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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
The third book in general: I really enjoyed the flow of this third/ final book. I feel like many authors make really lengthy final books that are slow and have parts I feel like could be cut out, but I thought this one flowed perfectly and I always wanted to keep turning the pages. I thought there were some great twists too that made this last one exciting to finish. (spoiler: only the baby one did I guess ahead of time and wasn't sure if I liked it but in the end I did haha)
The ending was tied up great! I cried a little haha. The epilogue was really my favorite part!
The series in general: I thought that Henrietta as our heroine was great and strong especially in this last book. She stood her ground and got into the action.
Magnus was one of my favorite characters because of his evolution and his relationship with Henrietta! so glad they ended up together.
Blackwood I enjoyed until the beginning of this book (but thought he redeemed himself somewhat at the end.) His relationship with Henrietta was not completely convincing to me at the beginning of the third book. They fell in love with each other really fast, but it for sure made the story more interesting.
Rook, I was so glad was not a huge focus in the third book because, in the first two, I did not like him. I didn't think his romantic relationship with Henrietta really did anything for the plot. I would have liked it more if they had just been more like brother and sister/ friends.
Overall, I did enjoy this series!
The ending was tied up great! I cried a little haha. The epilogue was really my favorite part!
The series in general: I thought that Henrietta as our heroine was great and strong especially in this last book. She stood her ground and got into the action.
Magnus was one of my favorite characters because of his evolution and his relationship with Henrietta! so glad they ended up together.
Blackwood I enjoyed until the beginning of this book (but thought he redeemed himself somewhat at the end.) His relationship with Henrietta was not completely convincing to me at the beginning of the third book. They fell in love with each other really fast, but it for sure made the story more interesting.
Rook, I was so glad was not a huge focus in the third book because, in the first two, I did not like him. I didn't think his romantic relationship with Henrietta really did anything for the plot. I would have liked it more if they had just been more like brother and sister/ friends.
Overall, I did enjoy this series!
This was a disappointment. It took three books for this series to decide where it was going and where it went was much weaker than I expected.
I felt the series really derailed with this book. Lots of eye rolling on my part at ridiculous scenes. One crazy thing after another. While I enjoyed the first book in the series and felt it held promise, I can't really recommend the series after reading books 2 and 3.
You can see my full review here!
[b:A Shadow Bright and Burning|23203252|A Shadow Bright and Burning (Kingdom on Fire, #1)|Jessica Cluess|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1460211196s/23203252.jpg|42747312] - ★★★★
[b:A Poison Dark and Drowning|33629245|A Poison Dark and Drowning (Kingdom on Fire, #2)|Jessica Cluess|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1484170878s/33629245.jpg|54470187] - ★★★
*I received an eArc of this book from the Publishers through Netgalley in exchange of an honest
review*
I fought for my life not to DNF this and considering that I didn't, I need some kind of award... or something.
Cause this was bad. My emotions went from uncomfortable, to rage, to disappointment, to finally a lack of caring. The plot was everywhere, execution was lacking and I could care less about the characters... especially the main character.
Because she just... refuses to develop. Over the entire series, she constantly makes mistakes which is fine... if she grew and thought things through. I'm not asking her to be perfect, but it's the simple things that would have prevented the majority of her mistakes.
And who decided to put her in an abusive relationship? It would have been okay if she realized she was in this toxic relationship and didn't continuously talk about fate and how their souls were destined and pity him for being lonely. Yet because of that, even with her finding new love, she never held him accountable for his actions.
If I'm honest? Since a major theme of this entire series is how you can love two people in different ways, I kind of was hoping for a polyamorous relationship... which didn't happen so.....
The only compliments I could give in here was the emphasis on female friendships, Lilly and Dee’s side inconsequential plot, a few LGBTQIAP+ side relationships and Rook’s resolution. Granted, looking back, it does seem a bit out of place, but I’m pulling for straws here. I'm just... disappointed.
09/27-- I hated this
02/09-- Wait... so we're still pushing this love... *enter complicated geometry shape here*?
[b:A Shadow Bright and Burning|23203252|A Shadow Bright and Burning (Kingdom on Fire, #1)|Jessica Cluess|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1460211196s/23203252.jpg|42747312] - ★★★★
[b:A Poison Dark and Drowning|33629245|A Poison Dark and Drowning (Kingdom on Fire, #2)|Jessica Cluess|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1484170878s/33629245.jpg|54470187] - ★★★
*I received an eArc of this book from the Publishers through Netgalley in exchange of an honest
review*
I fought for my life not to DNF this and considering that I didn't, I need some kind of award... or something.
Cause this was bad. My emotions went from uncomfortable, to rage, to disappointment, to finally a lack of caring. The plot was everywhere, execution was lacking and I could care less about the characters... especially the main character.
Because she just... refuses to develop. Over the entire series, she constantly makes mistakes which is fine... if she grew and thought things through. I'm not asking her to be perfect, but it's the simple things that would have prevented the majority of her mistakes.
And who decided to put her in an abusive relationship? It would have been okay if she realized she was in this toxic relationship and didn't continuously talk about fate and how their souls were destined and pity him for being lonely. Yet because of that, even with her finding new love, she never held him accountable for his actions.
If I'm honest? Since a major theme of this entire series is how you can love two people in different ways, I kind of was hoping for a polyamorous relationship... which didn't happen so.....
The only compliments I could give in here was the emphasis on female friendships, Lilly and Dee’s side inconsequential plot, a few LGBTQIAP+ side relationships and Rook’s resolution. Granted, looking back, it does seem a bit out of place, but I’m pulling for straws here. I'm just... disappointed.
