That was a fitting ending, I have to say. I'm going to be honest, my favorite couple in this series were always Genya and David. I really liked the contrast between their characters. It's rare to see a girl that is considered beautiful be interested to someone that is considered so average, odd, and socially awkward by most people. It was a nice contrast and the fact that it took them so long to get together helped give us as readers time to crave for the build up to that relationship finally coming to fruition. I also just really like David as a character because he's weird, but super intelligent, caring, and sweet. He represents the support and friendship that Genya needed after being tortured by the Darkling. He's not the most expressive character, but he is there as Genya's support when she needs it most and loves her for her and not for her outer beauty. They make a lovely couple and them getting together was incredibly satisfying, especially because it happened after Genya confronted her former abuser. 

Speaking of which, that's my other favorite part of this installment in the series. The former King of Ravka got what was coming to him. It was astonishing to see a man who spent years abusing his power over Genya to get sexual favors try to excuse his actions and also have his wife try to do the same. I was so happy that it happened in front of Nikolai and the other Grisha too because he got to see his parents for the monsters they are and recognize that they weren't fit to rule Ravka. His dad is going to end up dying early anyway and I was so impressed at how Genya planned to poison the king every time he slept with her. That is some meticulously planned out payback, but I can't say he wasn't asking for it. It was great to finally see Genya be able to openly confront her abuser and publicly shame him and his wife for their actions. In my eyes, the queen is just as guilty for trying to dehumanize Genya and excuse the sexual abuse her husband inflicted. Genya's story is so dark but I'm sure it's something that hits home with a lot of victims of abuse that read this book and I'm happy for it because we need more of that representation in literature.


I also should note that I appreciated the comparisons between the Darkling's hunger for power and Alina's. They are both really similar and at the same time so different and this book further brought that out. Both seek power at almost any cost, but for very different reasons and neither of them have really belonged anywhere so they both crave acceptance in some way. In the end, Alina's differences are what makes her end up in a different place than the Darkling. The Darkling embraces his selfishness and loneliness to the point that he isolates himself even from those who love him, like his mother Baghra. In contrast, Alina finds a place where she belongs by building relationships with her fellow Grisha and allowing them to help her in the fight against the Darkling. By the end of the book, despite choosing to fake her death and abandon the Grisha to go on to marry Mal, it is implied that she will always have friends in the ranks of the Grisha and with Nikolai. I never really ended up shipping Mal and her too much, but I think that they both got what they wanted in the end. I love that they started an orphanage to help children that come from a background similar to their own. Neither Mal nor Alina ever wanted to be important or part of this huge war that would decide the fates of thousands of people in Ravka. In the end, they are able to help create a path for Ravka to have a hopeful future and then leave everything they didn't want behind for a peaceful and isolated life away from war and politics. I'm happy that their story concluded peacefully and I'm looking forward to reading the Six of Crows Duology as well as King of Scars to see how the rest of the characters in the series fared. Overall, this was a very good series and I enjoyed reading it. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the books set in this world. Highly recommend for anyone that wants a story set in a unique setting with interesting characters and themes.

I'm reasonably picky about the romance books I read and usually like them to be set in some kind of fantasy world because I personally find them more interesting that way. This book's description seemed really promising and I'm a huge Aquaman fan, so the cover and setting pulled me in even more. Overall, it wasn't terrible, but there is significant room for improvement. I didn't like that the romance relied a bit too heavily on the physical attraction between Manu and Kai. I would have liked to have spent more time getting to know them as individuals before throwing them into a romantic relationship. They did take a while to actually form a relationship due to social barriers, but it still felt rushed despite them training together almost every day. I wanted to know them outside of the context of royal duties that they had to fulfill. In Manu's case we only ever really saw him in the limited scope of training Kai and as for Kai, we didn't really see her in a context outside of Atlantis, a place she was completely unfamiliar and largely uncomfortable in. We spent almost no time getting to know what kind of things she liked to do before being taken back to Atlantis. Therefore, I never really felt like I got to know her in her natural environment, on the surface world where she grew up all her life. I think the concept of this book is cool, but it would have been better executed if Manu would have had to stay on the surface world for a while and had to get to know Kai in her own home for a bit before just abruptly taking her to Atlantis. I don't think I'll read the sequel just because the author didn't do the best job at making me become attached to the characters or their relationship. I hope the next romance I pick up is a bit better.

I hadn't read any of the recent X-Men comics and I wasn't sure what to pick up next so I opted to start somewhere. We're introduced to a younger original X-Men team that gives us a much more likeable Cyclops and Jean. I haven't read many comics with this alternate timeline Jean Grey but I like that she has a personality and is almost the default leader of the team. I unfortunately still have a bad memory of her outing Bobby, though. On the bright side she is shown as being very conscious of not probing people's minds without their consent, so it's definitely an improvement. Iceman so far is my favorite character and Cyclops is growing on me. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of this run. A good first volume.

