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margot95 's review for:
Door of Bruises
by Sierra Simone
It’s been a while since a book gave me a book hangover, but holy hell.
For reference—I arrived at the last page of Door of Bruises and immediately texted a friend about it, after which we spent an hour picking apart our feelings over the phone. No matter how many stars I give to this review, no matter my complicated feelings on some elements, I have to commend Sierra Simone for that. She made me care.
And care I did. The strongest aspect of the series, aside from the evocative setting, has always been the characters for me. Door of Bruises has the challenging task of concluding six character arcs as well as a number of relationship arcs, and for the most part, the book pulls it off. There were more Rebecca chapters in this book than I expected, and they do wonders for Rebecca’s character and her relationship with Delphine. I could be difficult here and say they could’ve used an additional chapter or two near the end, but I loved what they did get. There is a real maturity to their scenes and I enjoyed seeing them navigate the conflict between them.
That maturity bleeds over into the other storylines too. My absolute favorite thing about this book is the inclusion of Auden’s perspective. After a bit of a rocky start, Auden started to grow on me, and Door of Bruises just knocks it out of the park when it comes to his character. I’ve no remarks there. The series has never had any trouble making Auden and Saint a compelling dynamic, so unsurprisingly, this final book is no different. In many ways, their relationship feels like the central storyline to me. I have my thoughts on that and where it leaves Poe, but credit where credit’s due, the storyline is pretty fucking great and remains a highlight up until the final page.
Now for the part where I dutifully list some minor quibbles with Door of Bruises. The balance between characters feels especially off in this one, mostly to the detriment of Becket’s development and, more disappointingly, Poe’s. Again, I could go on a for a few paragraphs about the way Poe has been sidelined since Feast of Sparks, but I’ll just stick with saying that I think she deserved more, and that if the ending falls a little flat, it’s entirely because Poe’s role in the story and relationship was underdeveloped.
Aside from that, there’s some plot threads that I think could have been a little tighter, but I can’t say it took away from my enjoyment.
The final thing I want to mention is the ending. I’m limited in what I can say, because I think spoiling anything about it would be ruining a lot of the fun, but Sierra Simone delivered a conclusion that both confirmed a lot of my theories and also completely threw me. It left me with this unnamable feeling—not quite happiness, not quite sadness. Something complicated and lingering and tangled. I don’t know if I liked it, but I loved it at the same time. There you go. Untangle that.
Eternal gratitude to Miss Simone for writing a series I could share with friends. More than anything, I had fun, and that far outweighs any narrative criticisms.
For reference—I arrived at the last page of Door of Bruises and immediately texted a friend about it, after which we spent an hour picking apart our feelings over the phone. No matter how many stars I give to this review, no matter my complicated feelings on some elements, I have to commend Sierra Simone for that. She made me care.
And care I did. The strongest aspect of the series, aside from the evocative setting, has always been the characters for me. Door of Bruises has the challenging task of concluding six character arcs as well as a number of relationship arcs, and for the most part, the book pulls it off. There were more Rebecca chapters in this book than I expected, and they do wonders for Rebecca’s character and her relationship with Delphine. I could be difficult here and say they could’ve used an additional chapter or two near the end, but I loved what they did get. There is a real maturity to their scenes and I enjoyed seeing them navigate the conflict between them.
That maturity bleeds over into the other storylines too. My absolute favorite thing about this book is the inclusion of Auden’s perspective. After a bit of a rocky start, Auden started to grow on me, and Door of Bruises just knocks it out of the park when it comes to his character. I’ve no remarks there. The series has never had any trouble making Auden and Saint a compelling dynamic, so unsurprisingly, this final book is no different. In many ways, their relationship feels like the central storyline to me. I have my thoughts on that and where it leaves Poe, but credit where credit’s due, the storyline is pretty fucking great and remains a highlight up until the final page.
Now for the part where I dutifully list some minor quibbles with Door of Bruises. The balance between characters feels especially off in this one, mostly to the detriment of Becket’s development and, more disappointingly, Poe’s. Again, I could go on a for a few paragraphs about the way Poe has been sidelined since Feast of Sparks, but I’ll just stick with saying that I think she deserved more, and that if the ending falls a little flat, it’s entirely because Poe’s role in the story and relationship was underdeveloped.
Aside from that, there’s some plot threads that I think could have been a little tighter, but I can’t say it took away from my enjoyment.
The final thing I want to mention is the ending. I’m limited in what I can say, because I think spoiling anything about it would be ruining a lot of the fun, but Sierra Simone delivered a conclusion that both confirmed a lot of my theories and also completely threw me. It left me with this unnamable feeling—not quite happiness, not quite sadness. Something complicated and lingering and tangled. I don’t know if I liked it, but I loved it at the same time. There you go. Untangle that.
Eternal gratitude to Miss Simone for writing a series I could share with friends. More than anything, I had fun, and that far outweighs any narrative criticisms.