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A review by lyderature
Circle of Fire by Michelle Zink
As much as I hate to say it, this is one series that I'm fine with saying farewell to. Prophecy of Sisters Trilogy by Michelle Zink, adios, ciao, arrivederci, au revoir...
You get the point.
Circle of Fire by Michelle Zink. What can I say? One half of me felt that it was too rushed, that Zink got sick of writing halfway and wanted to end it faster, with the skipping over many of the details, such as the finding of the Rite and the stone, and Alice's sudden side switching (an all too expected deus ex machina in my opinion).
The other half of me felt that Zink could've done so much more, so much better with the final book. If she had extended it, maybe we would've gotten an ending that was just...more.
By all means, the ending is satisfying. Samael is defeated, Souls are forever banished, Alice turns good eventually, but then has to die of course, and Lia and Dimitri have their happily ever after. But it was all expected. Zink was surprisingly unsubtle in this installment. She plunked down on us and engaged Alice and James, and Lia and Dimitri's intense romance. Speaking of which, let me suddenly go onto that topic.
Lia Milthorpe and Dimitri Markov. This series is one of those dark fantasy teen books, so I knew I had to expect it. Especially with a female heroine. I knew I was going to be reading about her swooning over some guy. But their relationship in this book, some might say was sweet and passionate, I'll say was just plain irritating. It's like on chapter is about how the world is going to end and Lia is about to crack under the pressure, and just when something interesting might happen, she goes off to make-out with Dimitri, when they should be researching the prophecy, or trying to convince Alice, or running for their little lives from the Guard and the devil (literally), or something—anything but that! I felt like Lia, who we've come to know as an incredibly strong girl, has suddenly turned to depending on Dimitri for everything. I was inches away from shaking the pages of the book and yelling, "Get a life!" So yeah, romance in small quantities is good and all, but pages of it all at once, dumped on you, is not.
Like I said before, unsubtle.
Also, did anyone feel like the book sort of strayed from the first two? The first book, about the prophecy and the sister relationship. The second, more about the prophecy. You'd think that the third would either focus on ending the prophecy or the sisters reconciling or something. And that's sort of the case. But I was just sort of wishing for those two things to be more skillfully woven together, plot and character development. But instead, the first half is all about the prophecy, and then suddenly we find out that Alice has to be involved to be succeed, about 3/4 in. And then Lia unsuccessfully tries to convince her, and suddenly at the end, bam! Alice is good again. And then she dies. And the book ends with Lia thinking about how the sisters are entwined.
And this whole time, I'm thinking, WHAT? We barely get anymore mention about Alice in the last book, we all assume that she's still her creepy/cold self hiding out in the attic doing who-knows-what-kind-of creepy magic, and that the plot'll shift somewhat away from her and to the Prophecy and Samael instead. And it does. Until Alice is clumsily forced upon us as a hero.
This book, did have some bright points, but overall, it was a meh. Not that epic of a conclusion.
You get the point.
Circle of Fire by Michelle Zink. What can I say? One half of me felt that it was too rushed, that Zink got sick of writing halfway and wanted to end it faster, with the skipping over many of the details, such as the finding of the Rite and the stone, and Alice's sudden side switching (an all too expected deus ex machina in my opinion).
The other half of me felt that Zink could've done so much more, so much better with the final book. If she had extended it, maybe we would've gotten an ending that was just...more.
By all means, the ending is satisfying. Samael is defeated, Souls are forever banished, Alice turns good eventually, but then has to die of course, and Lia and Dimitri have their happily ever after. But it was all expected. Zink was surprisingly unsubtle in this installment. She plunked down on us and engaged Alice and James, and Lia and Dimitri's intense romance. Speaking of which, let me suddenly go onto that topic.
Lia Milthorpe and Dimitri Markov. This series is one of those dark fantasy teen books, so I knew I had to expect it. Especially with a female heroine. I knew I was going to be reading about her swooning over some guy. But their relationship in this book, some might say was sweet and passionate, I'll say was just plain irritating. It's like on chapter is about how the world is going to end and Lia is about to crack under the pressure, and just when something interesting might happen, she goes off to make-out with Dimitri, when they should be researching the prophecy, or trying to convince Alice, or running for their little lives from the Guard and the devil (literally), or something—anything but that! I felt like Lia, who we've come to know as an incredibly strong girl, has suddenly turned to depending on Dimitri for everything. I was inches away from shaking the pages of the book and yelling, "Get a life!" So yeah, romance in small quantities is good and all, but pages of it all at once, dumped on you, is not.
Like I said before, unsubtle.
Also, did anyone feel like the book sort of strayed from the first two? The first book, about the prophecy and the sister relationship. The second, more about the prophecy. You'd think that the third would either focus on ending the prophecy or the sisters reconciling or something. And that's sort of the case. But I was just sort of wishing for those two things to be more skillfully woven together, plot and character development. But instead, the first half is all about the prophecy, and then suddenly we find out that Alice has to be involved to be succeed, about 3/4 in. And then Lia unsuccessfully tries to convince her, and suddenly at the end, bam! Alice is good again. And then she dies. And the book ends with Lia thinking about how the sisters are entwined.
And this whole time, I'm thinking, WHAT? We barely get anymore mention about Alice in the last book, we all assume that she's still her creepy/cold self hiding out in the attic doing who-knows-what-kind-of creepy magic, and that the plot'll shift somewhat away from her and to the Prophecy and Samael instead. And it does. Until Alice is clumsily forced upon us as a hero.
This book, did have some bright points, but overall, it was a meh. Not that epic of a conclusion.