We got a great amount of character exploration for Roman as well as many other characters this installment. I really like that the author has allowed each aspect of the story to unfold with time and given each character a role in the development of the plot. We really got to know who Roman was as a person before going into a coma and meeting Bryn and man, he was a jerk. I really came to appreciate how he has changed for the better as he struggled with his recovery after the accident and waking up from a coma.

It was nice to see that Roman's life at home wasn't all sunshine and peaches before the accident and during recovery. His dad and him had a strained relationship before it happened and he was quite the asshole. Thankfully his recovery helped better the emotional gap between them a lot. Relationships are complicated and the way Roman and his dad portray just that is really something I appreciate.

Dani and Felix also get some time in this book. Their relationship is still on uncertain ground for various reasons. Dani and Felix are both nice people and do care very much for each other, but they still don't seem completely comfortable talking out their feelings. I'm really hoping they do in the next book.

The supernatural element of the story is definitely more prominent as each book goes on. We get actual information as to what Bryn and Roman are.



**MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD**



Bryn and Roman both learn that their strange experiences are not unique to them and actually run in their families. It really sucks that their situations have become way more complicated than they want them to be. Bryn's great aunt was haunted by shadows the way she is. Roman's mom may have even died due to her ties to her supernatural. By the end of the book, Bryn seems to have been lost to the dream world. I really do want to see how Roman deals with all of this weight on his own and how Dani and Felix help him out. Great book!

This book continues to expand on Roman's character development a lot, more than anything else. Bryn spent most of her time in this book in the dream world, struggling to find her role in freeing others from the shadows. Stakes are a lot higher with children around the world dying and falling into strange coma like states. The rules of the paranormal aren't explained super well, but I don't mind that as much as a lot of other people do. I really enjoyed how Roman's story is being developed. Seeing him regress sometimes, make mistakes, and have to struggle to make morally questionable decisions allowed me to see the character as realistic and human. I really appreciate flawed characters because I think a lot of young adult novels are overflooded with "too perfect" male leads. Roman has likeable characteristics and had his own redemption arc to get through that is relatable. I'm not sure what the author is planning to do with Bryn's situation at the moment considering the book's shocking end. I am looking forward to seeing more of Felix and Dani. We haven't really seen a lot of them together, and I'm curious to know if they will actually end up being a couple. I'm looking forward to the end of this series. Let us hope I am not dissapointed.

This ending was reasonably close knit, which wasn't really what I was expecting. Despite that, I feel like I could have used a bit more explanation as to how we got to the ending. In a sense the epilogue felt rushed, like as a reader I was suddenly thrust into a resolution. I still don't know by the end if Bryn is some alternate universe or not. I did enjoy seeing Bryn and Roman have to struggle together to find space for their relationship while trying to save the world. The idea that people aren't defined by the negative aspects of their personality was a theme that was explored heavily in this installment and I really liked that as well. The author definitely excels at showing character progression which is something I always appreciate and what really was the most enjoyable part of the book series in general for me. This last book is no exception to that. However, I feel like this last book became a bit cluttered because there were so many different character perspectives. I think it could have used a lot less because I started getting overwhelmed with the amount of side characters. It also made it super difficult to tell when something was a dream or happening in the real world. I do recommend this series overall. Very compelling characters with realistic family and friendship dynamics. Really hard to find that in most YA novels, at least for me.

I’m super happy that I decided to reread this book. It’s not something I typically do, but this book was definitely worth it. I should probably mention that even on my 2nd read of this book, Sarkan is still my favorite character. There is something I need to get off of my chest, though. I know that The Dragon in this story gets a lot of hate and some people even put him in the category of being abusive. I vehemently disagree. I think it is important to distinguish when a male character is a jerk and when he is actually abusive. If anything it is really harmful to people who are actually in abusive relationships to use the label so lightly. It diminishes the importance of being able to recognize the signs of an abusive relationship. I appreciate Sarkan as a character because he is both consistent and interesting. He isn’t just a jerk to Agniezka, he’s cold and very Simon Cowell to people in general. He is ancient and wise because of the experiences he has had in the past. Despite looking so young he has seen an entire kingdom fall and has been in a serious romantic relationship in the past which is probably why he is so hard set on not having people get too close to him. In his mind everyone is a passerby with a much shorter life span that will die way before him or otherwise leave him. After all, that’s what they’ve all done until Agniezka. He comes off as someone who doesn’t care when if anything he is the one who cares most about what The Wood is doing to current kingdom he is in. Hear me out, this man who is part of a group of magic users that are few and far between could have given up a century ago on fighting The Wood. He could choose to keep his power to himself and not train anyone in what he knows. Instead he limits himself to working under a king who he believes to be a fool and spending his free time putting up wards to protect people. He even goes to rescue Agniezka and the villagers when she escapes the tower risking his life in the process. The more we get to know what he has been through the more it is clear that he attempts to isolate himself from everyone because he does not feel that anyone can relate to him and most people will eventually leave anyway. It’s a mask for his defense mechanism. 

