don't enjoy.
Also I am very very tired of authors going " 'Aaargh,' I cried out in pain." Like, dude, just say "I cried out in pain." Trying to put in the onomatopoeia just brings to mind those stupid stupid 50 Shades of Grey books and please please don't bring those to mind anymore. No "Aargh"s in books ever. Please and thank you.
Also I am very very tired of authors going " 'Aaargh,' I cried out in pain." Like, dude, just say "I cried out in pain." Trying to put in the onomatopoeia just brings to mind those stupid stupid 50 Shades of Grey books and please please don't bring those to mind anymore. No "Aargh"s in books ever. Please and thank you.
This series is my favorite fantasy series. Have I said that before? I was so sad when I finished this book, and realized I’d never read it before so this one WASNT a re-read. All the issues it addresses, all the fully human characters. I love it.
I really don't know what to say about this book, in one word i am disappointed , i expected so much more from the writer because the first two books were really good but this one was just too long too slow and too meaningless , i really liked the first 60 pages or so and the last 100 pages or so :p other then that all of it was unnecessarily long , way too long .
What i mostly like about this books is the timing , i loved reading about the debut , the queen , the manners and all of that and that is meanly the reason why i gave this one 3 stars , also i love the change in the characters although Anna stills intact through the first two books , she doesn't change entirely until the end of this one .And Pippa changes too quickly , from that extremely beautiful and innocent Pippa to the devil incarnated - ok that was a little bit too much-well no not that evil ^^ but she changes in a way so noticeable and scary , And Felicity appears to be not so strong after all , but she is charming and i quite love her , Kartik just kept surprising me during this book he changed too ..and that's all i guess..enough said ..just quite a disappointment
What i mostly like about this books is the timing , i loved reading about the debut , the queen , the manners and all of that and that is meanly the reason why i gave this one 3 stars , also i love the change in the characters although Anna stills intact through the first two books , she doesn't change entirely until the end of this one .And Pippa changes too quickly , from that extremely beautiful and innocent Pippa to the devil incarnated - ok that was a little bit too much-well no not that evil ^^ but she changes in a way so noticeable and scary , And Felicity appears to be not so strong after all , but she is charming and i quite love her , Kartik just kept surprising me during this book he changed too ..and that's all i guess..enough said ..just quite a disappointment
A headache-inducing conclusion to a headache-inducing series. I hoped that I would find something endearing about this final installment that would make my time reading it seem worthwhile, but I guess not. Gemma and Company continue to make foolish decisions fueled by self-absorption and the overarching conflict remains hazy at best, even at the height of the epic final battle (the villain is Circe, then McCleethy, then the Rakshana, then the forest folk, then Pippa, etc, etc). The story is riddled with unnecessary deaths and the girls end up getting what they want without the magic, so there goes all of the conflict of book two and three. This series may have done well as a stand alone novel or perhaps a duology, but certainly not a trilogy.
I know a lot of people really didn't care for this one, but I still liked it. The whole trilogy is rather awesome and empowering. I just wish Kartik didn't have to die :(
Good, But Slow
Overall, a good end to the story...but it felt so unnecessarily long. The first two thirds dragged. By the end, the pace was good. Aside from the meandering, a solid read.
Overall, a good end to the story...but it felt so unnecessarily long. The first two thirds dragged. By the end, the pace was good. Aside from the meandering, a solid read.