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A review by stuckinafictionaluniverse
The Forever Song by Julie Kagawa
2.0
2.5 stars. That tiny, half of a star might have something to do with my love for the rest of the series. Yes, I’m in denial at the moment.
This review contains spoilers for the first two books, but I’ll try my best to avoid discussing big reveals that happened in this one. There are some minor ones, though.
___________________________
I am sad to say that yet another amazing series has an extremely disappointing end.
I was excited for The forever song. I had faith in Julie Kagawa. But really, it ended up being like most conclusions: too long, boring and a huge disappointment.
Plot:
50% of the book consists of walking, Allison drowning in self loath, Jackal making sarcastic comments every two seconds and cheesy romance.
Once the story actually gets somewhere, it’s very anticlimactic. There are very few twists and turns, and the pacing remains reminiscent to a snail.
The next thing I’m going to bring up isn’t a major spoiler, it’s pretty obvious if you ask me, but I’m tagging it as one.
He is portrayed as the real antagonist’s lackey, but his characterization wasn’t believable and just came off as silly.
''Hey, vampire girl, I’m a ruthless killer now. Fear me!!’'
Okay, maybe those weren’t his exact words, but close enough.
The rest of the book is pretty much the same, with the exception of a few nice action scenes.
Characters:
Everyone’s worst side was highlighted.
Allison became whiny and annoying, Jackal ended up as a comedian who tries too hard and Zeke was a flat, wanna-be villain.
The one who got on my nerves the most was, surprisingly, Allison.
Her behavior in this book was childish and aggravating.
The fierce fighter was replaced by the silly, self-loathing teenager. And sure, she has a reason for it. The loss of Zeke hit her hard, and I was actually looking forward to see how she’d deal with it. Once again I was disappointed.
It’s okay for a character to have their low moments, as long as something comes out of it.
In this case, it didn’t.
She thinks she’s a monster. Guess what, Ali, that’s pretty true! But you can choose to be a heartless monster and live with it, or you can try to do something about.
Her entire inner monologue sounded something like this:
Oh, woe is me, I’m a vampire. I’m a horrible monster who eats babies and murders bunnies, boo hoo hoo.’’
That’s an actual line said by Jackal, too.
As I said, our main character kept drowning in self-pity and sadness. This is where I’d have liked to see her overcome that and develop as a character.
Although Allison did have a moment of sudden realization and decisiveness, I still remained unimpressed by that particular scene. It seemed unrealistic and out of play.
Did Allison become my beloved, intelligent, buttkicking heroine again? Sadly not. Bits of her old self still shone through sometimes, but in the end she wasn't a character I'd root for.
Kanin remained sane and wise as always. Sadly he wasn’t a big part of the book. He had more of a father-like role rather than a leader, and had to break up Allison and Jackal’s fights.
It was like an extremely dysfunctional road trip.
The dialogue felt forced and failed to convince me.
It was as if the characters were desperately trying to uphold the personality the author had given them throughout the series, but failed and exaggerated instead. Especially Jackal. Though i love his snide remarks and thought his humor made the previous books more entertaining, it got old after a while.
The romance that I previously really liked because of its perfect amount and realistic complications was unbearably cheesy and dramatic. The so-called romantic dialogue made me cringe:
’’Say you love me, vampire girl. Tell me… that this is forever.’’
That’s a big no for me. It wasn’t sweet or charming. It was corny and sometimes sounded like a line from a reality show.
The promise of forever comes out more desperate and obsessive to me.
Even if you are a vampire and literally have the possibility of loving someone for all eternity, forever is still a word used way too often in YA fiction. Zeke and Allison fell victim for it, and the result was not pretty.
Final verdict:
Lastly, I have to compare this to the previous books in the series, because The forever song was a huge disappointment.
The previous books were exciting, action-packed and well plotted.
The plot twists were well placed and what happened in the second book made me very eager to get to this one.
In comparison to the very enjoyable [b:The Immortal Rules|10215349|The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden, #1)|Julie Kagawa|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1323357921s/10215349.jpg|15114912] and the amazing [b:The Eternity Cure|13581990|The Eternity Cure (Blood of Eden, #2)|Julie Kagawa|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1362772965s/13581990.jpg|19167673], the final installment in the series falls flat and is one I'd prefer to forget ever existed.
