themelodyofspring

Loved this duology. Every single character was so well written with so many emotions. Do you always have to kill the character who starts to change after giving them a redemption arc 😢

DNF at page 78. I do not like female characters like Tracey. I have this urge to fling this miserable book out my window. Secret Santa should have at least read the summary before blindly buying a book. Can't believe there's a trilogy of this. Let's not expect people to buy me good books.

The final installment in the Shades of Magic series was a pure ride of joy. This might be my favorite book for 2017, considering I enjoyed and loved Six of Crows and Red Rising series just as much. But the characters from this book spoke to me on a whole different level.

Lila and Kell were my favorite characters. Every interaction and dialog they had was amazing. They weren't perfect. Both had their flaws which made them very realistic. Lila didn't want to be bound to any person or place so she always ran. Kell, on the other hand, had the power to be anywhere, in any world, yet he chose to stay by Rhy's side.

Rhy and Kell's relationship was very intriguing. All past stories and the present one. The line “Kell wanted to wring Rhy's neck made me chuckle considering it came during a serious moment. Brotherly banter was good and so was their unconditional love for each other. Even though the king and queen tried hard to make Kell into Rhy's shield and not his brother, it was Kell's love for his brother which saved Rhy.

Alucard was a good addition to have since the second book. Because of him we got a lot of insight into Lila, and I personally liked his interactions with Kell.

Now for the controversial character, Holland, I have only one thing to say, what the hell was that?! I wanted to kill him in the first book but then again none of the things he was doing were his choice consciously. Bound in the first, binding others in the second (yet still bound), redemption in the third by being bound again? There was so much backstory for him. There was more Holland than Kell. Honestly, I felt his story could have ended a bit differently, but I took it as an open ending. The last sentence for White London was “Holland breathed out and the world breathed in.” which I take it meant that White London did somehow maybe heal, a tiny possibility. As all the “The king is coming” could have been foreshadowing that Holland's presence somehow does heal White London.

There were a lot of open endings. We never get an explanation to Ned getting powers as he was nipped by the shadow in the first book, Vitari. And what happens to King George after Osaron invades his mind. Maybe Grey London also gets some of its magic back, but can't say for sure. Or does the insane king end up wreaking havoc?

One thing I can say for certain that I did like was that in the end, Kell was finally able to be free. Even though he was still bound to Rhy, he never thought of it as a burden. And Lila finally becomes the captain of a ship. Rhy becomes the king with Alucard by his side.

So all the characters were able to achieve the things they wanted.

Things specific to this book that I liked:
Lila's fight in the alleyway.Lila's bargain for the inheritor.
The three Antari practicing their magic with the rings.The final battle with Osaron.
How Kell consciously chooses to burn the key for removing the memory charm on himself. Character development. It doesn't matter who he was before coming here, who he is now matters.The author did not always throw the characters motivations in our faces and we had to think like them and decide why they did what they did.

Also a thing I liked about this series, the words always painted a crystal clear picture in my mind. Whether it be fight scenes or still ones, I was never confused with the movements the characters made, or the background setting, the place, the people, the emotions.

Longest book read in 2017 and by far the best one.

Anoshe.

Kyle McCarly, I owe you a bag of crisps for the heart wrenching narration. Almost started crying at the “I love thee still” part.

Great book with the simplest plot ever. Emperor and the princes die in an accident so the youngest, neglected son ends up as the emperor. He goes from one meeting to another to another to another with his very competent secretary and body guards who say things like, “if anything happened to you we'd kill ourselves at the feet of your corpse”.

Loved Maia's interactions with everyone and how kind he was. And how Csevet was always there to guide. Cala and Beshalar too. And then Kiru joining was the cherry on top. This book was full of competent people who liked their jobs.

My favourite little plotline was the princess' marriage vs “I want to study the stars”. Very wildly gesticulated and screamed during that.

All the little bits about Maia thinking of his mother scattered throughout the story were so interesting and melancholic.

The usage of flatting of ears was such a clever way to describe emotions for the elves and goblins. Have never read it like that before.

Hope Maia gets to take a day off here and there. He needs it.

This book was religiously read (listened to) while I cooked dinner every night. Last time I went crazy over a book this much was The Spear Cuts Through Water

I loved it!!!