Scan barcode
A review by bmg20
The Forever Song by Julie Kagawa
2.0
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars
I received this book free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Another series ender that has unfortunately ended in disappointment for me this year. I found The Forever Song to be, for the most part, incredibly lacking in any sort of plot progress. Basically, there was walking, walking, then they’d fight some rabids, walking, walking, oooh let’s stop to feed on some humans, fight some more rabids, walking, walking.. throw in the occasional snarky comment from Jackal, soap opera style drama and various near death scenarios and that’s The Forever Song in a nutshell. Oh and let’s not forget how they have to save the world. Apparently, saving the world isn’t as exciting as one would think. In addition to the lack of excitement, there was an extreme lack of common fucking sense that made for frequent eye-rolls.
‘What do you mean, when he realized what was happening?”
“This was a trap, Allison.” Kanin looked back at the inferno. “Nothing catches fire that quickly unless it has been doused in something.”
You mean to tell me these idiots with their heightened sense of smell weren’t able to tell that the entire house was drenched in gasoline? I realize their not needing to breathe means they aren’t smelling constantly but you think if they’re entering a house with someone shooting at them from upstairs they’d open up all their sense to check and make sure they aren’t walking into anything disastrous. Like a house drenched in gasoline.
‘The door loomed dead ahead, and I didn’t stop. I didn’t pause to reconsider my plan. Whether I was walking into a trap or straight to my death.’
And that’s the problem I have with Allison; the lack of common sense. She’s constantly trying to prove to herself/everyone around her that she’s a badass and can handle herself except it’s clear that she’s not. Now, I think I would normally say that this show of weakness is meant to make her likable or relatable or something of the sort, but it came off making her look completely senseless and like a complete imbecile.
Where Allison lacks in common sense she makes sure to make up for it in ANGST. LOTS AND LOTS OF ANGST. When she wasn’t whining about her ‘monster’ she was whining about Zeke or about Sarren or whining about everything being her fault and it was PAINFUL to read.
I read the first 1/3 of this book and had to set it aside for a few weeks because it was just too much. I understood in the beginning of this series that Allison would have to go through the inner turmoil of coming to terms with being a vampire that is forced to kill people to survive but I thought we’d be over that by now. Jackal once again made this installment bearable but even he irritated me with his shit sometimes. But his sarcastic quips did allow me to finish this and find out the ending to this story. Was it worth it? Sure. Was I disappointed how everything turned out? A bit. See, the ending involves aspects that truly come out of nowhere and only serve to be a convenient solution which kind of felt like a cop out. It also was incredibly predictable and I wasn’t surprised in the least. It could have been done worse though.
Minus the angst and ending cop-outs, there is one aspect of this book that was done extremely well: the atmosphere. Kagawa knocked it out of the park describing this broken and gloomy world. It truly immerses you. If only the characters had been a bit more tolerable. The Forever Song is a satisfying conclusion that answers all the lingering questions but is undoubtedly the least interesting of the series. This is the second series I’ve read of Kagawa’s that has ended up feeling very mediocre for me but I can see this one being a good one for fans of dark, gritty and violent dystopians that are heavy on the romance.
I received this book free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Another series ender that has unfortunately ended in disappointment for me this year. I found The Forever Song to be, for the most part, incredibly lacking in any sort of plot progress. Basically, there was walking, walking, then they’d fight some rabids, walking, walking, oooh let’s stop to feed on some humans, fight some more rabids, walking, walking.. throw in the occasional snarky comment from Jackal, soap opera style drama and various near death scenarios and that’s The Forever Song in a nutshell. Oh and let’s not forget how they have to save the world. Apparently, saving the world isn’t as exciting as one would think. In addition to the lack of excitement, there was an extreme lack of common fucking sense that made for frequent eye-rolls.
‘What do you mean, when he realized what was happening?”
“This was a trap, Allison.” Kanin looked back at the inferno. “Nothing catches fire that quickly unless it has been doused in something.”
You mean to tell me these idiots with their heightened sense of smell weren’t able to tell that the entire house was drenched in gasoline? I realize their not needing to breathe means they aren’t smelling constantly but you think if they’re entering a house with someone shooting at them from upstairs they’d open up all their sense to check and make sure they aren’t walking into anything disastrous. Like a house drenched in gasoline.
‘The door loomed dead ahead, and I didn’t stop. I didn’t pause to reconsider my plan. Whether I was walking into a trap or straight to my death.’
And that’s the problem I have with Allison; the lack of common sense. She’s constantly trying to prove to herself/everyone around her that she’s a badass and can handle herself except it’s clear that she’s not. Now, I think I would normally say that this show of weakness is meant to make her likable or relatable or something of the sort, but it came off making her look completely senseless and like a complete imbecile.
Where Allison lacks in common sense she makes sure to make up for it in ANGST. LOTS AND LOTS OF ANGST. When she wasn’t whining about her ‘monster’ she was whining about Zeke or about Sarren or whining about everything being her fault and it was PAINFUL to read.
I read the first 1/3 of this book and had to set it aside for a few weeks because it was just too much. I understood in the beginning of this series that Allison would have to go through the inner turmoil of coming to terms with being a vampire that is forced to kill people to survive but I thought we’d be over that by now. Jackal once again made this installment bearable but even he irritated me with his shit sometimes. But his sarcastic quips did allow me to finish this and find out the ending to this story. Was it worth it? Sure. Was I disappointed how everything turned out? A bit. See, the ending involves aspects that truly come out of nowhere and only serve to be a convenient solution which kind of felt like a cop out. It also was incredibly predictable and I wasn’t surprised in the least. It could have been done worse though.
Minus the angst and ending cop-outs, there is one aspect of this book that was done extremely well: the atmosphere. Kagawa knocked it out of the park describing this broken and gloomy world. It truly immerses you. If only the characters had been a bit more tolerable. The Forever Song is a satisfying conclusion that answers all the lingering questions but is undoubtedly the least interesting of the series. This is the second series I’ve read of Kagawa’s that has ended up feeling very mediocre for me but I can see this one being a good one for fans of dark, gritty and violent dystopians that are heavy on the romance.