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A review by drakoulis
The Nobleman's Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks by Mackenzi Lee
4.0
If I have to describe it with one word, this word is bittersweet.
This was my least favourite book of the trilogy - Monty's book simply set the bar too high.
Let's start with the parts I liked:
2) George has grown up, is a bisexual pirate captain and still adorable!
3) All the cameos from the characters we knew from the first two books.
4) Sweet and emotional epilogue interactions!
Sadly there were also parts I didn't like:
2) Some parts were very very grim. Monty got another serious physical injury to accompany him for the rest of his life, and so did Adrian. Their mother killed herself. Constant thoughts about giving up. Adrian...he was the roughest and most uncomfortbale POV I have read lately. He was frantic, spiralling and in a constant state of panic. Whenever there were dialogue scenes interrupting his thought trairwreck, it was like coming up to the surface to breath, if this makes sense. And in the end there was no supernatural cause, he just accepted he had to fight his own mind. I didnt fall in love with Adrian. I don't know if i was meant to.
3) I also felt a bit sad to see that adult Monty is still struggling with pretty much whatever teenager Monty was struggling. In my mind he was more or less happier and less self doubting with Percy. I guess the book had a more sad feel than I expected, definitely more than the previous two. I also got the feeling that Mackenzi wanted to send the message that our demons chase us our whole life and we dont really beat them one day for good, but rather every day tiny bit by bit. Which is not something I love seeing in my books to be honest, I'm a hopeless "loves cures anything" romantic.
This was my least favourite book of the trilogy - Monty's book simply set the bar too high.
Let's start with the parts I liked:
Spoiler
1) Seeing Monty, Percy and Felicity through the lense of someone else. Adrian hadn't met them in his childhood, he didn't even know they existed. I was craving for more content of them.2) George has grown up, is a bisexual pirate captain and still adorable!
3) All the cameos from the characters we knew from the first two books.
4) Sweet and emotional epilogue interactions!
Sadly there were also parts I didn't like:
Spoiler
1) The "fantastic" plot fell flat. There was no definite answer, no resolution, it just sort of vanished.2) Some parts were very very grim. Monty got another serious physical injury to accompany him for the rest of his life, and so did Adrian. Their mother killed herself. Constant thoughts about giving up. Adrian...he was the roughest and most uncomfortbale POV I have read lately. He was frantic, spiralling and in a constant state of panic. Whenever there were dialogue scenes interrupting his thought trairwreck, it was like coming up to the surface to breath, if this makes sense. And in the end there was no supernatural cause, he just accepted he had to fight his own mind. I didnt fall in love with Adrian. I don't know if i was meant to.
3) I also felt a bit sad to see that adult Monty is still struggling with pretty much whatever teenager Monty was struggling. In my mind he was more or less happier and less self doubting with Percy. I guess the book had a more sad feel than I expected, definitely more than the previous two. I also got the feeling that Mackenzi wanted to send the message that our demons chase us our whole life and we dont really beat them one day for good, but rather every day tiny bit by bit. Which is not something I love seeing in my books to be honest, I'm a hopeless "loves cures anything" romantic.