mypatronusisajedi's reviews
841 reviews

Disappointed. This felt way too long considering not a lot happened to forward the plot. I was annoyed and disconnected from the characters. The ending especially felt needlessly chaotic. 

This book was such a disappointment. The first 3 books are some of my all-time favorites - all 5 star reads for their narrative, character development, and good mix of romance/fantasy elements/action sequencs. 
Book 4 started to lose the plot for me a little. I still enjoyed it, but the constant shifting through SO MANY POVs is jarring, hard to keep track of, and frankly a little boring. I enjoyed it more the first time I read it than I did with my reread this time around. 
I have been waiting YEARS for book 5 and when I tell you it was a SLOG to finish. I found myself choosing a music playlist to listen to instead of playing my audiobook. 
I do think Julia Whelan did an okay job with the narration but she doesn't have the range of voices needed to handle the POVs. This is a book that begs to be produced as a graphic audio with a full cast for each character.
My major issue is again, too many POVs. The constantly shifting back and forth (sometimes within the same paragraph) is unnecessary and jarring. Everything is written in third person POV except for Elloren's which is first person POV (and it takes HOURS before we even circle back to her in this book). I wish the book could primarily have been told from her POV. For me it loses a lot of personality, charm, and emotional investment to constantly change characters. It didn't add anything to the story.
The second issue I had was the romance. EVERYONE FELL IN LOVE WITH EVERYONE. Like, you just met a week ago?? It all felt rushed and I didn't believe the relationship development at all. I was honestly so so annoyed by how much of this book (and the last book) were focused on how thirsty everyone was for each other.

also, the way she can't decide who her characters end up with - so she just cheats the system so they don't have to choose?? Lmao Tierney gets 2 lifetimes so she can be with both of her loves..Lukas sacrifices himself so Elloren can marry and start a family with Yvan. It cheapened the emotions and felt like such a cop out.

 
Most of this book felt so busy and detailed that I honestly should have kept notes. But then it also felt like it dragged on way longer than it needed to. Too much going on and not a lot actually happening to forward the plot. 
I don't like negative reviews and I have been such a fan of this series. But I'm so disappointed and annoyed at everything about this book. 

This was interesting enough, but not my favorite dystopian. Felt slow in places and a lot of details that proved important and difficult to keep track of. 

Oof. This is painful. I am an Elise Kova fan. Top tier. Reread her stuff all the time. The last book in the married to magic series, Duet with the Siren Duke, was a 5⭐ read. So so good. The plot, the dialogue, the friendship to relationship development - TOP TIER. But. But this freaking book. Bored me. Not interesting. The friendship and relationship development was not believable. No chemistry. I was so disappointed. I thought the plot twists at the end felt rushed and not well developed. Just wanted to cry 😭 not what I'm used to from Elise.