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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
This series was one of favorites! It had wonderful character development, world building and some really good plot points for our main character to get through. I found myself a little frustrated, along with Kelsea, in some of the plot points for the book.
I can't avoid this review without spoilers, so here I go.
The story for the first two books is wonderful, we meet Kelsea in the first book, and we meet Lily in the second book. The 2nd book starts to uncover events leading up to the Crossing, and we get some more backstory into the plot of how Tearling came to be, and it's monarchy head. The 3rd book chronicles the first few years after the Crossing, and is pretty well formed.
My struggle with this series comes with the last few chapters. I had a really hard time understanding what actually happened?
What powers do the sapphires she carries, have? They were able to take her back in time? How did the world she comes to in the end come about? If the Crossing went different, how is that she still came into existence?
I felt like there was such amazing buildup to the plot, over almost 1400 pages, only to be left a little unfulfilled. It felt a little too easy when she was able to just go back in time, and start from the beginning. What force let her do that? The books did slowly power up the abilities of the sapphires, but I had hard time believing they would allow for her to alter something that happened centuries ago. I loved the book series, I loved the characters, and I hope with some time I can finally understand the ending!
I can't avoid this review without spoilers, so here I go.
The story for the first two books is wonderful, we meet Kelsea in the first book, and we meet Lily in the second book. The 2nd book starts to uncover events leading up to the Crossing, and we get some more backstory into the plot of how Tearling came to be, and it's monarchy head. The 3rd book chronicles the first few years after the Crossing, and is pretty well formed.
My struggle with this series comes with the last few chapters. I had a really hard time understanding what actually happened?
What powers do the sapphires she carries, have? They were able to take her back in time? How did the world she comes to in the end come about? If the Crossing went different, how is that she still came into existence?
I felt like there was such amazing buildup to the plot, over almost 1400 pages, only to be left a little unfulfilled. It felt a little too easy when she was able to just go back in time, and start from the beginning. What force let her do that? The books did slowly power up the abilities of the sapphires, but I had hard time believing they would allow for her to alter something that happened centuries ago. I loved the book series, I loved the characters, and I hope with some time I can finally understand the ending!
A good message about the importance of remembering our history I we don’t want to find ourselves in the same cycle. Interesting examination of how the collective good and the individual good can conflict, and what kinds of decisions we make in those times. It was a particularly meaningful message given our current political climate. I also loved that it ended in no way I would have ever conceived.
So I wasn’t expecting much of this book. I was just hoping it would be slightly better than it’s predecessors (which really isn’t asking much). And wow did it let me down big time.
**** Spoilers****
So this entire long, difficult series of events that are complex and overwrought, these abundant amounts of characters who I couldn’t care less about, this long and arduous plot that we’ve soldiered on through... all of it concludes so that essentially none of it has mattered? This is so infuriating. I think Johansson tackles way too many characters, topics, ideologies, plot lines, etc for three books. Yet, she crams all of this information in and it is all for nothing? Kelsea isn’t even the queen that fixes the Tearling at the end, she just set the wheels in motion. Wow this series was disappointing.
**** Spoilers****
So this entire long, difficult series of events that are complex and overwrought, these abundant amounts of characters who I couldn’t care less about, this long and arduous plot that we’ve soldiered on through... all of it concludes so that essentially none of it has mattered? This is so infuriating. I think Johansson tackles way too many characters, topics, ideologies, plot lines, etc for three books. Yet, she crams all of this information in and it is all for nothing? Kelsea isn’t even the queen that fixes the Tearling at the end, she just set the wheels in motion. Wow this series was disappointing.
UGH. This book and book 2 should have been paired together as the format and style of writing matches and the storyline flows smoothly. BUT when read in close succession with book 1, the last two books feel disjointed. I also felt that the ending to the last book fell flat, almost like the author wasn't sure where her story was going to end and possibly got tired of writing and ended it.
