A review by lauren_miller
Sword and Pen by Rachel Caine

adventurous emotional 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? It's complicated

4.25

our epic conclusion...

tbh, I saw a LOT of this coming. the twists and turns, maybe not, but the ultimate outcome? yep, tracked that from book 3(?). I'll be honest,
Morgan deserved better, and so did Wolfe. instead of having  her go down in a blaze of glory, Wolfe's father should have stepped up to defend the great archives—2 obscurists is better than 1, and he had so much to atone for doing nothing and leaving his son to suffer at the hands of the former Artifex Magnus—alongside her, even if he was injured. if the most important part of the library is under siege, you would think the Obscurist Magnus should be there to help; just because the Iron Tower was compromised at one point doesn't mean the he was the ONLY one there capable of defending it. that's such a disservice to the other obscurists and to Morgan. as such, I'm pretty bitter about the ending. I know that this is how it goes, especially in YA series, that someone beloved has to die, but the way it was done really irks me.
. there were still moments I really liked, though. in particular, Thomas's time in the tomb of Heron was super cool. in another life, I would have wanted an entire spin-off series about Thomas and his engineering career; his brain is one I would die to root around in. 

overall, despite the shortcomings of this ending, I really loved this series. the audiobooks were very engaging and made a 5-book series feel like blip of time. I absolutely WILL be peddling this series to everyone I know that enjoys a good dystopia. 
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