09/27-- I hated this
02/09-- Wait... so we're still pushing this love... *enter complicated geometry shape here*?
This series surprised me. It had a unique magic system that blended a lot of things together, but it ended up working well, even if it wasn't completely explained - it just added to the worlds quirkiness. I really enjoyed the writing and how the author crafted the plot together and integrated the characters and their growth so well.
I quite enjoyed Henrietta's development throughout the series. I thought her romantic relationships could have been a little less important to the plot, but overall, I found that her feelings were realistic. I really like how it all ended and who she ended up with.
Overall, this was a fun YA series that I definitely recommend!
I quite enjoyed Henrietta's development throughout the series. I thought her romantic relationships could have been a little less important to the plot, but overall, I found that her feelings were realistic. I really like how it all ended and who she ended up with.
Overall, this was a fun YA series that I definitely recommend!
A Sorrow Fierce and Falling is a great series finale. Henrietta has grown so much over the course of the series. It was good to see how it all played out and for the most part I appreciated how it all wrapped up. Overall, I highly recommend listening to the audiobook. Fiona Hardingham does a marvelous job of bringing this world to life. Was it just me or did anyone else picture Jenna Coleman as young Queen Victoria?
Overall, I liked all the twists and magical elements that are featured in this series. My only complaint is the disastrous romance elements. If that had been handled better this would have been an amazing strong series.
Oof. It's been a long time since a YA novel disappointed me so greatly. This was a struggle to get through, especially after I could tell that we were headed in a direction I would not enjoy.
Honestly, this novel kind of pissed me of, and I think I'm justified in that. Because from the first book, Cluess has been hinting about what we could expect from the novel, whether it be from YA romance tropes, fantasy tropes, or Jane Eyre allusions. And when this novel abruptly deviated from those tropes in a way that both a) didn't really make sense within the context of the series and b) didn't provide commentary on those tropes, it didn't feel like subversion, it felt like bad writing.
The most obvious example (and the one that was the most frustrating to read) of this was of course Blackwood's character. In this novel, Blackwood turns into a straight up mustache-twirling villain. Like, nuance? Never heard of her. It was just extremely unenjoyable to read. Cluess expects her reader to turn on these characters just as quickly as she writes their abrupt changes in personality, but I'm not that fickle. You can't just convince me that two characters are in deep love because you describe their feelings to me in one scene when there hasn't been any action from either character to back that up for hundreds of pages. It doesn't work like that.
Overall, this was just a really bleak novel with a lot of pain, gore, and death. And that would've been okay if Cluess had some larger point or meaning that the story was building toward, like I felt she did in the first book in this series. But a lot of the set up of previous books, the pain of the characters, the romances of the characters, just amounted to nothing in this book. So what was the point of any of it? A very frustrating reading experience.
I gotta give credit though: this series made me care enough about its characters that I was mad when I felt they were handled poorly in this book. So I'll give it that! It was a wild ride, but one that ended with bitter disappointment.
Honestly, this novel kind of pissed me of, and I think I'm justified in that. Because from the first book, Cluess has been hinting about what we could expect from the novel, whether it be from YA romance tropes, fantasy tropes, or Jane Eyre allusions. And when this novel abruptly deviated from those tropes in a way that both a) didn't really make sense within the context of the series and b) didn't provide commentary on those tropes, it didn't feel like subversion, it felt like bad writing.
The most obvious example (and the one that was the most frustrating to read) of this was of course Blackwood's character. In this novel, Blackwood turns into a straight up mustache-twirling villain. Like, nuance? Never heard of her. It was just extremely unenjoyable to read. Cluess expects her reader to turn on these characters just as quickly as she writes their abrupt changes in personality, but I'm not that fickle. You can't just convince me that two characters are in deep love because you describe their feelings to me in one scene when there hasn't been any action from either character to back that up for hundreds of pages. It doesn't work like that.
Overall, this was just a really bleak novel with a lot of pain, gore, and death. And that would've been okay if Cluess had some larger point or meaning that the story was building toward, like I felt she did in the first book in this series. But a lot of the set up of previous books, the pain of the characters, the romances of the characters, just amounted to nothing in this book. So what was the point of any of it? A very frustrating reading experience.
I gotta give credit though: this series made me care enough about its characters that I was mad when I felt they were handled poorly in this book. So I'll give it that! It was a wild ride, but one that ended with bitter disappointment.
Actual rating: 2.5/5 stars
This, overall, was such a letdown in comparison to the first two. Honestly, the only reason I finished this was because I was in a car for two hours and this was the only book I could read.
There was about 150 in the second half of the middle that was actually pretty good, and the ending conclusion with Rh'lem was satisfying, but that was about it. I disliked so much of this, and the ending with Blackwood made me legit angry. The epilogue kind of made up for it a little, but there was no reason for the end to be how it was and it honestly ruined any enjoyment I'd had from the climax.
Magnus is a sweetie, though, and he continues to be the light in this series.
This, overall, was such a letdown in comparison to the first two. Honestly, the only reason I finished this was because I was in a car for two hours and this was the only book I could read.
There was about 150 in the second half of the middle that was actually pretty good, and the ending conclusion with Rh'lem was satisfying, but that was about it. I disliked so much of this, and the ending with Blackwood made me legit angry. The epilogue kind of made up for it a little, but there was no reason for the end to be how it was and it honestly ruined any enjoyment I'd had from the climax.
Magnus is a sweetie, though, and he continues to be the light in this series.