 Agniezka is also an interesting character because she is able to think outside of the box in ways that Sarkan has not before, despite his vast experience. The scene where she is able to perform a spell that he thought useless was great. He’s lived such a long time and knows how to work his magic so well and is so surprised when this young girl is able to do something he has never been able to figure out. Within their relationship there is some sense of admiration that they have for one another. Sarkan has probably never been quite so intrigued by any of his other students before which is why he feels so strange about the feeling he develops for Agniezka. He at first seems to think of her as someone incompetent because she’s clumsy and comes off as pretty clueless. It’s nice to see that she ends up surprising him in so many ways. It also comes to show that there is more to her than meets the eye. She isn’t useless, and proves her worth and has the determination that many other people that have been fighting the Wood for decades lack. I think that her role in the story is to administer that extra push against all odds to be able to defeat the curse that has haunted many kingdoms for decades. 

It is also really nice to see Agniezka’s relationships with other people. She is an excellent juxtaposition against Sarkan’s isolation. She cares about the people she has grown up with and it shows through her friendship with Kasia as well as the people in her family that she interacts with. Agniezka risks her own well being and goes against warnings given to her to rescue her friend as well as her village. It displays explicitly how connected she feels to the people around her which is the opposite of the way Sarkan is presented. Sarkan seems distant towards everyone around despite also taking major risks to save them when things get gritty. It’s ironic because they both care deeply about people, but Agniezka is a lot more impulsive and expressive about her feelings than he is. I think that’s also why I think they balance each other out pretty well. I do like the romance between them in the book because despite Sarkan not being overly expressive about his feelings, there was enough time spent with them together to merit the relationship, I think. At the end of the day, Sarkan is a lot more prickly on the outside than the inside. I can understand that he won’t be appealing as a love interest for most people, but I know people in real life that like Sarkan have trouble expressing what they actually feel, so maybe I just see a side of him that’s appealing to me that isn’t as clearly visible in general. I mean, the man was so afraid of his feelings for Agniezka that he feels the need to go off on a “mission” to get away. Even when he comes back he comes up with some absurd excuse for why he came back, but it’s clear that it was because of Agniezka. Overall, this is a very enjoyable fantasy fairy tail inspired book that I’m sure to reread again in the future.

The concept of this novella was interesting, but I didn't feel as connected to the characters and plot as I would have liked. Not bad, I just think this would have been done better as a full novel.

I have the entire Lord of the Rings series sitting on my bookshelf and I figured that this year was the year I would finally pick up The Hobbit to start off. I enjoyed it reasonably, but it’s not something that will be memorable for me in the long run. This book was obviously meant for children and has a playful light hearted tone throughout which made it reasonably easy to get through. Bilbo was a very entertaining character to follow because he just wanted some peace and quiet in his home and never intended on going on an adventure to find a magical ring and yet he played a vital part in it. Tolkien built an interesting world that is still so iconic to this day. I’m looking forward to eventually sitting down to read the rest of the books set in this world as well as watch the films (don’t judge me, I haven’t watched them). 

The only other book that I’ve read by Naomi Novik previous to this one was Uprooted and this book feels similar in the best ways. The relationship between Mireyim and Wanda is interesting and is a reflection of the world that the story takes place in. Mireyim and Wanda are both forced into making the best of their circumstances. Mireyim is intelligent and cunning and does what she has to in order to fend for her family since her father doesn’t step up to the plate. Her father if anything is one of the worst parts of the book, and not because he is a bad addition to the book, but just because he’s a spineless freeloader who abuses his family when he gets drunk. For what he was supposed to be, he is very well done, though. He isn’t supposed to be likeable and is meant to be an incentive for Mireyim to grow into being the main breadwinner in her family. Ironically Wanda ends up becoming the same for her family as she is forced to work under Mireyim in order to pay off her father’s debt. Her father was another nasty piece of work. Irina, despite being of more noble birth than Mireyim and Wanda had her own cross to carry as well as a woman in this setting. The husband she married was literally going to feed her to an evil demon. Thankfully, the story weaves all three of the women’s lives together so beautifully and shows off how intelligent and quick witted they all are as they are pushed to survive within their circumstances. I really enjoyed getting to explore Steryk and Mireyim’s relationship because despite them not taking liking to each other at all for most of the book, they end up having a huge amount of mutual respect. Overall, I really enjoyed the story and I’m looking forward to reading more books by Naomi Novik.