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chelsea2020's review against another edition
5.0
I am fan-girling so freaking hard right now that I cannot even contain myself!!! What an epic conclusion to this wonderfully mythological book!! That battle though....Daaaannnggg!!! Be still, my beating heart.
Sorry, not sorry, for that bit of obnoxious fan-girling. I just HAD to get it out of my system. You understand.
Anyhoo, this final book in the Starling Saga was full of action, riddles, and a prophecy that seemed destined to destroy them all. But Mason is looking for a loophole around every corner. As she had been numerously told, destiny is in the eyes of the one who interpret's it. Destiny is exactly what Mason decides to make of it. And so she shall fight.
I loved the growth that my favorite characters experienced; fighting their inner demons, remaining a team throughout all the turmoil, and loving each other with all of their valiant souls. *swoons*
About the only compliant I had for this book (and the series itself, now that I think about it) was that the entirety of it occurred in literally ONE FREAKING DAY!! ONE DAY, and Ragnarok had time to come to fruition and conclusion. Um...What?? Excuse Me?? How many hours are in a freaking day?! Not enough for al the crap that happened to happen, that's for farm sure. But no matter. All's well that ends well.
Sorry, not sorry, for that bit of obnoxious fan-girling. I just HAD to get it out of my system. You understand.
Anyhoo, this final book in the Starling Saga was full of action, riddles, and a prophecy that seemed destined to destroy them all. But Mason is looking for a loophole around every corner. As she had been numerously told, destiny is in the eyes of the one who interpret's it. Destiny is exactly what Mason decides to make of it. And so she shall fight.
I loved the growth that my favorite characters experienced; fighting their inner demons, remaining a team throughout all the turmoil, and loving each other with all of their valiant souls. *swoons*
About the only compliant I had for this book (and the series itself, now that I think about it) was that the entirety of it occurred in literally ONE FREAKING DAY!! ONE DAY, and Ragnarok had time to come to fruition and conclusion. Um...What?? Excuse Me?? How many hours are in a freaking day?! Not enough for al the crap that happened to happen, that's for farm sure. But no matter. All's well that ends well.
amybraunauthor's review against another edition
5.0
Great ending to a really good series. I liked how the cliffhanger ending led to something big and important rather than just fade into shock value. The characters made good arcs and there was a huge array of new and old characters. There was a little tragedy, though not as much as I expected. I actually wish the epilogue was a little longer because there were a few questions that didn't wrap up the way I hoped they would or were kind of abandoned. But I still really liked how things wrapped up. I'm going to miss Mason, Fenn, Rafe, and Roth, and am glad to have given this action-packed, suspense filled story a chance.
littlewhiterabbitreads's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
hollyollyoxenfree's review against another edition
5.0
Honestly, this book was perfect for me. It came after a lot of disappointments and books that were just okay and made me forget all about them. It was a phenomenal ending to a fabulous series and I couldn't have asked for anything better. I am very satisfied with how everything went down. No complaints here!! Loved, loved, LOVED this series. All the mythologies rolled into one book? Yes please! I am truly sorry to have finished! I will miss this series but am so relieved it ended on a high note!
persynile's review against another edition
5.0
What a wild apocalypse ride! Livingston really knows how to wrap up a series that makes my heart soar and long for another epilogue and another. The way I want all the Starling cast to meet up with Wondrous Strange at Rafe's club to exchange stories!
perilous1's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 Stars
Originally reviewed for YA Books Central: http://www.yabookscentral.com/yafiction/18328-transcendent
This third and final book in the Starling series is a multi-POV work of urban fantasy, heavy on the Norse mythology angle while incorporating a mashup of pantheons that include ancient Greek and Egyptian elements.
I will admit upfront that I haven’t read the first two in the series, and as this book doesn’t seem meant to stand alone particularly well, I recognize my lack of foreknowledge has likely impeded my enjoyment. Still, the story took off from a high point of action (which must have been a cliffhanger in the previous book) and didn’t slow until about halfway through. This reader would liken the feel of Transcendent to a sort of matured YA version of the Percy Jackson series—demi-god teens (who may or may not be aware of their ancestry) all attending a special school for the preternaturally-inclined, gods running amuck causing external conflict, destiny vs. personal choices causing internal conflict, cryptic prophecies, an emphasis on teamwork and loyalty, etc. The story features a fairly large (though largely distinct) cast, and is told from numerous 3rd-person points of view—though the primary focus (outside of the Ragnarok end-of-the-world scenario) is on the romantic relationship between Mason and Frennrys.
A significant positive to this book is Livingston’s appealing prose and solid handling of the many battle scenes. The pacing of this story carried me along engrossingly for the first half, dropping in enough breadcrumbs that I could piece together critical events from the previous books. I even found myself wanting to know several characters better so I’d know if I wanted them to succeed. Unfortunately, with so much going on and a set of flat villains whose motives I didn’t really understand, the second half of the story ended up feeling needlessly drawn out.
