livvy_alipat's reviews
56 reviews

I only finished this book because I told myself I couldn't DNF yet another in March. It's pretty terrible guys. No characters development, the world seems very tiny and claustrophobic, juvenile interactions and dialogue between characters. Would not recommend nor read further into the series.

Okay.... So, I knew this wasn't going to be remarkable, I just wanted a flirty adventurous quick read in between my heavy fantasy books I usually go through. This was... Mostly that.

First of all, this has SO MUCH POTENTIAL to be reeaaaaaallllly good. Like, really good. It reads kind of like Laura Croft. Adventure, flirty, h stakes, mystery and artifacts. Except if the author published ONLY an outline. 

This entire book should have been twice as long if not more. It reads like cliffnotes that were sent to a company about what the skeleton of the story would be about, and nothing at all extra. The entire story is just flat out told to the reader, there's zero showing at all. There's no experiencing the characters living the story. The characters are just DOING the whole time. 

I'm bummed, I was hoping for at least a 3 star read, and I would have picked up another one. But I'm done at this one. 

Yikes, I really don't enjoy rating a book below a 3. Especially because I truly didn't dislike it, it just wasn't good.

In the beginning I got the sense that it was campy, and I was game for that. The FMC came across as all business, no nonsense, quick thinking, great thought process for all of her decisions, sarcastic - my sort of lady. Then we meet the MMC, and he was dark and broody and complicated and handsome. Also game for that. 

The plot is actually very clever, and I loved the banter. It seemed, in the beginning, like the author was really taking her time with the details and scenes and developing the characters, and then it just started going downhill really quickly.

The FMC turned into the exact thing she was rolling her eyes on when it came to other female characters in stories- irrational and idiotic decisions, overly emotional, immature.... You can fall in love, and not be thrilled about it happening, without turning into a wailing and walking disaster. 

The story wrapped up incredibly quickly, and the climax and resolution was kind of thrown in the reader's face.

I was excited for the lighthearted, fun and silly read, but this just didn't quite hit the mark. Which was a huge bummer because the potential for the plot was really interesting.

EDIT!!
Okay, I wrote my first review about an hour after finishing it, and I should have taken some time to let it sink it. Well, now I have. I was previously giving it a 4 on the sole basis of it being a SJM book, where her writing sends you directly into her worlds and her character development is insanely profound. 

And while that is mostly true, even in CC3, it's nowhere near as true as in anything we've seen from her in the past. I didn't want pack information on Ithan, I didn't want River Queen/ Blue Court dealing with Therion, I barely wanted to know what was going on with Ruhn but all of his story line was Lidia so that was disappointing. The Jessiba story line fell flat, the crossover for all three worlds was a bit of a let down, the Princes of Hel were not all of that impressive or scary.... Honestly, I'm so sad. And that sounds lame, maybe it is. But with the promise that this finale held, it was very underwhelming. I feel like she purposely left a million story lines open, just so she could maybe come back to them like she's doing with ACOTAR. and ugh, don't get me started on a potential book about Elaine. Bleugck.

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I'm giving this book a 4 because I just can't bring myself to give it a 3 anything. Maybe I need longer to reflect, but from someone who just finished the end of this series (it's SJM so who actually knows, but) this ending just fell a little flat.

I actually really love Bryce as a FMC. She has stayed true to her character from start to finish. One of the things I love about SJM is that for the most part I feel as if she totally fleshes out her characters and tries to stay true to who they are throughout her stories. Bryce's banter is written really well and I love her sass, her heart, and how you can tell she really thinks through her difficult decisions. She also owns her wrongs, which "accountability" is something I think a lot of modern fantasy writers miss with their FMC or just don't develop as well, so I love that about Bryce.

The book still did nothing to convince me to be into Hunt as MMC. haha, sorry Hunt fans! He's not broody in an attractive way, he's just boring. I also expected him to be a bit more impressive, after having Rhysand and Rowan as the other male leads to compare to. "...as lightening writhed up his wrists/ flashed in his eyes" it's like 80% for show. Rhysand literally turned an entire shipful of enemies into bloody mist pulp with just a thought. So, meh, Hunt isn't a favorite.

I could literally share a novel's worth of opinions on all of the characters- because there are 80 million of them. Which gets so annoying. I know here and there, seeing the story through an alternate POV could help in shaping everything, but I just couldn't be bothered to see another chapter with Ithan and Therion, or even Ruhn and especially Lidia. And it's not because I didn't root for them or care about them. My main complaint is that in trying to create this huge world with so many moving pieces, SJM loses the main characters in the mix. I honestly didn't get enough from Bryce's POV. And that's 90% of what I wanted. 

Overall, I didn't dislike the book- obviously, I'm giving it a 4 star rating. It just truly fell flat for me as compared to books 1 and 2, which I couldn't put down and couldn't wait for the rest of the story. I can't see myself picking this one up and rereading again for a very very long time.