This review contains spoilers for the first two books, but I’ll try my best to avoid discussing big reveals that happened in this one. There are some minor ones, though.
___________________________
I am sad to say that yet another amazing series has an extremely disappointing end.
I was excited for The forever song. I had faith in Julie Kagawa. But really, it ended up being like most conclusions: too long, boring and a huge disappointment.
Plot:
50% of the book consists of walking, Allison drowning in self loath, Jackal making sarcastic comments every two seconds and cheesy romance.
Once the story actually gets somewhere, it’s very anticlimactic. There are very few twists and turns, and the pacing remains reminiscent to a snail.
The next thing I’m going to bring up isn’t a major spoiler, it’s pretty obvious if you ask me, but I’m tagging it as one.
Spoiler
We meet Zeke, who was turned into a vampire by Sarren in the last book.He is portrayed as the real antagonist’s lackey, but his characterization wasn’t believable and just came off as silly.
''Hey, vampire girl, I’m a ruthless killer now. Fear me!!’'
Okay, maybe those weren’t his exact words, but close enough.
The rest of the book is pretty much the same, with the exception of a few nice action scenes.
Characters:
Everyone’s worst side was highlighted.
Allison became whiny and annoying, Jackal ended up as a comedian who tries too hard and Zeke was a flat, wanna-be villain.
The one who got on my nerves the most was, surprisingly, Allison.
Her behavior in this book was childish and aggravating.
The fierce fighter was replaced by the silly, self-loathing teenager. And sure, she has a reason for it. The loss of Zeke hit her hard, and I was actually looking forward to see how she’d deal with it. Once again I was disappointed.
It’s okay for a character to have their low moments, as long as something comes out of it.
In this case, it didn’t.
She thinks she’s a monster. Guess what, Ali, that’s pretty true! But you can choose to be a heartless monster and live with it, or you can try to do something about.
Her entire inner monologue sounded something like this:
Oh, woe is me, I’m a vampire. I’m a horrible monster who eats babies and murders bunnies, boo hoo hoo.’’
That’s an actual line said by Jackal, too.
As I said, our main character kept drowning in self-pity and sadness. This is where I’d have liked to see her overcome that and develop as a character.
Although Allison did have a moment of sudden realization and decisiveness, I still remained unimpressed by that particular scene. It seemed unrealistic and out of play.
Did Allison become my beloved, intelligent, buttkicking heroine again? Sadly not. Bits of her old self still shone through sometimes, but in the end she wasn't a character I'd root for.
Kanin remained sane and wise as always. Sadly he wasn’t a big part of the book. He had more of a father-like role rather than a leader, and had to break up Allison and Jackal’s fights.
It was like an extremely dysfunctional road trip.
The dialogue felt forced and failed to convince me.
It was as if the characters were desperately trying to uphold the personality the author had given them throughout the series, but failed and exaggerated instead. Especially Jackal. Though i love his snide remarks and thought his humor made the previous books more entertaining, it got old after a while.
The romance that I previously really liked because of its perfect amount and realistic complications was unbearably cheesy and dramatic. The so-called romantic dialogue made me cringe:
’’Say you love me, vampire girl. Tell me… that this is forever.’’
That’s a big no for me. It wasn’t sweet or charming. It was corny and sometimes sounded like a line from a reality show.
The promise of forever comes out more desperate and obsessive to me.
Even if you are a vampire and literally have the possibility of loving someone for all eternity, forever is still a word used way too often in YA fiction. Zeke and Allison fell victim for it, and the result was not pretty.
Final verdict:
Lastly, I have to compare this to the previous books in the series, because The forever song was a huge disappointment.
The previous books were exciting, action-packed and well plotted.
The plot twists were well placed and what happened in the second book made me very eager to get to this one.
In comparison to the very enjoyable [b:The Immortal Rules|10215349|The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden, #1)|Julie Kagawa|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1323357921s/10215349.jpg|15114912] and the amazing [b:The Eternity Cure|13581990|The Eternity Cure (Blood of Eden, #2)|Julie Kagawa|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1362772965s/13581990.jpg|19167673], the final installment in the series falls flat and is one I'd prefer to forget ever existed.