I gave it three stars but this is more like.... 2.5 honestly. Am I surprised? No. ALTHOUGH~ Am I amazed I had the patience to read that far considering how I felt about the other 39 chapters before it got good? Yes. °•LET THE SPOILERS COMMENCE, SINCE I DON'T KNOW HOW TO EXPLAIN WHY I DIDN'T LIKE THIS SO MUCH WITHOUT DETAIL•° [note: I read this months ago so my memory is a tad rusty] Ahem... Let's start off with the- CHARACTERS I have never liked Sophie Foster as a main character and according to this recent addition to the series... I never will. The girl just.... Grrr.... First off, ZERO character development. I don't, by the way. She was NOT meant to be a leader. Not to mention the whining about being left out of the loop on info with the adults, and then whirling around and keeping things from her friends because they just CAN'T know about XYZ! I must keep them away to protect them! ....do you really not see it, Sophie? Oh my goshhhhhh, don't even get me started on her having a crush on Fitz for ages even though he WAS A VERBALLY AND EMOTIONALLY ABUSIVE FRIEND/BOYFRIEND WHO WANTED TO MURDER HIS BROTHER AND CANNOT DEAL WITH ANYTHING LESS THAN PERFECTION. The whole 'match scandal' thing? CAN YOU GET MORE SELFISH AND UNABLE TO CARE ABOUT YOUR GIRLFRIEND'S FEELINGS?
Once you get to chapter 40 the rating gets pushed up to a 3.5
Very yes.
*shuffles note cards*
_________________
Unless you want to call 'becoming tougher, more demanding, and awoken to her feelings about Keefe', character development.
I don't care if she's the Moonlark with special powers and a grudge against every villain in the book.
That doesn't change the fact that her over-thinking-ness and not-thinking-before-she-does-something-stupid-ness, hinder her leadership abilities.
Sure, she may have a charisma about her that brings people to her I guess, but she...
SHE CAN'T LEAD.
SHE JUST PLAYS FAVORITES AND DOES STUPID THINGS THAT ALMOST GET HER AND HER FRIENDS KILLED.
Do you not get it?
Do you not see what you and the adults are doing?
Which brings me to everybody else~
Fitz: I hate him, always will. I'm not even kidding when I say that if Shannon kills of a character, I desperately hope it's him.
Plus.
I hated him even more in this book.
Like...
I didn't think it was even possible, but my hatred towards him has ACTUALLY MULTIPLIED WHAT IS THIS?
DOES THE AUTHOR REALIZE HOW AWFUL AND HATE WORTHY A CHARACTER SHE'S CREATED?
I ACTUALLY HAVE HIM JUST UNDER DOLORES JANE UMBRIDGE ON THE LIST OF FICTION CHARACTERS I HATE, AND SHE'S NUMBER ONE ON THAT LIST.
Biana: The ONE character in this whole book series who had decent development.
..but only for the first book then *poof* none in sight.
I actually didn't like her in this book.
Truthfully I didn't like anybody in this book, except Keefe.
Oh! And my girl Lihn!
She's fine.
But everyone else?
Tam? Furious at him. Author-nim is letting some serious development slip through her fingers, man.
Heck....she's letting good development for ALL OF HER MAIN CAST SLIP THROUGH HER FINGERS!
I have ROLE PLAY CHARACTERS THAT I WAS ABLE TO DEVELOPMENT MORE THAN THIS CREW.
So yeah,
Dex? ...did he even exist in this book?
I CAN'T REMEMBER BECAUSE HE IS USED SO FRICKEN LITTLE.
He is literally just there for tech support!!!!
I LOVE HIM, SHANNON!! HE'S A GREAT CHARACTER!! WHY AREN'T YOU USING HIM MORE!!
..is the whole triplet and family issues a ploy to keep him busy and away from the others?
I smell a theory forming.
Stina? Never liked her, never really will. I'll admit she's gotten better but her attitude needs adjusting.
Maruca? Bland incarnate.
Marella? Started off great in this series and actually got worse.
I don't like her at all anymore.
The girl is the epitome of 'rebellious teenager and parent issues who wears black and is emo, plus is also an outcast because of something that's different with her.' ((her pyrokinesis))
She also needs an attitude adjustment.
Wylie? Not as bland as Maruca, but close.
though I still ship him with Lihn~
New girl?
What's her name?...I've forgotten it already....
...we'll just call her Glimmer here.
Hate her too :D
I have since she first show up and ALWAYS will, for two good reasons!
1. Am I not ashamed to say I have a crush on Tam and him defending her all the time is just grating on my every last nerve.
2. I just do, because she's annoying and sO mYsTeRiOuS and seriously didn't get super red flags from Lady Gisela???? THE WOMAN SCREAMS 'I AM EVIL AND ABUSE MY SON FOR HIS "OWN GOOD".
HOW DID GLIMMER THINK IT WAS OKAY TO CUFF TAM IN THOSE STUPID LIGHT CUFFS??? LIKE, THAT DIDN'T SEEM WRONG TO YOU AT ALL????
And lastly....
Keefe.
((because I couldn't care less about the adults in this book.
I really couldn't.
...
EXCEPT FOR ELWIN, JULINE, AND KESLER! I LOVE THEM!))
Keefe is...
....literally the only reason why I'm still reading these.
HE is the ONLY character who has had REAL development and IS ACTUALLY LIKEABLE!
GOOD JOB ON HIM SHANNON! THANK YOU FOR GRACING ME AND THE OTHER READERS WITH HIS WONDERFULNESS.
Really,
THANK YOU.
Because without Keefe I would have burned all my copies of this series and DNFed it ages ago.
Seriously.
Hmm...anything else?
This was the most boring book in the whole series.
How....
I can't even....
SHE HAS A HUGE CAST OF CHARACTERS, OVER TWENTY PLOT THREADS TO WRAP UP, AN ENTIRE ELFY WORLD, AND VILLAINS I WOULD LIKE TO BURN AT THE STAKE-
and this book was,
fudging
boring.
I DIDN'T REALIZE HOW DEPENDENT I AM ON KEEFE'S CHARACTER, BECAUSE WITHOUT HIM THIS STORY S U C K S.
I had to FORCE myself to get through it.
And I'm sorry fellow Sokeefe shippers.
....but chapter 42 was just okay to me.
I know, I'm sad at myself too.
WHY WAS I NOT EXCITED?
Possibly because....I didn't really like the way it was executed.
It was...underwhelming almost.
Probably because I've daydreamed about it too much and my expectations were too high XD
Plus...
Sophie almost....annoyed me when she finally realized about how Keefe felt and she felt...
It was weird and....forced? I think that's the word I'm looking for.
Yeah.
Sad, man.
SOOOOO, WHAT ELSE?
RO IS STILL AWESOME.
...
That's about all I've got.
....
OH OH, THE ENDING XD
RIIIIIIIIGHT.
WHAT THE FUDGE MAN!? WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO US? WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? WHY WHY WHY? I'M CONFUSED AND
PREPARING TO ME EXTREMELY ANGERED AND FRUSTRATED WITH THE NEXT BOOK.
OH ANDDDDDDD-
Kenric's cache opening?
...just added to all the loose ends and was...
It wasn't even that cool to me.
Like....wow man...mm hm....important to the plot I guess...
A secret library though.....
I SO WANT THAT XD
At least now the cover of the book makes sense ((even though they got Marella's hair color wrong~)).
All in all.
I'm glad I punched that wall after finishing this book.
Peace out ✌
