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A review by kayelina
Finale by Stephanie Garber
2.0
I will start by saying, that out of the whole trilogy, this one feels the most rushed, slipshod, and thrown together of all three of the books. It has been possibly a full year (maybe a year and a half) since I have read both Caraval and Legendary. I read Legendary shortly after it came out and blown away by the first two books by both the switch in perspectives and magical twists and turns.
I will say, from the beginning of the entire series, I did find the 'world' and genre of Stephanie Garber's series hard to pin down. It did feel like fantasy but not one with its own myths and legends. I simply believed this was a medieval-ish world with magic abilities. It wasn't until the Legendary books that the Decks of Destiny and the Fates were introduced, which is completely fine. Perhaps the author's intentions were only to bring it up and introduce a new element into the second book. But to me, the story seems poorly put together when that happens. As I said, my opinion might change if I go back and reread the books because it has been a while. But that was one of the major reasons why Finale felt rushed.
The author I felt incorporated so many things into the final book that felt suddenly brought up. *Spoilers ahead* like scenes with the mother, certain traits and etc. that I hadn't heard before and was rushed into believing for the sake of the story and plot to be solved. The Fates felt non-threatening and not as dangerous as their named intended them to be. The Fallen Star reminded me a lot like Thanos, with Scarlett being Gamora. Dante/Legend's dialogue and motives were corny as well as a lot of the romance aspects, which is so incredibly weird because I fell madly in love with both Julian and Scarlett's and Legend and Tella's relationships in the first two books. Also, with Dante being Legend as the big twist in the end of Legendary... I still don't know how I feel about it. I would've rathered him be a Fate than Legend himself, just felt too forced. Too right in front of our noses, if that makes much sense. Sometimes those can be the worse twists.
The perspectives in this book and the chapter breaks were so frequent the book was almost 500 pages and was an effortless read. I am not sure if it's because of the young audience it is targeted towards (because I literally recommended this to a 12-year-old at B&N a while ago *go me*) or because I'm turning 20 this year, but I felt this last book to just be too easy, not as magical as the ones before it and that the stakes weren't raised high enough. I didn't feel my world threatened enough to root for the protagonists, but somehow, from the first two books, I still wanted them to win.
The ending was tied up nice and actually was not as rushed as the other books' endings ironically, and I love Stephanie Garber and this entire series and I would still recommend it to others. I think I just had it too hyped up for myself from following the author on all social media platforms to fully be happy and surprised at the plot twists she did throw at me. As I find solace in giving my thoughts, don't let this sway you if you haven't read it already. In that case, then I'm sorry I spoiled it for you. If you have read it already (which hopefully you have because I do want you to), let me know if you agree and give me your thoughts! I'd love to hear them if you agree/disagree as I love to have my perspective challenged and my views opened.
I will say, from the beginning of the entire series, I did find the 'world' and genre of Stephanie Garber's series hard to pin down. It did feel like fantasy but not one with its own myths and legends. I simply believed this was a medieval-ish world with magic abilities. It wasn't until the Legendary books that the Decks of Destiny and the Fates were introduced, which is completely fine. Perhaps the author's intentions were only to bring it up and introduce a new element into the second book. But to me, the story seems poorly put together when that happens. As I said, my opinion might change if I go back and reread the books because it has been a while. But that was one of the major reasons why Finale felt rushed.
The author I felt incorporated so many things into the final book that felt suddenly brought up. *Spoilers ahead* like scenes with the mother, certain traits and etc. that I hadn't heard before and was rushed into believing for the sake of the story and plot to be solved. The Fates felt non-threatening and not as dangerous as their named intended them to be. The Fallen Star reminded me a lot like Thanos, with Scarlett being Gamora. Dante/Legend's dialogue and motives were corny as well as a lot of the romance aspects, which is so incredibly weird because I fell madly in love with both Julian and Scarlett's and Legend and Tella's relationships in the first two books. Also, with Dante being Legend as the big twist in the end of Legendary... I still don't know how I feel about it. I would've rathered him be a Fate than Legend himself, just felt too forced. Too right in front of our noses, if that makes much sense. Sometimes those can be the worse twists.
The perspectives in this book and the chapter breaks were so frequent the book was almost 500 pages and was an effortless read. I am not sure if it's because of the young audience it is targeted towards (because I literally recommended this to a 12-year-old at B&N a while ago *go me*) or because I'm turning 20 this year, but I felt this last book to just be too easy, not as magical as the ones before it and that the stakes weren't raised high enough. I didn't feel my world threatened enough to root for the protagonists, but somehow, from the first two books, I still wanted them to win.
The ending was tied up nice and actually was not as rushed as the other books' endings ironically, and I love Stephanie Garber and this entire series and I would still recommend it to others. I think I just had it too hyped up for myself from following the author on all social media platforms to fully be happy and surprised at the plot twists she did throw at me. As I find solace in giving my thoughts, don't let this sway you if you haven't read it already. In that case, then I'm sorry I spoiled it for you. If you have read it already (which hopefully you have because I do want you to), let me know if you agree and give me your thoughts! I'd love to hear them if you agree/disagree as I love to have my perspective challenged and my views opened.