By Marie Rutkoski
Genre YA Fantasy
Rating ⭐️
Synopsis
Hurt and betrayed, Kestrel finds herself in a work camp. Drugged to work and drugged to sleep, memories of her life are fading. Determined to forget about the girl that broke his heart, Arin has joined forces with the Darcra and is waging war against the empire, determined to win freedom for Herran once and for all. But when Arin discovers what has happened to Kestrel can he save her? Body and soul?
First Sentence
He told himself a story.
After loving the first two books in the series, I was eager to jump right into the final book and see how it all ended. I was hoping to see Arin grovel accordingly and see Kestrel use her wits and awesome scheming skills to save herself from the prison work camp and to of course, to see the empire fall.
This is where my heart broke and then shattered and prickled beneath my skin in annoyance that turned to anger.
I LOVED the first two books. I gavethem the coveted 5 star review but this book....this book infuriated me. Where was the strong awesome woman I'd grown to love? She was a broken and pathetic and became dependent on a man.
Arin groveled all right, to the point of making me want to slap his face and tell him to shut up. Then he did that overprotective try and control the women he loves thing I can't stand.
The author definitely has a style of writing that's unique and beautiful but here it became disjointed. It felt like I was listening to a broken record. I had to reread sentenced over and over to figure out what was happening and keep my mind from wandering far, far away from this train wreck that it so badly wanted to escape.
After the bazillionth time of setting the book down in a rage I finally managed to finish it and was sadly, sadly disappointed. It was unrealistic and maddening and on top of everything else I just mentioned I was left feeling betrayed by what could have been a beautiful ending to a promising start of a series.
Should you read it
Um, everyone else loved the ending so maybe it was just me.
Oh, no. I'm so sorry. :( What a huge let down for you after loving the first two.
ReplyDeleteI know. It was so disappointing.
DeleteI've not read anything by this author and don't you hate it when the final book of a series was a letdown.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's awful.
DeleteI wanted to warn you, but I didn't want to spoil it. I agree though! I hate what happens to Kestrel. I loved her brilliant mind, and they took it away! I didn't understand why Arin was hearing voices in his head. I wanted to buy this series and love it, but the third book killed it for me. So sad!
ReplyDeleteYeah, this one was a huge let down.
DeleteWell, I'll just be cautious with my expectations going into this volume when I get there. Still need to read Book 2, though. I do appreciate the warning. It's sort of impossible not to read the last book in a beloved trilogy, so knowing I could be very let-down is helpful.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry you didn't love it! I honestly don't remember the ending now... which I guess says something. I so loved the first book, which was just so awesome.
ReplyDeleteHmmm. I think I'll still like it since I'm less picky about that stuff. We'll see I guess.
ReplyDeleteI hate when a series ender doesn't meet my expectations! I haven't read it yet and it's still no the table, but I'm no longer in a rush to read it (I wasn't before your review either).
ReplyDelete