The Caller

Well there we go. At least a little something for this book. We had a bit more pacing, some familiarity with characters and a bit more drama. We see characters reach their breaking points and feel a bit of tension as we lead towards the conclusion.

Aaaaaaaaand then it was over. We started to get this buildup and finally some exciting redemptive pieces for our characters and then characters would fall asleep or we'd switch characters. It was a bit like the author didn't know how to tackle or was told the book was too long and chopped some interesting bits out. Even the ending was really lackluster. I guess another way to put it is that this was just so formulaic of a YA series. The uniqueness was the inclusion of the Good Folk, but even that tied up a little too neatly at the end. And the whole “MC goes off in a boat for some restoration” gave me Frodo Baggins vibes.

I hate that this review is so negative. Overall this book was pretty entertaining and I was eager to see what happened next. But as a series this was a dud. I'd classify it as “If you have a long car ride and need a audiobook series thats readily available, try this one” but not one I'd go out of my way to recommend.

IN other words... this series is pretty forgettable. Which is a shame because Juliet Marillier has many other wonderful books and stories. This just wasn't one of them.