Mason makes for a sturdy, determined heroine—though in this book it was never very clear why she and Fennrys developed such a passion for each other over the course of what this reader understands to be the few days (or possibly weeks) time this series is taking place within. Mason’s claustrophobia issue is brought up now and again, but an explanation of its cause was only alluded to. (My assumption is that the past trauma with her brother somehow killing her when she was a child is given vividness in one of the previous books.)
Heather, the only mundane human featured in this storyline, turned out to be one of the most likeable and interesting characters. The ex-boyfriend she still loves is ridiculously, senselessly in love with Mason—who is already clearly involved with someone else. But while she’s in pain, Heather is not bitter enough to hate Mason for what she can’t control, nor petty enough to twist fate in her favor. Her bravery in the face of her own frailty carried more emotional weight and meaning than most (if not all) of the other nearly indestructible players on this chessboard o’ fate.
I would recommend this book for those with a penchant for Norse mythology and a preference for series that feel like one long, continuous work that’s been broken into more manageable pieces.
Favorite quote:
"War up close and personal is bad. At a distance, it's monstrous."
Originally reviewed for YA Books Central: http://www.yabookscentral.com/yafiction/18328-transcendent
This third and final book in the Starling series is a multi-POV work of urban fantasy, heavy on the Norse mythology angle while incorporating a mashup of pantheons that include ancient Greek and Egyptian elements.
I will admit upfront that I haven’t read the first two in the series, and as this book doesn’t seem meant to stand alone particularly well, I recognize my lack of foreknowledge has likely impeded my enjoyment. Still, the story took off from a high point of action (which must have been a cliffhanger in the previous book) and didn’t slow until about halfway through. This reader would liken the feel of Transcendent to a sort of matured YA version of the Percy Jackson series—demi-god teens (who may or may not be aware of their ancestry) all attending a special school for the preternaturally-inclined, gods running amuck causing external conflict, destiny vs. personal choices causing internal conflict, cryptic prophecies, an emphasis on teamwork and loyalty, etc. The story features a fairly large (though largely distinct) cast, and is told from numerous 3rd-person points of view—though the primary focus (outside of the Ragnarok end-of-the-world scenario) is on the romantic relationship between Mason and Frennrys.
A significant positive to this book is Livingston’s appealing prose and solid handling of the many battle scenes. The pacing of this story carried me along engrossingly for the first half, dropping in enough breadcrumbs that I could piece together critical events from the previous books. I even found myself wanting to know several characters better so I’d know if I wanted them to succeed. Unfortunately, with so much going on and a set of flat villains whose motives I didn’t really understand, the second half of the story ended up feeling needlessly drawn out.
Mason makes for a sturdy, determined heroine—though in this book it was never very clear why she and Fennrys developed such a passion for each other over the course of what this reader understands to be the few days (or possibly weeks) time this series is taking place within. Mason’s claustrophobia issue is brought up now and again, but an explanation of its cause was only alluded to. (My assumption is that the past trauma with her brother somehow killing her when she was a child is given vividness in one of the previous books.)
Heather, the only mundane human featured in this storyline, turned out to be one of the most likeable and interesting characters. The ex-boyfriend she still loves is ridiculously, senselessly in love with Mason—who is already clearly involved with someone else. But while she’s in pain, Heather is not bitter enough to hate Mason for what she can’t control, nor petty enough to twist fate in her favor. Her bravery in the face of her own frailty carried more emotional weight and meaning than most (if not all) of the other nearly indestructible players on this chessboard o’ fate.
I would recommend this book for those with a penchant for Norse mythology and a preference for series that feel like one long, continuous work that’s been broken into more manageable pieces.
Favorite quote:
"War up close and personal is bad. At a distance, it's monstrous."
amalies's review against another edition
4.0
I am really glad that the third book in his series really wrapped up end that were left open through the first two books. Of course there is the gamut of death, love, war and important decisions to make on the spot. There were a few things that were really hard for me to piece together, but maybe if I had a bit more background understanding of Norse mythology I would have been able to grasp it getter. I like how the fates of all the main characters turned out. I also like that they are not all neatly wrapped up which leaves us to see that the story will continue on past our view into it and loves go on no matter what we learn. The visitation of all the various supernatural aspects of the book are very cool and well woven into the story. I did enjoy trying to dissect the people who were descendants of Greek gods/semi-gods/etc. from Norse history. It is really interesting intertwining all of them. One of my main causes of dislike is all he swearing. Just because teenagers do it around the world, doesn't mean that you need to bring that to a story. It's unnecessary. The author was the audiobook reader. Her small laugh is incredibly annoying and curt. Definitely my least favorite part of the listening experience. However, I feel like there were several moments that an author reading a book made the story really good, esp. The syntactical reading of the prophecy when the punctuation changed and therefor people's understanding changed. It was a good book.
mayagotschall's review against another edition
2.0
read more than a quarter but just couldn’t finish it, it just seemed all over the place- moving it to the rare will never complete section
lpcoolgirl's review against another edition
5.0
Absolutely loved reading this book! Such a great ending, lots of twists and turns and clever workings! Just loved that ending!