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dejanira's review against another edition
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
4.75
This book feels like putting together the missing pieces into a puzzle; it's a satisfying ending to a masterfully written series.
I have only one controversial take that cost the book the 0.25 star: I decided that Orion Lake needed to die.
I have only one controversial take that cost the book the 0.25 star:
Content Warnings
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Abortion, Body horror, Blood, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Torture
nerdy_reader_9571's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
While I was glad that this third installment took place in locations other than the one that the previous two took place in, the story felt rushed and almost like two books compressed into one. There were a lot of events jam-packed into this one book with roughly the same amount of constant exposition and world-building as the first two installments in the series.
Overall, though, I enjoyed reading it, and I thought that everything within the story fit the lore of the first two books well and provided a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy.
Overall, though, I enjoyed reading it, and I thought that everything within the story fit the lore of the first two books well and provided a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Murder, Torture, and Violence
bakerindale's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
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? It's complicated
4.75
Novik has done it again; it’s a worthy finale for the series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Torture, and Abortion
firefenix14's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
LOVE this trilogy!!! This is the second time I've read through this series, first time was early 2023. I blew through these because I love the world and the story. El has so much going on, and the number of shifts and turns in this is amazing and captivating. There are definitely some slower moments within her internal dialogue incorporating more world building/history that I felt were unnecessary, but overall I really loved this series. Something is great about a bitter main character that begrudgingly does the right thing even though it is insanely hard. She never takes the easy way out, that's for sure. Everything about Orion and what he is, the way her mum tried to heal him, and the resolution between El and Deepthi Sharma was really well written. The emotional conclusion of that felt really satisfying, and her granddad threatening to leave the house/estate was a great show of his real love for Arjun, El, and her mom.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Torture
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and War
Minor: Sexual content
blacksphinx's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
5.0
What the hell, Novik did it again.
I was getting really frustrated with the first half of the book. At least three times, a character would say a couple of sentences and then El would explain a ton of inferred details to us for several pages. We had some important plot threads established, and pages were ticking by with no progress being made on them. El spent a lot of time not doing a damn thing, thinking for pages about how she didn't know what to do. There was a decent chunk spent on her wanting to accomplish something I thought was extremely stupid and didn't understand her motives - and then, at almost the 50% mark, the chess pieces were finally all on the board and the game began.
I kept saying to myself "there's no way she can solve [plot thread] in [pages left]" and then she DID over and over again until I had every answer I wanted. I actually want to go back and reread the prior two books knowing what I know now, because the reveals in this book were set up long before she started drafting it, there's just no way. It is a little bit of a spoiler to say this, so just skip over it, but watching El walk away from Omelas made me cry. In this present moment of multiple genocides and an ongoing, stubbornly-ignored pandemic, it hit me just right. "You got us all out for good, and they're trying to start a war over the bones. There's a better way. We know there's a better way. And you're trying to find it."
I was getting really frustrated with the first half of the book. At least three times, a character would say a couple of sentences and then El would explain a ton of inferred details to us for several pages. We had some important plot threads established, and pages were ticking by with no progress being made on them. El spent a lot of time not doing a damn thing, thinking for pages about how she didn't know what to do. There was a decent chunk spent on her wanting to accomplish something I thought was extremely stupid and didn't understand her motives - and then, at almost the 50% mark, the chess pieces were finally all on the board and the game began.
I kept saying to myself "there's no way she can solve [plot thread] in [pages left]" and then she DID over and over again until I had every answer I wanted. I actually want to go back and reread the prior two books knowing what I know now, because the reveals in this book were set up long before she started drafting it, there's just no way. It is a little bit of a spoiler to say this, so just skip over it, but watching El walk away from Omelas made me cry. In this present moment of multiple genocides and an ongoing, stubbornly-ignored pandemic, it hit me just right. "You got us all out for good, and they're trying to start a war over the bones. There's a better way. We know there's a better way. And you're trying to find it."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Torture, Grief, Gore, Confinement, and Drug use
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Classism
Minor: Vomit, Child death, Pregnancy, and Homophobia
catinaflatcap's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Torture
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
gabeagenda's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Child death, Child abuse, and Violence
beccaand's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Torture, Body horror, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse and War
Minor: Sexual content and Death of parent
e_haubz's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.5
I really liked this book; but I think not as much as I liked the series.
Things I loved:
Things I loved:
- The ending
- The importance of balance throughout - this gets introduced very early in Book 1, but the payoff isn’t until Book 3
- Liesel, the absolute MVP of multiple crises
- The magic system, and its consistency - and again, balance is key to it, I friggin’ LOVE that El’s mom literally gets around in the world on the strength of her incredible karma, and it works! It’s like the rules by which we want our world to function, but with, you know, monsters too
Things I do not love:
- Honestly… still a little confused about Ophelia’s motivations and backstory
- And I had a hard time, at times, following the logic of some plot points, because El herself is making logical leaps in real time
…but it all came together in the essential ways to make the end make sense.
So, I feel like I’m over-scoring slightly, but this book went so much deeper into a well-structured magic system, we got more of most of the characters we loved, and we got a glimpse of the outside world in a really fun globe-trotty way - all to close out a pretty evenly-paced series in a highly satisfying way. 4.5 seems right.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Torture
ruthannejoy's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Violence, Torture, and War