novelheartbeat 's review for:

Honor Lost by Ann Aguirre, Rachel Caine

4.0

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This one was much slower than the first two. It actually didn't pick up until about the last quarter of the book, and it makes me sad to say that I was kind of bored with it in the beginning and middle. It was lacking the magic that the first two books held for me - the first because I was introduced to the world of the Leviathan and the epic concept of their bonding, as well as the world; the second because it felt like Aurora Rising/Aurora Burning with epic space travel, interesting new alien species, intergalactic space stations, and a creepy abandoned planet (holding a dormant god in prison). I can say unequivocally that the second book was my favorite!

The stakes were SUPER high, but things never really felt dire. Everybody would be panicking about another new threat looming, and I'd just sigh to myself and be like "oh, shut up, you'll be fine."

Spoiler

Admittedly, we did lose Suncross. Which sucked really bad. (I cried!! He was my fave!!) But none of the actual main characters were ever in danger, which wasn't surprising at all.

I liked the romance between Bea and Zara well enough - it was sweet, took a long time to develop (slow burn yasss) - but I never really felt the chemistry between them even though I really liked them together.

Spoiler

Also, the kinda sorta threesome between Bea, Zara, and Nadim was a bit weird, sorry. So was Zara's masturbating with Nadim...O__O

I do, however really appreciate the fact that they saved the kissy kissy for appropriate times - there's nothing that pisses me off more in the middle of a high stakes sci-fi or fantasy when the main couple is freakin' making out when everyone is in mortal peril *rolls eyes* They would kiss every once in a while, but a chaste we-have-more-important-things-to-do kiss. I love when romance takes a backseat to the action!

The main thing I enjoyed about this one in the first half was the world and all of the characters. I still loved those parts! I loved the side characters even more in this one, especially Suncross and Chao-Xing! Suncross stole the title of Favorite Character from Starcurrent in this one - mostly because Starcross is fierce and hilarious and Starcurrent was barely present in this book. I loved him SO MUCH! I loved when he hugged Zara ("This is a hug? Am doing it right?") and then said "Live with honor or die with glory, Zeerakull." YAAASSS HE'S SO BADASS. I found C-X growing on me, too - I actually really liked the direction her character took!

Spoiler

I loved her as Empress Zhang Chao-Xyll, that was so badass! Empress of the Phage, yasss! I wasn't sure what direction things were going to go when Xyll took her over (which was seriously creepy, btw), but I enjoyed how it all played out! It was kinda disturbing when the Phage ATE Lifekiller, oh my.

The battle at the end was badass! I really enjoyed how the final installment wrapped up, it was a satisfying end to a fantastic trilogy!


This review was originally posted on Novel Heartbeat. To see a breakdown of my assessment, please visit the full review here.