Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Winter

UGHHHHHHH childhood reread!!!! amazing!!!!!!! it genuinely is suuuuch a good ending to this series and it wraps everything up so nicely!! winter has always been one of my favorites, so happy to see her get her flowers, and honestly surprised the psychosis rep held up a decade later. winter is humanized, and while we don't really have an insta-cure, sudden healing from psychosis, that was what i loved as somebody who struggles with it myself. the story is genuinely so...i loved this series so much as a kid and i adore it now. so sad it's over, this world is magical!!

my only critiques with the books is, well, i'm just not a big fan of some of the pairings!! lol, i hated cresswell so bad that i just skipped some of their portions, just hate that dynamic here!! however, knowing the author came from sailor moon fanfic made sooo much sense. scarlet and wolf aren't like rotating in my mind (just cause i was losing it half the time i saw them say alpha and wolf references lol), but holy shit!! they r love...also fucking scarlet is just so good but also ughhhh the fighting everything, even yourself, just for the one you love!! i wish we got more of jacin and winter because where we only had them for a single book, it ran more of a risk of them feeling like instalove, even though they knew each other forever! they have my heart and i just wished we got maybe not a romantic relationship from them, but that's not really the kind of series tlc is. cinder and kai? cinder and kai???? goodness gracious i am soooo normal about them, they're actually amazing.

the pacing itched my brain so much, i finished this book in one day!! it just flies by, and i cannot recommend this series enough. love love love! sad to see it go, maybe another reread in a year or so!

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noellegrace8's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

A perfect ending to a fantastic series. I'm going to miss it...

Also. Winter & Jacin > everyone else. I freaking love them.

Winter's story also has the most clever parallels to her fairytale as well (in my humble opinion). Cinder is a close second, but I think Winter's story is a lot more exciting.

The revolution is a bit challenging, as it (understandably) has to wrap up every bit of convoluted plot line and can be a bit anxiety-inducing. Sometimes you genuinely feel that the characters are about to die and/or lose.

The last chapters are done in the way of the movie version of the Return of the King - where we get to see each person's ending. It is a bit saccharine, but in the perfect way that modern fairy tales are.

I was glad to see Cress & Thorne finally be solid. It was frustrating to read their back-and-forth in book 3, but there are some PERFECTLY written scenes between the two of them in this one. Also, can I just say that I love the mild allusion to other versions of Rapunzel? Like how Thorne stabs Cress in the side just like Mother Gothel stabs Flynn in Tangled?

I did struggle a bit when it was revealed that Levana has a disfigured face. Mostly because I don't understand how cyborgs are a reality but plastic surgery isn't? But more than that, it seemed like a weak/frustrating plot device, one that goes against the whole idea of Snow White (that the Evil Queen *is* in fact gorgeous on the outside, but can't understand that her *heart* is ugly). Still not anything worth docking stars for.

Seriously. So. Good.

I don't factor audiobook narrators' performances into my overall star rating, but I would give Rebecca Soler a 4/5 for this one. As previously stated in my other reviews of books 1-3, I got used to her slightly different voices and grew to appreciate them, especially certain characters. There were still some pieces that should have been re-recorded due to minor errors, but again, that feels like it should be on whoever did the mixing and production. But the one thing that really made me dock that extra half star compared to last time, was Winter's voice. She is voiced like a baby, and it was grating on my ears. I also don't appreciate the infantilization of a character who is 17 with a love interest who is 19. It just feels icky. I think she could have come across as "crazy" yet "alluring" and "innocent" without being voiced as a child.

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