I can't believe I finally finished this series! I definitely couldn't have done it without my reading buddy, as there were so many moments of angst and tension that would've caused me to be too terrified to continue, but having to read set amounts a day really helped pace that out instead of overwhelming.

I would like to start this review by saying that I KNEW IT FROM THE START! Everyone knows the twist I'm talking about (involving Ace and Nova) and I just want it on the record that I was here for this from the start! It was literally about waiting for when it would drop haha.

Spoiler

On the other hand, my friend and I did get the Phobia thing way wrong, and totally expected Phobia to be Adrian's dad, instead of his literal creation

.

Overall, I loved what this book did even if it didn't always go the way I was expecting:

Spoiler

Nova got caught really early on, then released? then suddenly she showed her hand? and then! she started fighting for the good side

It wasn't the way I saw things going but I ended up really enjoying it and had a lot of fun with this series overall! I still love the messages it had about morality, power, superheroism, etc. and that morality generally comes in shades of gray, there's no villains and no heroes but a bunch of people working in between (that will generally always be some level of selfish, just varying in how much their actions follow this inner selfishness).

My main issue with this book had to be the actual ending though. I loved how the story itself ended, but I hate the epilogue felt more like it was setting up for a spin off series with its final twists and parting lines (that seemed to go entirely against? what the message of this series was?) I discussed this at length with my friend but it seemed to steal the closure that generally comes from epilogues, instead leaving lingering threads to continue the story with. It ended up feeling like mainly lingering threads instead of closed ones, and it's making it hard to fully detach from the book. Honestly, the twists and parting lines would've served better as an 'after-credits scene' that most Marvel films have, except for books. Give us our epilogue and parade and actual closure and explanation of how the world is now, then show us how the story is far from over, that all is not yet at peace. It's just a meh note to end on for me.

Regardless, I'm overall happy with the actual ending of the story and this series as a whole. I would've liked more time with the main characters after

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Ace was defeated

, but honestly endings never really feel long enough. All in all, this was another fun Meyer series, and I'm excited to read her next works!

(Also one final note but this book (and Archenemies, to an extent) really pushed this series from PG-13 if adapted to rated R? Because holy shit there were some gory scenes man (not many, but some))