3.5 stars, rounding up to 4. I'm glad I knew going in that the explanation for everything was (view spoiler)[less ghost story and more fantasy world r3.5 stars, rounding up to 4. I'm glad I knew going in that the explanation for everything was (view spoiler)[less ghost story and more fantasy world religion (hide spoiler)] because I think I would have been disappointed otherwise. Still, a nice dash of gothic horror-ish fantasy for a cold October night!...more
So a few days ago I was like, "Wait, why haven't I read this book yet? I love Juliet Marillier!" And then I got 36% in and (view spoiler)[oh, yeah, thSo a few days ago I was like, "Wait, why haven't I read this book yet? I love Juliet Marillier!" And then I got 36% in and (view spoiler)[oh, yeah, this book has a horrific rape scene I'd heard about and that's why I had avoided it. I hit a point a while back where I decided I was just so so so done with reading and watching things with sexual violence as a plot point. So I tend to avoid stuff when I know it features rape. That said, while what happens to Sorcha is awful, I appreciated how the trauma of it was dealt with for the rest of the book. By the end she's healing but not healed (and specifically says that it's something that cannot be completely forgotten), and falling in love didn't make everything magically be okay. (But that said...I am so so so done with reading about rape.) (hide spoiler)]
Even with that and even though (view spoiler)[A DOG DIES (hide spoiler)] and (view spoiler)[the romance is between a fifteen-year-old girl (twelve at the beginning of the book and sixteen by the end and referred to throughout as "a child" by so many characters) and a twenty-two-year-old man (hide spoiler)], I really loved a lot about this. Not an easy read - certainly a bittersweet one - but really satisfying....more
This is a difficult one to rate! There were a lot of things I loved about it: seeing a bit more of Lunar society, Thorne and Cress, Scarlet, Winter (aThis is a difficult one to rate! There were a lot of things I loved about it: seeing a bit more of Lunar society, Thorne and Cress, Scarlet, Winter (although in spite of her name in the title, she never feels like the focus here), Iko. When it finished, I felt like it was a really satisfying ending to a series I enjoyed way more than I expected when I started it.
But getting to that ending! There's a lot of awful stuff happening in the previous books, but I always felt like there was a thread of hope there. But this was just hundreds of pages of unrelenting hopelessness before things finally turned around. People constantly being separated and controlled and defeated, over and over and over. It got repetitive. It got exhausting. I didn't want it to be an easy victory, but a bit less of the endless one step forward, two steps back would have been a more enjoyable read.
So, probably rating this a little higher than my actual enjoyment of the reading experience. 5 stars for the things I really loved (seriously, IKO), maybe 2.5 for what I didn't. I guess it averages out. And I suspect it might improve on a reread (and I can imagine rereading this series)....more
I'm so glad I put off reading this series until it was over. That ending would have made me so angry otherwise. Actually. I'm still kind of angry abouI'm so glad I put off reading this series until it was over. That ending would have made me so angry otherwise. Actually. I'm still kind of angry about it. Four stars anyway because this was an interesting read, I want to know more, and at least I know I can just move on to the other books and actually finish the story....more
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