faethality's reviews
209 reviews

I have decided to leave this review at 4 stars only because the first half of this book was BORINGGG!! I hate saying it but it felt like going backward instead of forwards in the series, all the momentum from the first book was lost for me and with it being split into two different time frames it was hard to keep up. I understand why it was split up into different timelines, it just makes it hard to keep my attention is all. That being said as soon as we were back into one solid timeline it was AMAZING! Everything put me back on the edge of my seat and I love the commentary-style footnotes. Despite the controversy surrounding this series for this author I still love the story and have already started the last book. As much as I loved the "plot twist" at the end I do have to admit that I saw it coming and wish I was in the dark about it a little bit more.

I realize that for some this may be an unpopular opinion but I am so disappointed in the ending to this trilogy. I really thought it was going to be my next favorite book but I only loved the first book and that's it. Each sequel got progressively worse and worse.
I will that there were of course parts that I did enjoy otherwise my rating would've been even lower. So that being said let's get into those parts that I liked and disliked...

What I liked:
-all fight scenes! I love the way her stepping into the darkness is portrayed it makes it much more dramatic and intense. I feel like I can step into the darkness with her.
-Mercurio. I love his character so much and never once felt annoyed by anything he ever did. I also personally love the footnotes even though I know that a lot of people didn't like them, I think they're a fun way to info dump that doesn't feel like an info dump (at least to me).
-Tric. #justicefortric!!!!!
-PIRATES! I actually really enjoyed all the pirate scenes and thought they were extremely interesting and badass.
-Bisexual rep - although I do touch on that more in the dislike section...

What I didn't like:
-ASHLINN!! I haven't liked her since the beginning and I don't like her now. I think the entire romance with Ashlinn made no sense at all to me. Mia's character is based on revenge and hatred towards those who have wronged her but all of a sudden will put that away for Ash? As I said in my liked section I love the bisexual representation, I just hate who it was with.
-The boring setup of the book. Just like the last book it felt like we lost all momentum from the previous books ending and were right back to filler.
-The ending...imma say it again #justcefortric
-The controversy, duh. I wanted to finally address my opinions on the controversy surrounding this series as I didn't in the last two reviews. From what I have read and seen on the internet the controversy I have been hearing about is related to jay being a full-grown man writing about underage graphic sex scenes. I'm not sure if there is more controversy surrounding this book and if there is please feel free to comment and let me know but I will be touching on specifically this issue. I whole-heartedly agree that it is weird and uncomfy (to say the least) for a grown man to be writing about two underage women having sex graphically and I don't know why he didn't just make them over 18? Did they really need to be minors? In general, there was such a "sex fog" over the series that felt like everything everyone did needed to be sexy or something (which is not to say that I dislike books with a lot of sex in them I just don't think every single thing in a book needs to revolve around "being sexy" itself, if that makes sense).

Overall it just felt like a real letdown because I really loved (and still love) the first book and really wanted to love the full series.

In general books with multiple character POV's are not my favorite so it brought it down a little bit especially because for me the POV's between each character weren't super distinctive of each other. It helped in some scenarios like when the group splits up. But it was a little bit confusing and I had some trouble keeping track of who's POV I was on. They had some personality distinction but I felt like I was getting to know people more when I wasn't on their own POV. 
I feel like part 2 is boring compared to parts 1 and 3. Part 1 starts us off with mysterious and intriguing characters and then part 2 is just Cat whining and being annoying. And then part 3 picks it back up again and finally with get some more page time (like screen time lol) with Auri.
I was really hoping after how amazing The Illuminae Files were that this would be just as amazing and thrilling but it fell just a bit short for me. 

I still plan on reading the rest of the series however because as an overall I did still quite like it and I think the next book has the potential to go up from here.

“Am I not merciful?”

I am absolutely in shock. In a good way! I am not normally a sci-fi reader, I tend to lean more towards fantasy but I am amazed! < error > This was insanely good. Absolutely brilliant. The way this book reads is unique and beautiful even. At first I was scared that the set up might be annoying (I’m also the type to dislike “found footage” movies) but it was done so well and just added to the story rather than distract. < error > It made so many moments more intense and had me on the edge of my seat. I honestly think that I can call this book my second favorite ever now. Also Kady is such an amazing badass woman! 
But she also has depth, when you get to the sequence about her mother and when we finally discover what actually is happening over on the Copernicus I lost it. The diary entry that talks about how she wants her mom broke me. < error > AIDEN has a way that it talks that’s almost like poetry, I found myself begging to see its point of view more often. And even though everything was basically a second hand view of the events it still was described amazingly.
< error > < error >
100111101010100001011110100110010
< error >
Countdown to me reading Gemina
00 DAYS
00 HOURS
00 MINUTES
< error >
“Am I not merciful?”

I literally love this series so much!!! This ending was so amazing and pulls everything together with no loose ends and just ends perfectly. This is 100% one of my new favorite series in general. The style of these books is so unique and really adds to the story. I got chills from fight scenes that showed who died or even when the ships are weaving in between pages. I just love everything about this series.