Good ending to the series, I was a bit bummed about the actual ending of the book ...
overall enjoyed this entire series. dunno if i would push it on people. if you wanna read it, please do so and we can talk about it if you want. the writing is quality, and i enjoyed the character development + backstory. i find the plot comes up short. a valiant attempt nonetheless.
potential spoilers below...
things I enjoyed:
- Katie's pov (hearing about the town and its trajectory)
- the side characters (brenna's narrative was so cool + ewen is just so pure, i love his pov and all that he does)
things that disappointed:
- revelations of certain character backgrounds (e.g. the fetch - what a set up! + row finn - he's creepy af but i think it would have been interesting to see into his thoughts, otherwise he comes off as being quite 1 dimensional)
- pen (i'm not the biiigggest fan of this character, but i feel like he should have been treated better... haha.)
- brenna (i know this isn't one of the bigger plot points but i think she was a really interesting character. what happened to her was anticlimactic to say the least but i guess you gotta do what you gotta do to wrap! up! your! story!)
on the fence:
- red queen ( i could have seen that ending coming....and i think this was the ending i would have chosen for her. but perhaps a bit too convenient. with that said, i think at this point the plot might have been a bit too fractured with the multiple antagonists)
- THAT ENDING DOE. (i don't want to be quick to trash it b/c it might be the ending we need (rather than the one we want). but it would have been nice if she could have written something that validated Kelsea... and her history... WITH THAT SAID, what happened with the mace killed me. SIGH.)
potential spoilers below...
things I enjoyed:
- Katie's pov (hearing about the town and its trajectory)
- the side characters (brenna's narrative was so cool + ewen is just so pure, i love his pov and all that he does)
things that disappointed:
- revelations of certain character backgrounds (e.g. the fetch - what a set up! + row finn - he's creepy af but i think it would have been interesting to see into his thoughts, otherwise he comes off as being quite 1 dimensional)
- pen (i'm not the biiigggest fan of this character, but i feel like he should have been treated better... haha.)
- brenna (i know this isn't one of the bigger plot points but i think she was a really interesting character. what happened to her was anticlimactic to say the least but i guess you gotta do what you gotta do to wrap! up! your! story!)
on the fence:
- red queen ( i could have seen that ending coming....and i think this was the ending i would have chosen for her. but perhaps a bit too convenient. with that said, i think at this point the plot might have been a bit too fractured with the multiple antagonists)
- THAT ENDING DOE. (i don't want to be quick to trash it b/c it might be the ending we need (rather than the one we want). but it would have been nice if she could have written something that validated Kelsea... and her history... WITH THAT SAID, what happened with the mace killed me. SIGH.)
I'm not sure how I feel about this book. The ending was good, I can appreciate that it was different. But it leaves me feeling so empty. All these characters that I've grown attached to are gone. I also feel like it doesn't make sense. I feel like she just wouldn't exist at the end of all of it because she changed too much of the past. The ending did not live up to what I hoped for. It seems like the author just had an idea but didn't spend much time with developing how this new perfect Tearling world would end. Otherwise, I enjoyed the entire book except the last chapter.
OH MY GOD IM SO FUCKING MAD RIGHT NOW.
I DID NOT.
DID NOT.
DID NOT LIKE THE ENDING IN THE SLIGHTEST, NOPE. bUT I WILL ANALYZE WITH A CLEAR HEAD ONCE I ACCEPT THE ENDING.
this could take a while, but maybe not???? I’m just very mad, but I can’t say I’m slowly letting the reasoning of the ending creep in, and I understand at least. It was a good fucking move, I just didn’t expect it because it was so far out of left field (in my mind).
I DID NOT.
DID NOT.
DID NOT LIKE THE ENDING IN THE SLIGHTEST, NOPE. bUT I WILL ANALYZE WITH A CLEAR HEAD ONCE I ACCEPT THE ENDING.
this could take a while, but maybe not???? I’m just very mad, but I can’t say I’m slowly letting the reasoning of the ending creep in, and I understand at least. It was a good fucking move, I just didn’t expect it because it was so far out of left field (in my mind).
I almost gave up on this one, but out of sheer what-happens-next-edness, I persevered. Definitely felt like the weakest installment, and perhaps rushed to market without some of the polish you might expect from the culmination of a trilogy. Characters felt flat, and story unfolded too quickly and jarringly to really feel complete. Just not what I was hoping for.