Um... 2.75? Might update after I sit on it.

I loved Cambriel in the Fallen series, I thought he was this brooding figure who has so much to unpack and so much to give to the world and I was kind of unsatisfied with his role toward the end of the quartet.

This, kind of diminished my love for him.

I rarely read novellas for a reason. I feel sometimes we are given too much in such a short amount of time and the author forces too many aspects and inserts unnecessary cameos of characters from previous stories to give us some reminders that this story is still part of the bigger picture and not it's own story.

Unforgiven, while the premise was good and the concept of this story is what drew me in. But it left me overall, unsatisfied. I felt Cam's overall "bad boy" air disappeared with this book and left him too similar to Daniel where Luce was the only thing he cared about. We find out Cam has spent the better part of his existence pining for Lilith but overall enjoying his immortal life. I didn't see the conflict of him wanting more with her but also wishing to cling to how he used to live or any hesitations. It felt like Daniel, who, sacrificed all of his existence for Luce and their love. There wasn't a lot of conflict within Cam -- he knew what he wanted and was going for it, there wasn't a ton of internal conflict, just a lot of external conflict and it didn't round him out. It made him very flat in my opinion, which, in turn, made all of the other characters very flat. He didn't struggle with anything internally and I thought this book was going to be just that, him struggling with something, anything.

And I thought we were going to get some internal conflict, especially when Lucifer began to screw with his appearance and upon learning about how Lilith ended up in hell, but there wasn't any of that. Cam got over it because his love for Lilith was too great for him to care about any of that. Which, made sense, but was also... It seemed to be too out of character for him. Cam seems like the kind of person who banks on his physical appearance and his effect on those around him. It almost felt like I was reading a retelling of Fallen and of Daniel and Luce's love story because they came up SO OFTEN.

However, I do love Lauren Kate's writing, I think it's so poetic and so descriptive. Her concepts are always so imaginative and it's always what draws me to her stories. It was what drew me to Fallen and Unforgiven. It's always what keeps pulling me back to reread the Fallen series over and over again.

Overall, I think the characters fell flat in this case.

I am huge fan of Cam and was excited to see him finally getting a follow-up book. While this book wasn't bad, it just didn't feel like the same Cam, who was so larger than life in the previous Fallen books. I expected more intensity and boldness to Cam's story and sadly, it was just meh.

We all carry pieces of our journeys within us."

I overall really enjoyed the story. I started reading this series as a young teen, I'm now in my middle twenties. I would have loved this book more if it had come out when I was younger but what I do love is seeing Lauren Kate grow as an author. Unforgiven is so much better than Fallen with regards to the writing style and build-up of the plot, world and characters.

That being said, there is one thing (can I call it a trope?) that I just in general don't enjoy. I don't enjoy it in books, I don't enjoy it in movies. And that thing is main characters who are musicians/songwriters. I find that it often makes a story extremely cheese and melodramatic. This book is no exception to that rule sadly. There were some moments that had me rolling eyes quite a bit. Some people might find those moments romantic, I don't. Might be because I have zero musical talent but whatever the reason I didn't enjoy those parts.

The rest of the story was pretty good. I really liked the pressure that was put on the plot (it all has to happen in 15 days) and seeing the original story from Canaan taking place. I did feel like the plot could be a bit repetitive and I also really disagreed with how it's Cam's fault for what happened to the original Lilith. But other than that, it was a fun read and a solid 3 stars.

"The ending! AHHH! The ending!!! I loved it, Cam managed to win her love and they got an explanation on what happened back then"

Full review at ABookHaven

Por favor, qué maravilla❤️‍