Scan barcode
swancubine's review against another edition
3.0
Non spoilers: I read this while series and I'd say this is a decent conclusion to it. It wrapped up fine, and this particular book had some good moments.
Would I recommend this series? Ummm. They're quick reads and if you understand what they are, you could do worse, I guess.
Catseye Gomez is my favorite and you can read it more or less with no background, so maybe just read that one. Santa Fe is second best, avoid Wizard 0 like the plague.
Now for more specifics:
This book FINALLY gets back to having a little more interpersonal moments between the main characters. When Wyrdrune and Kira are like "we never talk anymore" it was like god, thank you for remembering they're characters again. So many of the books just turned into all action, so that was a nice return. Makepeace got to be more than a "not that kind of fairy" joke for once. However, other characters are totally dropped despite showing up, like the Gypsy (I know).
The overall plot is ok. Talon's plan is thoughtful enough and different from the previous ones, though he was really too similar to Beladon, personality-wise. It might have been cooler for them to work together and then have a final betrayal but whatever.
A BIG problem is the Rafe character. It is just some yikes material, calling a big black guy a brute and hulk is sketchy at least, having him become mentally enslaved and basically in the sunken place is uncomfortable but plot-relevant, however, having him think about how he wants to make white women crave his n***** c*** like, are you serious, very white author? I don't think you are qualified to write stuff like that, sorry. At least he gets to be a hero in the end and not die, and it's not like he's the only poc in the series (which is still fairly commendable for the time it was written), it just covers the whole character in an awkward film.
(And on that topic, why did this series, which could easily be a older teen series, just randomly have enough sex stuff/language to be too much for that age? It always stood out to me.)
One of the strongest aspects of this series, the interesting worldbuilding, is once again mostly absent. It sucks, New York in this is basically just contemporary New York. There are dragons at least, but otherwise everything is practically normal, and I sorely missed the description of a post-post-apocalyptic world that was being rebuilt with magic.
It's not really a wrapup but my final thought is: thankfully Broom was mostly not in this. What a grating character, the Jewish mother stereotype joke was funny like... once, if that. This series tends to repeat the same jokes ad nauseum but what a useless character!
These are kinda scattershot thoughts but idk it's worth putting more time into. These are flawed books with a cool premise that falls short more often than not, and this finale doesn't buck the trend.
Would I recommend this series? Ummm. They're quick reads and if you understand what they are, you could do worse, I guess.
Catseye Gomez is my favorite and you can read it more or less with no background, so maybe just read that one. Santa Fe is second best, avoid Wizard 0 like the plague.
Now for more specifics:
This book FINALLY gets back to having a little more interpersonal moments between the main characters. When Wyrdrune and Kira are like "we never talk anymore" it was like god, thank you for remembering they're characters again. So many of the books just turned into all action, so that was a nice return. Makepeace got to be more than a "not that kind of fairy" joke for once. However, other characters are totally dropped despite showing up, like the Gypsy (I know).
The overall plot is ok. Talon's plan is thoughtful enough and different from the previous ones, though he was really too similar to Beladon, personality-wise. It might have been cooler for them to work together and then have a final betrayal but whatever.
A BIG problem is the Rafe character. It is just some yikes material, calling a big black guy a brute and hulk is sketchy at least, having him become mentally enslaved and basically in the sunken place is uncomfortable but plot-relevant, however, having him think about how he wants to make white women crave his n***** c*** like, are you serious, very white author? I don't think you are qualified to write stuff like that, sorry. At least he gets to be a hero in the end and not die, and it's not like he's the only poc in the series (which is still fairly commendable for the time it was written), it just covers the whole character in an awkward film.
(And on that topic, why did this series, which could easily be a older teen series, just randomly have enough sex stuff/language to be too much for that age? It always stood out to me.)
One of the strongest aspects of this series, the interesting worldbuilding, is once again mostly absent. It sucks, New York in this is basically just contemporary New York. There are dragons at least, but otherwise everything is practically normal, and I sorely missed the description of a post-post-apocalyptic world that was being rebuilt with magic.
It's not really a wrapup but my final thought is: thankfully Broom was mostly not in this. What a grating character, the Jewish mother stereotype joke was funny like... once, if that. This series tends to repeat the same jokes ad nauseum but what a useless character!
These are kinda scattershot thoughts but idk it's worth putting more time into. These are flawed books with a cool premise that falls short more often than not, and this finale doesn't buck the trend.
More...