I'd give .75 stars if I could.
[Spoiler and in-depth review below] I loved book 1 and 2. I hate this book. She writes around the action. She kills for characters I love. And left me crushed and preferring every other book I've hated more than this. How can a series that's so good be so heartbreaking. I want entertainment not heartbreak. I have enough death and loss in real life. There was one or two moments in the book that were fun. The epilogue was pretty and a feeling of "finally!", plus interesting with her tense shift. But I hate this book and feel utterly betrayed by the author. I may finish the series, though if bk 4 keeps going down hill then I won't bother with 5 but I no longer plan to find everything by her and read it, which was my plan before this book. I don't even have the words for how let down I am. She had everything going to make this my new favorite series and dethrone someone I have loved since I started reading and she liked it all in this book with these four characters, even though she finally killed the one I wanted dead.
***** Final thought: I would not be so let down and furious if I didn't Kiera Cass wasn't amazing. Were she merely mediocre, I might have praised this work but as she is so much more than mediocre this is an insult to the characters and the world she created and I am heartbroken.
Spoilers and in-depth review:
Okay, so it took a while to fall in love with book one but I was working out on the elliptical and still have thirty minutes left so I forced myself. Slowly I started to fall in love with it and then I couldn't put it down. My work outs became hour long affairs, or more. I pride myself on getting to the "will they live or die" highest climactic moment of any book and putting it away to increase the anticipation. Book One broke my iron reserve and I went through it so quickly, I broke my other reading rule. I paid full price for book 2. Book 2 slowed down and wasn't anything close to the fireworks of book 1 but I still loved it enough to keep working out and reading so long each day, sometimes twice, and to buy book 3 again at full price.
Book three started slow for me but I decided to give it time and a chance. Seriously, it felt like that scene from a Knight's Tale with Chaucer trudging through the dirt and mud... I digress. But at some point it still peaked my interest. I loved the addition of the northern rebels and finally getting more of them. I truly enjoyed August and Georgia. King Clarkson suddenly became a melo-dramatic villain that I absolutely hated but I trudged on. Sometimes Maxon was so stupid that I wanted to close the book on him and ride off with Aspen. In fact, even though Maxon is my choice for America I think Aspen is the best character in this entire series, with her father as the second best and Celeste (who I detested originally) taking a surprising third. America and Maxon tie for fourth.
The scene where Aspen sneaks them out for the meeting was grand, the attack and her getting shot and nearly lost, magnificently entertaining. But the death of Micah was the first chink in the armor of this author. She was quickly becoming my favorite and about to dethrone a favorite author who has reigned for 20 plus years.
The scene where America brings the Italian Princess and Georgia to tea was a terrific coup, but then I'm let down that more wasn't made of that and that the storyline wasn't explored and developed more deeply between all of them and with the rebels.
Killing her father sunk the book for me. I would never read it again but I planned to continue reading and to read other books--that is no longer the case.
Kota never grew and they never really used him for anything but the one blow up. That was a let down all the way around, I would have loved to see him grow or try to manipulate her standing for his own good more.
I saw Lucy coming a mile away. I fully approve.
The end comes hard and fast in an ugly way. It's like she ran out of paper and couldn't write small enough to get it all in. I'm okay with the Deus Ex Machina of killing off King Clarkson and had, in fact, been expecting it. Maxon's reaction was far too strong, his lack of being able to listen far too unrealistic. Anger and hurt yes, but with such a choice before him... no.
And here is the crux of the matter. She creates Aspen as this wonderful, heroic character that knows the palace well enough to navigate secret meetings safely among other things. And yes he clearly knew something was wrong but in this scene she wanted the surprise and to write off characters so badly that she was untrue and unfair to Aspen. True, he knew something was up, but I don't believe for one second he would have been tricked into believing those southern rebels were palace guards, not with how American saw them. It was so obvious. And they certainly would not have been able to get out of position and behind Celeste to shoot her head off before Aspen alerted or shot himself. I believe the first shot would have been his. Less of the known characters would have died; in fact, he would have had his own brought in back up because he would have known there was a problem and brought the men he trusted in. It was no remotely realistic for me.
That said, after everything went to crap, she was true to Aspen and allowed him to be the hero we all knew him to be. Even with Micah and the father's death, I would have still been an avid fan if the Queen wasn't killed (I also believe guards would have been to her at once and she would have been more concerned with her son than her husband--so her whole death did not ring true) and if I hadn't been made to finally love Celeste and then lost her. This is a young adult story not a drama or tragedy but I believe the author merely lacked the finesse to finish some of the truly great lines she had going and to delve deeply. This was a sad waste and a horrible insult to the rest of her series. Instead of merely trying to resolve it all in a few pages she should have resolved a few points and written a book four in this current time period so that she could truly unpack the wonderful lines she had with the rebels and the Italians and develop them--the father's involvement with being a rebel most importantly. I am so heartily disappointed I wish I could morally ask for a refund. But even more so I am disappointed because I thought I had found a new author to love and follow; however, I have merely been teased with what could have been greatness.
**** Please note, if you like unneeded and unearned death or are at least unbothered by it, you should still read this. I just have enough loss in my day to day life that I don't need an author who will make me love a character and kill without foreshadow or need.
