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cetian's review
5.0
One of the most epic romantic love stories I have immersed myself into. And a great work of language and myth.
helenid's review
3.0
Okay, I've given this three stars as I like the story, but the writing has turned me insane. Two pages given to describing the food at a coronation - written as a list mind. The end of the book was so vague that when publishing as paperback the author had to add 5 pages describing how the book ended and that it was happy. I don't want to spoil it but basically the heroine was trapped on Erith and had lost all her memories again. Her true love trapped in Fairy land. The author explained that birds had taken a secret to him and he kidnapped her back, returned her memory and disguised someone else (willing victim) as her to fool the 'king'.
Shouldn't this be in the actual book!
Do yourself a favour, don't start the trilogy! This is the first time I've been moved to write any type of review, let that be a warning!
Shouldn't this be in the actual book!
Do yourself a favour, don't start the trilogy! This is the first time I've been moved to write any type of review, let that be a warning!
frederica49's review
mysterious
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This was a beautiful book and a worthy finale to the series. It just kept me intrigued even though slow to read.
kristi_asleep_dreaming's review
3.0
Hard to get through. I don't know why; the prose was rather impenetrable, but no more so than in her earlier two, which I found oddly readable despite that. The plot, partly - it wandered, but then the earlier two did as well. Characters? Fewer interesting secondary characters, less interesting setting, or maybe I'd just lost patience with them somehow.
A pity, because I did enjoy the earlier two, and also because she did come up with good answers for some of the things I disliked in the earlier books - Thorn was inhumanly attractive and capable because he was, in fact, inhuman, for one.
I choose to believe the second option at the ending - that she was spirited away by her unworldly lover to beyond the gate. The other was too pointless and stupid a tragic ending, and unworthy of both the prince and his supposedly befuddled bride.
A pity, because I did enjoy the earlier two, and also because she did come up with good answers for some of the things I disliked in the earlier books - Thorn was inhumanly attractive and capable because he was, in fact, inhuman, for one.
I choose to believe the second option at the ending - that she was spirited away by her unworldly lover to beyond the gate. The other was too pointless and stupid a tragic ending, and unworthy of both the prince and his supposedly befuddled bride.
jolovestoread's review
2.0
This book was a slog. It took me 6 months to read this book. I did have a break between July & November, therefore only 3 months reading time, but it was hard. It just wasn't my taste because it was exhausting to read all the description. The plot itself is quite interesting but it was drowned in clothing, food & landscape descriptions. Obviously you need description, and it can be a very interesting part, but not to this extent.
Tahquil goes through a series of name changes again and settles on Ashalind. I like this name, easy to say and read. It's a little annoying that she's had so many names, but that's part of this book. Hidden identities are a large part of the plot.
Speaking of the plot: It takes half the book to actually get to the story. The first half is of Ashalind and her two companions traipsing around dangerous territory. I think to try and find the gate for the fae realm, but I cannot remember exactly why. This part reminded me of the last Potter book, where Harry & co. are wandering the globe looking for horcruxes, but the golden trio had clues and a more structured journey. Ashalind seemed to be wandering just to take up space and display the author's knowledge of mythical creatures.
The creatures themselves I enjoyed reading about. Some frightening, some friendly, often a mix of both, and always interesting. I appreciate Dart-Thornton's world building. The creatures enrich the story, but I would have preferred a tighter novel with less creatures than what was published.
I wondered when reading this, whether this kind of fantasy isn't for me. And it probably isn't, however I still enjoy high or epic fantasy, just again, not to the descriptive extend of this novel.
This is the lowest star rating I've given all year, and maybe even ever - aside from DNF-ing. It sucks because the plot is awesome, but the pages of meaningless description wrecks it.
Aside from whinging about the scenery, the ending felt too jarring and short. Like many other reviews have said, it feels like Dart-Thornton wrapped it up in the quickest way possible because she was sick of it. And personally, she turned a character on it's head and I didn't like it. Their change within moments seemed out of no where and I don't even understand why it was there. I don't understand the meaning of it at all. I'm not sure whether it was meant to bring in some kind of historical accuracy because it involves royalty, but I felt it was ridiculous. If I were to meet and talk to Dart-Thornton, I would ask her why. That would be my first question.
I will now be unhauling the two books I have in this trilogy and move on. After putting so much time into this trilogy, I'm not regretful I finished it. But I must admit, I did skim the second half. I stuck to the plot and ignored the description.
Tahquil goes through a series of name changes again and settles on Ashalind. I like this name, easy to say and read. It's a little annoying that she's had so many names, but that's part of this book. Hidden identities are a large part of the plot.
Speaking of the plot: It takes half the book to actually get to the story. The first half is of Ashalind and her two companions traipsing around dangerous territory. I think to try and find the gate for the fae realm, but I cannot remember exactly why. This part reminded me of the last Potter book, where Harry & co. are wandering the globe looking for horcruxes, but the golden trio had clues and a more structured journey. Ashalind seemed to be wandering just to take up space and display the author's knowledge of mythical creatures.
The creatures themselves I enjoyed reading about. Some frightening, some friendly, often a mix of both, and always interesting. I appreciate Dart-Thornton's world building. The creatures enrich the story, but I would have preferred a tighter novel with less creatures than what was published.
I wondered when reading this, whether this kind of fantasy isn't for me. And it probably isn't, however I still enjoy high or epic fantasy, just again, not to the descriptive extend of this novel.
This is the lowest star rating I've given all year, and maybe even ever - aside from DNF-ing. It sucks because the plot is awesome, but the pages of meaningless description wrecks it.
Aside from whinging about the scenery, the ending felt too jarring and short. Like many other reviews have said, it feels like Dart-Thornton wrapped it up in the quickest way possible because she was sick of it. And personally, she turned a character on it's head and I didn't like it. Their change within moments seemed out of no where and I don't even understand why it was there. I don't understand the meaning of it at all. I'm not sure whether it was meant to bring in some kind of historical accuracy because it involves royalty, but I felt it was ridiculous. If I were to meet and talk to Dart-Thornton, I would ask her why. That would be my first question.
I will now be unhauling the two books I have in this trilogy and move on. After putting so much time into this trilogy, I'm not regretful I finished it. But I must admit, I did skim the second half. I stuck to the plot and ignored the description.
celiaedf12's review
2.0
I enjoyed this less than the first two books of this series - the lengthy journey that Ashalind takes just drags a bit (and put me in mind of Frodo and Sam endlessly clambering up Mount Doom in The Return of the King movie), and I found myself skimming, trying to get to where the plot picks up again. I quite liked the revelations about Thorn's character, and unlike many of the negative reviews here, I enjoyed the ending - I thought it was flagged fairly clearly along the way that this wasn't going to end happily ever after.
julieputty's review
4.0
Much of a piece with the first two in the series, though I found the ending a disappointment after such a long build-up. This is an epic trilogy, and it has its charms.
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