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lunelis 's review for:
Earth's End
by Elise Kova
Copying over my July 2016 review from amazon
Firstly, I don't think this can be reviewed as I like without a few spoilers (though I don't write them intentionally as such to give away things) and while I'd like to think I could write half this without and half with as a warning to at least voice my general thoughts, I'm far too tired from being up all night reading to do anything more than type out my thoughts as they come.
What I have to say first and foremost is that 1) wow, book #3 packs a punch 2) this series has ended up being far more romance-focused than I had expected 3) the series now leaves the readers with this arc, the whole "soldiers marching north to end a end" part of the tale, wrapped up, yet we're not done with the story by a long stretch and I only have vague ideas of what's going to happen in the last two books.
But yes, of course, I obviously liked this book a lot. I've liked the series a lot so far but I'm one of those people who didn't dive into this series for the war and battles so much as I did for the characters and their relationships, so the intense focus on Vhalla and Aldrick was welcome in my book. If you came into this series hoping for lots of battles, you'll be let down as this book only has one major battle scene with the majority of the book being dedicated to other things and the war being more of a constant presence and not something we're directly situated in. Though when I say this book packs a punch, I mean a left hook sort of pops up out of nowhere and socks you in the gut with the sudden twist of events. I won't give out the specifics but god, the book definitely gives a lot of insight into Aldrick; how he feels, how he reacts to stuff, how he copes. Before, Vhalla was the helpless one who struggled to get a grip, and now this round it's Aldrick's turn to reveal all his emotional issues and wounds and struggles. It's an interesting change, although I think it's been a ride to witness how he's progressed and regressed and then made more progress from book #1 until book #3. It's also interesting to see things change in Vhalla, how she'll be fine and then crumble and put herself back together to repeat the process in varying degrees. There's a lot of good stuff that happens in the relationship, but also some bad. For example, Aldrick sort of regressing to a really petty moment where he flings slurs at Vhalla in an emotional fit. Shame on you for resorting to the classic response men have when they has nothing substantial to say but they still want to get in a sucker punch: calling the woman in question a slut and/or whore. Not cool, Aldrick. Definitely not befitting of a future-emperor and of a grown man. It's not even clever or purposefully used it's just randomly flung at her because she's a woman. But outside of this little scene I noted nothing problematic and I was glad Baldair and Vhalla weren't standing for it.
Like book #1 this wraps up cleanly and nicely, finishing up this arc of the story and leaving us to begin fresh in the 4th book to see what happens now that Vhalla has her freedom and is off to find herself again and recover on her own from everything that's happened to her. Like in the first two books, the language was excellent, the side characters got a lot of time, there were lots of details and a lot of substance packed onto the plot's framework so this 300+ page novel feels very full and the space well used, and we get left with an ending that allows for all kinds of possibilities. It's not wholly predictable what's to come, through a few things like the knights and crystals and the axe and such seem like they'll be important in the upcoming books. I'll be picking up Water's Wrath when I wake up. I powered through Earth's End in a single sitting and never felt like I was dragging myself or wishing it'd end or speed up and my attention was kept the whole time.
Firstly, I don't think this can be reviewed as I like without a few spoilers (though I don't write them intentionally as such to give away things) and while I'd like to think I could write half this without and half with as a warning to at least voice my general thoughts, I'm far too tired from being up all night reading to do anything more than type out my thoughts as they come.
What I have to say first and foremost is that 1) wow, book #3 packs a punch 2) this series has ended up being far more romance-focused than I had expected 3) the series now leaves the readers with this arc, the whole "soldiers marching north to end a end" part of the tale, wrapped up, yet we're not done with the story by a long stretch and I only have vague ideas of what's going to happen in the last two books.
But yes, of course, I obviously liked this book a lot. I've liked the series a lot so far but I'm one of those people who didn't dive into this series for the war and battles so much as I did for the characters and their relationships, so the intense focus on Vhalla and Aldrick was welcome in my book. If you came into this series hoping for lots of battles, you'll be let down as this book only has one major battle scene with the majority of the book being dedicated to other things and the war being more of a constant presence and not something we're directly situated in. Though when I say this book packs a punch, I mean a left hook sort of pops up out of nowhere and socks you in the gut with the sudden twist of events. I won't give out the specifics but god, the book definitely gives a lot of insight into Aldrick; how he feels, how he reacts to stuff, how he copes. Before, Vhalla was the helpless one who struggled to get a grip, and now this round it's Aldrick's turn to reveal all his emotional issues and wounds and struggles. It's an interesting change, although I think it's been a ride to witness how he's progressed and regressed and then made more progress from book #1 until book #3. It's also interesting to see things change in Vhalla, how she'll be fine and then crumble and put herself back together to repeat the process in varying degrees. There's a lot of good stuff that happens in the relationship, but also some bad. For example, Aldrick sort of regressing to a really petty moment where he flings slurs at Vhalla in an emotional fit. Shame on you for resorting to the classic response men have when they has nothing substantial to say but they still want to get in a sucker punch: calling the woman in question a slut and/or whore. Not cool, Aldrick. Definitely not befitting of a future-emperor and of a grown man. It's not even clever or purposefully used it's just randomly flung at her because she's a woman. But outside of this little scene I noted nothing problematic and I was glad Baldair and Vhalla weren't standing for it.
Like book #1 this wraps up cleanly and nicely, finishing up this arc of the story and leaving us to begin fresh in the 4th book to see what happens now that Vhalla has her freedom and is off to find herself again and recover on her own from everything that's happened to her. Like in the first two books, the language was excellent, the side characters got a lot of time, there were lots of details and a lot of substance packed onto the plot's framework so this 300+ page novel feels very full and the space well used, and we get left with an ending that allows for all kinds of possibilities. It's not wholly predictable what's to come, through a few things like the knights and crystals and the axe and such seem like they'll be important in the upcoming books. I'll be picking up Water's Wrath when I wake up. I powered through Earth's End in a single sitting and never felt like I was dragging myself or wishing it'd end or speed up and my attention was kept the whole time.