Okay... excuse me if I make zero sense... I am somewhat sleep-deprived. (I may edit this review after I catch a quick nap! I kept thinking about what Okay... excuse me if I make zero sense... I am somewhat sleep-deprived. (I may edit this review after I catch a quick nap! I kept thinking about what I wanted to write before I fell asleep and now I feel like I forgot half of it.)
Right away, I want to say that this was an amazing series, one I did not believe I would enjoy as much as I did. And I believe I will re-read it one day. But that said I had some issues with the finale.
Since I read the second book, I was making theories. I wondered what would happen. Months of this torture!
When I saw that this book is only 300 pages, I was terrified; clearly, that is not enough! But the good thing is that the plot really starts right away! No need to wait for the halfway mark. In this sense, this book is the best in the series.
However, with the book being this short, I feel like something is missing. When I turned the last page, I felt sad because it could not be the last page. After all, there were so many things that needed to be resolved. Here is the list of things I believe are sort of missing from the book: (view spoiler)[ Jude's mortality? She kept mentioning Oak being king one day but... I still wish there was something about Jude becoming immortal. I don't know, it not being mentioned at all is sort of sad in a way. She won't grow old as long as she stays in the Elfhame but still... I expected her to gain the faery immortality since she's connected to the crown and land. Talking about Oak and them wanting him being the High King one day. So, why did Jude think it was smart giving Madoc unrestricted approach to Oak? He can hammer a lot of nonsense into him, then Oak will become king and breaks the whole land. Not really smart. Plus I'm not really sure how Jude worded Madoc's exile but could it be possible that Oak could be able to pardon him once he becomes the High King? What about Lady Asha and what she did. She was build up as this untrustworthy character, and then she was left out. In the previous book, they kept hinting something about Jude's mother, some secret or something but it was mentioned basically once in this book and then nothing of it. Taryn's pregnancy. Exactly why was Taryn made pregnant if it has no connection to the story? I at least expected the child to be born in the epilogue. But honestly, there would be no difference if she were pregnant or not. I needed more of Jude and Cardan's relationship; they went from supposed enemies to sleeping together, then the whole thing happened and then the super cheezy ending. And not much was shown in a way how their relationship is going to work. Jude's revenge! She seemed like such a revenge-driven character, and then it was mostly omitted from the story. (hide spoiler)]
Okay, so somehow I jumped right to the end of this book. I have no idea why I did that.
This book needed more Cardan; I felt like there was not enough of him in the whole book.
Then, Locke, you might know that I actually liked him and his devious ways. So, I have to say that (view spoiler)[ killing him off the page seems very, very lazy to me. He deserved more, and I wanted more conflict on the page with him! I was actually surprised how much he was involved in the story. I did not guess his connection to the Ghost nor his involvement in Jude's kidnapping, and it is a shame that we learned about that once he was gone. (hide spoiler)]
I very much enjoyed how action-packed this book was. It was super easy to read, and the first time I stopped for a moment, I was halfway through the book. The pages just flew!
The cover is a masterpiece, and I would never ever guessed how fantastically it represents the story. That's something... I can only clap, very well done. (view spoiler)[ I did not see that coming, at all. I kept thinking: "The earring! It's going to turn into a spider and bite Cardan! Do something, Jude! And then he turned into a serpent! I was shocked, and I could not stop laughing! That was brilliant. (hide spoiler)] I did not expect this moment at all, but it was the only one in the whole book.
And then there is my main grievance with this book. (view spoiler)[ What did I expect from this book? To be torn apart, even to cry. But now... everything seemed to end so cheesily happy that I'm actually disappointed. No one actually suffered, no huge sacrifices. Taryn, after being absolutely useless and backstabbing for two books, is suddenly pardoned. Gets an estate and what? Nothing. I would expect Jude to get some sort of revenge! No matter how useful Taryn pretended to be in this book! And then you can expect that the Ghost will make a move and they will live happily ever after with Taryn. I would have no problem with this "relationship" if it did not appear out of nowhere!
Vivi and Heather get together. Despite everything. Yeah, fantastic.
Madoc may have been punished but in a very unpunished way. I wanted someone to suffer! Also, the way he just stopped fighting seemed a bit out of character for him.
And the epilogue could not be more cheezy and super happy. Let's buy pizza and take Cardan to the mortal lands for a visit who suddenly behaves like someone completely else.
It just did not seem right that everyone ended so happy. No one died. Jude even managed to play nice with Nicasia because both love Cardan. I actually wish the Roach would have died; it would make it more realistic. I expected him to because he got poisoned and then everybody was staying alive, no one got hurt, no one betrayed Jude and those who betrayed her started to come to her side. I expected some sacrifice but nope. (hide spoiler)]
Right now, I feel that this was somewhat anticlimactic. And too easy....more