1.5/5

Hmmmmm. I was on an adrenaline rush from finishing the second book today, so I dove head first into this one. Much, much more mixed feelings.

I will be the first to admit that, for this series, the plot runs kind of rampant, but like. I strap in. I'm on for the ride. This last one, though? Just felt a bit more discombobulated than the rest. If that makes sense. It was like Black had run out of ideas and didn't know what to make of what she had already laid before herself.

There was a lot of tying up loose ends and just making the ending as neat as possible. I liked the ending, just not for this book series. At least. The ending was mediocre, but just bad for the trajectory and momentum that the series has propelled. I think that it should have ended in demise. There are sooo many ways it could have gone, but my personal favorite would be if, in the bugh, Jude got eaten by the snake king Cardan. Whether or not he comes to when her blood is spills, I don't care. I think it would be cool if he ate her and then it faded to black. Main point being - not all loose ends need to be tied up neatly

Oh, and ALSO, at the near end point where they are trying to strike up sympathy points for Cardan and his mermaid ex girlfriend is like "did you know he used to free the human slaves? he was a good person" LIKE>> DOES THIS JUST WAVE AWAY EVERYTHING ELSE? Also- it doesn't fit with his characterization AT ALL!!!!!! He constantly is described as a cruel prince, looking for any attention, because any attention is good attention, and the fae world is brutalistic and traumatizing to children. I don't know. I think that there could have been more develepmont in his relationship with Jude in general, but especially in regards to how he views and treats humans. But then again, Jude is a bad person, too, so what does it matter?



There's a lot to chew on with this one. Strongly mixed ( )

is there any cardan fanfic out there i might have to read some ( )

I am really conflicted about this series. On one hand, I enjoyed it a lot. It did a lot of new and surprising things while still sticking to established and working themes. From my personal enjoyment, I would rate this 4 stars but on the other hand (there goes the but).

While some of the emotional landscape of characters is very well fleshed out and believable in a lot of crucial places all sanity and consistency goes completely overboard for the plot to move where it should. Often very roughly while other times meandering around insignificant emotional conflicts for pages.
Basically the page-time spent doesn't align with the importance and relevance of the thing described. Which is part of the most glaring flaw throughout the entire series but is especially present in this third book. Forgiveness for the cruellest and unforgivable crimes is thrown left and right all over the place just to get the plot where it's supposed to go without any exploration of the mental framework that leads to those ludicrous decisions. At the same time, we spend pages and pages with insignificant squabbles and how they mentally affect our heroine.
It was a truly off-putting experience that had me on the edge of dnf more than once.
I am not saying there is no way for these decisions to be justified but the reader gets next to nothing to understand how this could possibly be sane.

Apart from that, there are a few pretty obvious contradictions and conflicts with earlier explanations in the magic and world but I am not as pedantic as I once was so my willings suspension of disbelief could take it.

I feel like many of the flaws might be the result of rushed writing and could have been much more relatable. There was a 5 star series in this that fell short which always infuriates me.
I still recommend this series but it could've been so much more than just good. ( )

Wat een spannend boek om mee te eindigen, althans dat dacht ik. Tot ik er achter kwam dat er nog 2 delen zijn die in de zelfde wereld spelen. Dus die zal ik op moeten zoeken.

Jude is verbannen naar de menselijke wereld en woont nu bij Vivienne en Eik. Zij is nog helemaal van slag door het verraad van Cardan. Dan komt Taryn ook naar hen toe, omdat ze moet vluchten na de gewelddadige dood van haar man, Locke. Taryn wordt van moord beschuldigd en moet verschijnen voor de opperraad. Jude ziet een mogelijkheid om als Taryn terug te keren naar het hof van Cardan. Bij terugkomst ontdekt ze dat Elfhame bijna in oorlog is en zich voorbereid op een grote invasie en veldslag. Jude zal er alles aan doen om dit te voorkomen. Dan wordt Cardan vervloekt en kan niets meer zelf doen en is Jude weer aangewezen op haar slimme plannen. ( )

What a nice ending to a series. Yes, it felt a little unfufilling yet . . . It opens the doors for more plotting and scheming in the world of faerie.

This was more a battle of wits, to see the truth in riddles and trying to read between the lines of whom you should try to trust and who might stick the knife in your back.

Cardan's mother, what a sly fae she is. She had and will be out for herself always. She would betray him in a heartbeat. So what do you do? You keep her close.

I still don't like Taryn, even if she did redeem herself. Jude always trying to do everything on her own but came to realise she couldn't and needed everyone; bonds forged and unlikely allies.

Cardan - clever, ambistious and ruthless when needed. My favourite in elfhame.

I am also happy to have Lord Rioben and Kaye in the series even if they were miniscule. Here is me hoping they will get another bigger feature in the future.

Overall, full stars for the whole series. It is compelling, intriguing and my favourite - dark. ( )