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A review by shelbyfayy
The Beauty of Darkness by Mary E. Pearson
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Overall, this was an extremely satisfying end to a really good trilogy. The character growth we’ve seen from book one continued and never felt forced, ending with the right people getting their right endings for better or for worse.
Lia truly came into her own here, and not always in the best way. She still makes mistakes, but she trusts her own power and her own intuition even when others don’t. She stands up for everyone and everything she believes in, no longer content to just run away and save herself. Rafe has learned to let his trauma over Lia in danger go to some degree, how to see past his own almost blinding love for her, and also that there are compromises to be had in every healthy relationship—though don’t get me started on how easy he got off for that last epic fight the pair had before their split. Yes, he only got engaged to what’s-her-name to save Lia, but they were split before that. He gave her an ultimatum for no apparent reason and then wanted to be all shocked-Pikachu-face when she called him on it. His promises of forever meant jack-all in that moment. I know he was trying to force her hand into staying with him in some sly way, and that’s devious enough for its own conversation, but then he stuck to his word and let that be the end of them. Wow. Kaden… I’m sure Kaden learned something… No, but in all seriousness, he continued his own epic internal journey to seeing that there are innocents and villains on both sides of the war, and that all those innocents deserve protection, not just the ones on his side. Even if that realization means betraying those he once held dear. It was a beautiful arc.
The Komizar made a triumphant return only to get comically ended once again. I almost wonder if there was even a point. He gave Lia nightmares for weeks, maybe even months, and is ended with a stupid long-live-the-king yeet off a cliff? Ugh. Anyway. The other background characters remained loveable and endearing and Jeb deserved better. That’s all I’ll say to that.
The actual battles and war planning talks were kept mercifully brief and concise. I love high fantasy with the best of them, but war and fighting are not my thing. I don’t want endless pages dedicated to them. This one was perfectly paced and written, imo, with all the proper emotion and turmoil and none of the drag.
The writing throughout the entire book was gorgeous, descriptive, and flowing, without inundating the reader with a word salad of no meaning. It only got better as the series progressed, and this was the pinnacle for me. I can only hope her follow-up series is even better. You can bet I’ll be checking it out. I only docked the tiniest of half-stars because I thought the ending was kind of rushed. I would have loved to see a bit more of the nations rebuilding, their new tentative peace, and Lia being a badass ruler. And dammit, I wanted to see Rafe have to grovel a little for his own mistakes!! Here’s hoping at least some of that will be in the next duology.
Lia truly came into her own here, and not always in the best way. She still makes mistakes, but she trusts her own power and her own intuition even when others don’t. She stands up for everyone and everything she believes in, no longer content to just run away and save herself. Rafe has learned to let his trauma over Lia in danger go to some degree, how to see past his own almost blinding love for her, and also that there are compromises to be had in every healthy relationship—though don’t get me started on how easy he got off for that last epic fight the pair had before their split. Yes, he only got engaged to what’s-her-name to save Lia, but they were split before that. He gave her an ultimatum for no apparent reason and then wanted to be all shocked-Pikachu-face when she called him on it. His promises of forever meant jack-all in that moment. I know he was trying to force her hand into staying with him in some sly way, and that’s devious enough for its own conversation, but then he stuck to his word and let that be the end of them. Wow. Kaden… I’m sure Kaden learned something… No, but in all seriousness, he continued his own epic internal journey to seeing that there are innocents and villains on both sides of the war, and that all those innocents deserve protection, not just the ones on his side. Even if that realization means betraying those he once held dear. It was a beautiful arc.
The Komizar made a triumphant return only to get comically ended once again. I almost wonder if there was even a point. He gave Lia nightmares for weeks, maybe even months, and is ended with a stupid long-live-the-king yeet off a cliff? Ugh. Anyway. The other background characters remained loveable and endearing and Jeb deserved better. That’s all I’ll say to that.
The actual battles and war planning talks were kept mercifully brief and concise. I love high fantasy with the best of them, but war and fighting are not my thing. I don’t want endless pages dedicated to them. This one was perfectly paced and written, imo, with all the proper emotion and turmoil and none of the drag.
The writing throughout the entire book was gorgeous, descriptive, and flowing, without inundating the reader with a word salad of no meaning. It only got better as the series progressed, and this was the pinnacle for me. I can only hope her follow-up series is even better. You can bet I’ll be checking it out. I only docked the tiniest of half-stars because I thought the ending was kind of rushed. I would have loved to see a bit more of the nations rebuilding, their new tentative peace, and Lia being a badass ruler. And dammit, I wanted to see Rafe have to grovel a little for his own mistakes!! Here’s hoping at least some of that will be in the next duology.