That was a really good ending. I am incredibly satisfied by it. It did what my favorite endings do, which is to manage to surprise me with things that feel inevitable. I am going to hold off on the five stars, after sleeping on it. I’m not quite sure why, though. Maybe when I do an eventual re-read (I most definitely need to, to see the whole arc), I’ll up it to five stars, which I will confess was my first instinct.
I don’t really want to talk about plot in this review because it’s best left mostly unspoiled. All you really need to know is that it’s been three years since the sinking of Endura, and someone has dredged up the vault, finding more than just diamonds. And the world has changed a lot in three years, and is about to change even more.
Some scattered thoughts:
* I acknowledge this is entirely personal, but I still really hate the name Citra. It’s so YA. I much prefer her when she’s called Anastasia.
* One of my few gripes still has to do with Anastasia and “Lucifer,” aka Rowan. I still don’t care about their “romance.” I actually thought they were the least interesting part of this novel, and I didn’t mind at all that their roles were so reduced in favor of Greyson, the Thunderhead itself, villain POVs, and POVs from new characters.
* I loved getting more insight into the Thunderhead here, what makes it tick.
* The whole island plot was fascinating. And I LOVED where it ended up.
* I’m a little disappointed that Goddard didn’t SPOILERS get more of a comeuppance. I just have this need for asshole villains to realize they’re fucked, and to really feel bad about it. Maybe this makes me bad or petty but I don’t care. His death was too fast to be satisfying. Or, rather, it came before he could realize he’d lost, truly. Also, my only other gripe has to do with Rand killing him. It seemed a little obvious that she would be the one to do it, to betray him, after the way he treated her, and the way we’re shown her fixation with talking to Tyger’s “ghost”. That said, it was a great touch that post-revival, it was Tyger who woke up and not Goddard. Was that the Thunderhead’s decision? I guess he wasn’t technically gleaned, as 7/8 of him was still walking around, so he could still be revived END SPOILERS.
* I like how mature this series is, how it grapples with things most YA doesn’t, and in a way that it doesn’t. It had scope and consequences. I liked that while three young people were central, they weren’t the only actors that mattered in the narrative.
All in all, this turned out to be a great series, and I’m looking forward to revisiting it in the future with the ending in mind.
[4.5 stars, holding at four for now]