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4.19 AVERAGE
4.19 AVERAGE
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Finished the Montague Siblings trilogy tonight, and I really enjoyed this final installment. Stories where the main character struggles with severe anxiety/depression is an interesting tightrope. I’ve read some reviews where people complained about how frustrating and off-putting it is to have a story narrated through mental illness. And, sure, but imagine LIVING with it? While, yes, it was exhausting, I felt like that was the point. Adrian’s anxiety was frighteningly relatable, and super accurate, at least to my experience. It also works really well to drive the plot, and explain his fixation on somewhat irrational goals.
I loved getting to see the older versions of Monty, and the ways that time has (and hasn’t) changed him. I appreciate that both he and Adrian have to work every day on confronting their various demons, and that there is no magic bullet, but that, like for Sisyphus, the struggle has value and meaning in and of itself. Percy, meanwhile, continues to be a perfect cinnamon roll, and the epilogue is a delight.
My main complaint with the book has to do with Felicity. She continues to be infuriating in so many ways, and one of my issues with her book holds true here - she is essentially involved in scientific imperialism, and ignores the wishes of a local population because she thinks she knows better. It’s never properly called out, at least in those terms, which is my main complaint against this book. Everybody agrees what she did is wrong, but there’s still the sense that the people most impacted by this kind of overreacted, and are backwards in their attitudes. It just felt incongruous with the book’s other progressive political attitudes.
Aside from that, it was a strong listen, with great narration, and a satisfying conclusion to the siblings’ story.
I loved getting to see the older versions of Monty, and the ways that time has (and hasn’t) changed him. I appreciate that both he and Adrian have to work every day on confronting their various demons, and that there is no magic bullet, but that, like for Sisyphus, the struggle has value and meaning in and of itself. Percy, meanwhile, continues to be a perfect cinnamon roll, and the epilogue is a delight.
My main complaint with the book has to do with Felicity. She continues to be infuriating in so many ways, and one of my issues with her book holds true here - she is essentially involved in scientific imperialism, and ignores the wishes of a local population because she thinks she knows better. It’s never properly called out, at least in those terms, which is my main complaint against this book. Everybody agrees what she did is wrong, but there’s still the sense that the people most impacted by this kind of overreacted, and are backwards in their attitudes. It just felt incongruous with the book’s other progressive political attitudes.
Aside from that, it was a strong listen, with great narration, and a satisfying conclusion to the siblings’ story.
Again I’m torn with the 4.5 vs. 5 star. But let’s go with 5 since I actually finish a series within a reasonable about of time or even at all.
There’s no real reason to rate this lower other than again the magic being taken away having read the first two books as the plot kind of follows the same style. So in that case it also gets 5 because had I read it first, it would have been 5.
Most of this was audiobooked and the narrator was the same as first book. I didn’t like that very much because it made it confusing and hard to separate Monty and Adrian as characters. But fantastic narrator for these books in general.
There’s no real reason to rate this lower other than again the magic being taken away having read the first two books as the plot kind of follows the same style. So in that case it also gets 5 because had I read it first, it would have been 5.
Most of this was audiobooked and the narrator was the same as first book. I didn’t like that very much because it made it confusing and hard to separate Monty and Adrian as characters. But fantastic narrator for these books in general.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
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
Where were books like these when I was a teen?? Characters struggling with mental health and reality yet still being kick-ass leads in fantastic regency romps. Beautiful ending to this entertaining yet layered series.
I love Adrian, I love getting to see Monty and Felicity all grown up, I love this entire series. I could read another 500 pages just about them living their lives, honestly.
adventurous
dark
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Satisfying conclusion to the Monatgue siblings’ stories. Adrian is a highly sympathetic character, rebellious and loving as well as struggling with serious anxiety and intrusive thoughts. As a somewhat anxious person myself, I needed to take breaks from the worst of Adrian’s inner spiraling; it’s so well described I could feel my muscles tensing up as I read. At the same time, Adrian and his family embark upon a rollicking pirate adventure in search of a ghost ship, so I had to finish! All ends well, including helpful and hopeful revelations about living successfully with anxiety (and pirates).
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Each installment in this trilogy is less entrancing than the previous one, but not enough to knock the sequels down a star.
The time-skip was fun. I liked Adrian as a character and seeing his development with his anxiety and paranoia was interesting and satisfying. I think there are a lot of people that can heavily relate to his character.
The re-found family, particularly at the end, was also very sweet.
As many of the characters in the book also expressed, I was very sad there wasn’t more Percy. It probably would have pulled attention away from our new MC too much, but the dynamic between Percy and Monty was what absolutely enchanted the first book and it would have been nice to get more of them, although admittedly the last chapter was very much appreciated.
I’m a little bit disappointed that we don’t get to see the Montague father react to his kids reuniting, or his reaction to Adrian’s involvement with the Wig party, but I suppose that would have drawn out the end.
The time-skip was fun. I liked Adrian as a character and seeing his development with his anxiety and paranoia was interesting and satisfying. I think there are a lot of people that can heavily relate to his character.
The re-found family, particularly at the end, was also very sweet.
As many of the characters in the book also expressed, I was very sad there wasn’t more Percy. It probably would have pulled attention away from our new MC too much, but the dynamic between Percy and Monty was what absolutely enchanted the first book and it would have been nice to get more of them, although admittedly the last chapter was very much appreciated.
I’m a little bit disappointed that we don’t get to see the Montague father react to his kids reuniting, or his reaction to Adrian’s involvement with the Wig party, but I suppose that would have drawn out the end.
I appreciated the different depictions of mental illness and how the character growth wasn't about being fixed so much as learning self acceptance and living in the present.