All in all I found this one to be highly disappointing.
I had greatly enjoyed the earlier novels in the series and I was looking forward to this one, the conclusion to the series. Unfortunately it didn't live up to my expectations. (1) There were a number of instances were I had to suspend disbelief, in particular with regards to how the 'bad guys' kept coming up with 'unanticipated' ways of getting rid of the opposition. What was rather unbelievable to my mind was that Faythe and the others on her side of things knew the character of those who opposed them and knew what they were capable of -and yet they never expected they would fight dishonorably? Considering what Malone and his cronies had done in earlier books, this was somewhat hard to believe. To my mind, for people as smart as Faythe and her father, in particular, were supposed to be, they acted rather naively (and rather unbelievably, IMHO) in assuming the enemy would come to them on their terms. (2) The end of the book was incredibly abrupt and unsatisfying.
After everything the characters had suffered, it was rather unsatisfying to have the conclusion take up so little space in the novel. To my mind, while Faythe and her friends perhaps did not have a choice to get rid of their enemies quickly and summarily, this does not mean that the conclusion of the NOVEL must also be rushed. Why not spend a little time showing us how the characters adapt to their new situations once the battle is over?
Unsatisfying. (3) While I had been willing to give this part of the storyline the benefit of the doubt, I did wind up being disappointed in the Marc/Jace/Faythe love triangle. All in all I felt it also ended abruptly.
All in all, I felt this one didn't live up to the hype.
While the romance between the main character Violet and her best friend Jay was somewhat enjoyaAll in all, I felt this one didn't live up to the hype.
While the romance between the main character Violet and her best friend Jay was somewhat enjoyable, it was brought down by the rest of the novel which was (to my mind) poorly executed.
The biggest problem this novel had was the fact that the mystery being resolved was utterly unbelievable. I'm trying not to give away the entire ending here, but it was one which to my mind felt as unrewarding as the idea of having the narrator's best friend or the narrator themselves being the killer. For instance, out of nowhere, the killer suddenly had an accomplice. This and other aspects felt as though they suddenly came out of 'left field', as it were.
To my mind, the way to make suspense and mystery *believable* is to give the reader/viewer (i.e. in the case of a film) the essential elements pointing to the actual solution or killer while doing so in such a way that the reader or viewer draws an erroneous conclusion. A good example of this, to my mind, is the film 'The Sixth Sense': I and many members of the viewing public saw this film while seeing all the subtle hints of Bruce Willis' characters' death without actually realizing that he had, in fact, died.
An undisputed grand master at suspense was Alfred Hitchcock. If you want to see suspense done *well*, go check out his films.
What I'm trying to say here is that suspense and mystery are a tricky and difficult art and that this novel fails in this respect. So, all in all, don't waste your money on this one.
In general I was rather disappointed with this third installment in the series. I had read the first two and decided to give the series a chance, yet In general I was rather disappointed with this third installment in the series. I had read the first two and decided to give the series a chance, yet I was ultimately left rather unsatisfied with its resolution.
A central problem with this third novel, to my mind, was that I got the distinct and annoying feeling that Yelena (i.e. the main character) had not evolved as an individual. To the contrary, several decisions she made (in particular where her impatience with her mentor Moon Man is concerned) came across as both immature and poorly considered. Also, the author did not spend much time resolving crucial questions: instead most of the book is spent running from one crisis to the next, crises which Yelena barrels through rather thoughtlessly (and I would add pointlessly) as usual.
I would suggest reading the first book in the series and ignoring the last two.
NB: Reviewer's note... After some reflection, I am reinstating the reviews I had deleted and will hold off on deleting the rest. I will link to an expNB: Reviewer's note... After some reflection, I am reinstating the reviews I had deleted and will hold off on deleting the rest. I will link to an explanation at my blog page ASAP. --------------- This book has been downgraded (i.e. originally rated 4 stars). Original review is below. --------------- All in all I enjoyed this one.
There were undeniable flaws in this story and yet it still felt both gripping and promising as a debut novel. Its strongest aspect was the atmosphere created by the author.
A major weakness concerned a particular plothole I noticed, as well as the characterizations. Concerning the latter, while not *badly* done where the two main characters were concerned, I couldn't help but feel that it would have been satisfying to have the author show us a bit more more of the main characters' backstories. Additionally, the secondary characters felt entirely one-dimensional as the author gave virtually no additional/character building information about them. It would also have been satisfying to have a bit more backstory on the killer in order to gain a better feel for his 'motivations'.
Spoiler space (for those who don't want to know anything about the resolution of the main mystery in this novel): * * * * * * The main character was rescued by Ethan (her new boyfriend) and his brother Marty (a police detective in charge of this particular case). The issue I had with this was that there was no mention of Marty (or anyone else for that matter) seeking a search warrant in order to assure themselves of being on the right side of 'probable cause' when it comes to entering a suspect's house. In this instance, if the suspect had survived his defense lawyer(s) might eventually have argued that this constituted an unlawful search and seizure, which might have caused any evidence obtained during such a search to be thrown out of court. Did Marty and/or Ethan hear the girls screaming (which might *perhaps* have been argued as 'probable cause')? This is not mentioned. If this was not the case, one might even argue that their entry into the suspect's house constituted breaking and entering under the law!
A few final notes: (i) Probable cause refers back to the fourth amendments to the U.S. constitution. As a caveat, I am neither American nor a lawyer. But this part of the story struck me as odd. (ii) This book contains explicit sex. (I'll admit any sane person would expect this upon reading the summary, but I thought I'd let people know. :) (iii) If this book didn't already have a published sequel which should deal more in depth with the origin of the lake spirits, I might have lowered the rating on this one to 3 out of 5 leaves as this is not explained in the first book. ...more
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