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3.46 AVERAGE
3.46 AVERAGE
A disappointing end to the trilogy, with too many quick fixes that happened so abruptly that I had a few "wait, what? *flip back*" moments. The love story, which seemed to start off tantalizingly enough by the end of Book 1, continued to NOT develop any deeper here; it's supposed to be an epic love story, but I just didn't feel it ("But the kissing!!!" "Yeah, and...? The 'and' is the important part. And shut up, I don't mean sex."). There was a bit of dilemma in the beginning, but then it felt like a lot of passive-protagonist stagnating in the middle before stuffing too much action in the last 20 pages. The Grigori could have been better developed to make me care about them, not to have them just be completely interchangeable props. It felt unrealistic the way Katerina kept worrying about/protecting Danilo after everything he'd done (seriously, he basically roofied you in Book 1; I don't think you'd forget/forgive a thing like that!). Yeah, you wouldn't wish [spoiler] on anyone, BUT STILL, that was some next-level Mary-Sue-ing. The conclusion left me oddly unsatisfied, too neat while at the same time leaving too many details up in the air. This felt like a rushed, slapped-together conclusion to a 'well, trilogies are popular so we gotta stretch this into 3' affair.
Fantastic finish to an all-time favorite series...So sad it's over...I want more of Katiya and Georgi.
...Just starting...pretty sure the cover says it all. We shall soon know.
"After burying her husband's body in the Romanov crypt with his ancestors, she faked her own death and assumed the identity of a distant Cantacuzene cousin. She deceived the foolish Nicholas Pavlovich and gained control over the remaining blood drinkers who had not been exiled to Siberia. She hid in the heart of St. Petersburg with the stolen relic, the Talisman of Isis, slowly gathering other vampires loyal to her and waiting decades for her chance at revenge."
"After burying her husband's body in the Romanov crypt with his ancestors, she faked her own death and assumed the identity of a distant Cantacuzene cousin. She deceived the foolish Nicholas Pavlovich and gained control over the remaining blood drinkers who had not been exiled to Siberia. She hid in the heart of St. Petersburg with the stolen relic, the Talisman of Isis, slowly gathering other vampires loyal to her and waiting decades for her chance at revenge."
A great conclusion to the series, I was satified at the end.
-POTENTIAL SPOILERS-
Well, this book certainly wasn't the amazing Russian Empire necromancer novel I've been craving from the start, but at least it wasn't as bad as the first.
This book's main problem is that it's boring. Nothing much really happens, and when it does happen, it doesn't feel urgent. There's about three different climaxes in this book, and they all felt rushed. I felt like there was more to explain and more to do that the author just didn't get into.
I did like the new location of Egypt. It was a lot of fun, even though the writing style wasn't descriptive enough about it. Plus they get married in Riga! And the author acknowledges Riga is in Latvia! I was so happy I didn't even care that back in the Russian Empire, it was called Reva instead!
The cover is my favorite in this entire trilogy! It's summer, since the book takes place in summer and fits the desert theme of the novel. Plus I love how the dress is a combined outfit of a traditional Russian dress and a Victorian gown. It looks really pretty!
As said before though, while not awful, this book is boring and way too rushed. I felt the final climax, which only take up about two pages, was the most rushed of them all.
The historical notes made me the most upset, since the author mentions an actual doctor during WW1 who trained Olga and Tatiana to be nurses under her. The book mentions she was from Kiev, but that's not true. She was a Lithuanian princess from Vilnius who later on moved to Kiev in 1916, shortly after the royal family's imprisonment. I know I mainly know this from that Romanova sister book, but I feel like even if I didn't read that book I would've known that woman wasn't Ukrainian since her name is a Lithuanian name!
Overall, this book was fairly bland, rushed, and boring. It tried to win me over, but it failed, much like the trilogy as a whole did.
Well, this book certainly wasn't the amazing Russian Empire necromancer novel I've been craving from the start, but at least it wasn't as bad as the first.
This book's main problem is that it's boring. Nothing much really happens, and when it does happen, it doesn't feel urgent. There's about three different climaxes in this book, and they all felt rushed. I felt like there was more to explain and more to do that the author just didn't get into.
I did like the new location of Egypt. It was a lot of fun, even though the writing style wasn't descriptive enough about it. Plus they get married in Riga! And the author acknowledges Riga is in Latvia! I was so happy I didn't even care that back in the Russian Empire, it was called Reva instead!
The cover is my favorite in this entire trilogy! It's summer, since the book takes place in summer and fits the desert theme of the novel. Plus I love how the dress is a combined outfit of a traditional Russian dress and a Victorian gown. It looks really pretty!
As said before though, while not awful, this book is boring and way too rushed. I felt the final climax, which only take up about two pages, was the most rushed of them all.
The historical notes made me the most upset, since the author mentions an actual doctor during WW1 who trained Olga and Tatiana to be nurses under her. The book mentions she was from Kiev, but that's not true. She was a Lithuanian princess from Vilnius who later on moved to Kiev in 1916, shortly after the royal family's imprisonment. I know I mainly know this from that Romanova sister book, but I feel like even if I didn't read that book I would've known that woman wasn't Ukrainian since her name is a Lithuanian name!
Overall, this book was fairly bland, rushed, and boring. It tried to win me over, but it failed, much like the trilogy as a whole did.
I feel so CHEATED!!! This series can't just end like this! I feel like there was a missing epilogue. Review to come.
I love Ancient Egypt, since I learned about it in Grade 5.. I've been OBSESSED... didn't even know they were going to be traveling there in this book...but I was beyond pleasantly surprised! I wish there was more to the series.. definitely love that most of the characters are real. I love history, and historical fiction is definitely one of my favourite genres (especially when it has a fantasy element to it)
Following The Gathering Storm and The Unfailing Light, The Morning Star concludes the Katerina Trilogy. Set in Russia’s Imperial Court of St. Petersburg in 1890, the author Bridges blends historical facts and paranormal elements to create a luxuriant world combining tsars and duchesses with vampires, werewolves, and other mystical beings. Seventeen year old duchess Katerina’s ability to raise the dead as a necromancer deems her to be a valuable pawn in the power struggle between the dark and light courts of Tsar Alexandra’s kingdom. As in the past books, Katerina denounces her power and instead struggles to become a medical doctor, unheard of for a woman during this time period. In The Morning Star, Katerina faces the return of the evil lich tsar from the purgatory of the supernatural Graylands. Reunion with her love interest, George Alexandrovich, is short lived when Katerina is kidnapped by the lich tsar and sent to Egypt to release the morning star, the sword of Lucifer. Epic battles and alliances of courts are put to the test in this final installment. Will good triumph over evil? Will the love between Katerina and George last? Will Katerina’s dream of practicing medicine become a reality?