aliciaclarereads's Reviews (1.25k)

The ending is four stars and a lot powerful than I expected. However the beginning and middle were rather predictable and tended go drag. Still, I find myself with a curiosity to read the next one.

I have really mixed emotions about this entire series. First of all, I loved Libba Bray's writing. Her prose is absolutely gorgeous. I really liked the way she wrote. I guess that was the main reason I was determined to finish this series. Two of my favorite quotes from this novel:

"In her eyes are the twin gods of doubt and desire."

and

"Why is the truth too bright for our souls to bear?"

However, I had serious issues with the characterization. I should have liked Felicity, because Bray wove a very complex story for Felicity. She was a strong and empowered young girl, but still lost and confused despite the power she so desperately wanted. However, her character just kept making choices that really pissed me off.

Seriously, how many times does Pippa need to turn evil before they realize they shouldn't trust her?

Then there was silly Gemma who couldn't make any strong decisions throughout this book. On the bright side, Gemma was a very realistic portrayal of a young girl, always taught that women were inferior, who was suddenly gifted immense power and didn't know how to handle it. I still couldn't like her.

And I understand why Bray made Gemma choose to not continue on as the story wasn't resolved, but Gemma had died and should've continued on. That would be the difficult decision, but I would have loved that ending.

Don't get me started on Ann. She barely redeemed herself to me. Not really.

But in the end, this book had me flipping the pages like a mad person. I wanted to know what happened. I liked it much more than the first two. While I didn't really like Gemma that much, Gemma's descent into madness was incredibly thrilling and written so beautifully. I want to read more by Libba Bray, and hopefully her characters won't irk me as much.

This book is deliciously wonderful. Ally Carter is great at writing guilty pleasure books. This book is even better than the first. It's super fast paced (I read this in a little over two hours) and while I could see the ending coming, it still made me smile and made the book worthwhile. Sometimes It's nice to escape and read a book and pretend you're a teen thief.