The Ruined

Unfortunately, this series ended in a whimper. It really started out strong, and even though my enjoyment waned a bit over the course of the series, I was still intrigued to see how this 4-book epic ended. I will say, was entertained through most of the book, but even halfway through the book, new characters, plots, and items were being introduced to a plot that has been ballooning and eventually overburdened the story. And then... It ended. It tried to be a tragedy, but the story was so rushed and too much happened that it just felt wrong. Characters who we've known and loved since the beginning of the series didn't even get a line at the end of the book! Odette who? I mean we spent the entire last book getting to know Arjun and Pippa and then Arjun dies in 2 sentences and we leave Pippa crying in despair and then a brief mention in the epilogue. What was the entire point of their relationship??

Other seemingly important plot points or characters that went away:

-the mirror. Hardly used, barely did anything, not destroyed, not mentioned. Is it.. still around? Isn't that dangerous?

-pippa becoming a werewolf. Why did this even happen? It had no bearing on the plot, dropped by the end. She must have just needed a reason for her to disappear for awhile.

-Ali. Introduced as a potential love interest? A man with a mystery? Oh, no he's just here to briefly canoodle and give some exposition and then go away. Cool.

I wish I could say better things but this series ended so abruptly and was so bloated by the end that it retroactively dragged the whole series down as well. Read the first book and stop there.