rachaelarsenault's review
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.25
I tried to write this review once already, and it just turned into a tedious outline of everything that happened in the book. Which, I mean, kinda shows how disjointed and jumbled it is if I struggle to succinctly sum up the core events of each storyline.
So. Let’s try again, but briefer. Be warned, there are spoilers ahead.
Other Neferet and Other Lynette have crossed over into Zoey’s world. They want to free Original Neferet so Other Neferet can achieve immortality. They do so, with the help (and unwitting sacrifice) of five young women. However, it becomes immediately apparent that Original Neferet is not going to help them, and so they flee back to the Other World.
Meanwhile, Zoey and friends have noticed strange activity around the grotto, as well as fog blanketing the entire city (which Other Neferet was somehow able to create by calling on water, despite not having an elemental affinity). They dismiss it as the High Council snooping on them despite this not being an issue or concern even once in the previous three books, and then they go to the grotto and cast another protection circle. The grotto is now guarded by spectral bison, which Zoey naturally must address in Cherokee, because stereotypes and racism are the lifeblood of this series.
Other Kevin and Other Stark also have their own side plot going on at the same time. They manage to get onto the Isle of Skye, which involves rehashed conversations from Burned (at some points almost word-for-word) and Other Stark conveniently stumbling upon his connection to Clan MacUallis through completely unnatural and contrived dialogue. Other Sgiach somehow knows a way to the Other World, despite this being a previously undiscovered thing as far as any of the world-building up to this point has shown. This involves cutting Stark and Kevin calling on spirit so that they can be brought to the Otherworld (confusing, I know), where Other Aphrodite guides them to a portal that leads them to Zoey’s world. Conveniently, even though he has to be cut while lying upon the Seat of the Soul like Stark did in the original series, it doesn’t appear that Other Stark needs to be cut to the point of near death – which works out well, because then when he’s ready to return to the Other World, he just pops out wherever he wants to be and isn’t a bloody mess stuck recovering for several weeks.
Anyway, Kevin and Zoey’s storylines converge when Kevin and Other Stark (now called James) cross over. They all go to Woodward Park, where they discover that Original Neferet has been freed. Aphrodite is now conveniently able to sense where Old Magick has been used, and determines that Other Neferet called the sprites to flee back to the Other World. Kacie also has this convenient power and confirms this assessment.
(Kacie, for the record, exists solely to fill a role in Zoey’s circle while Shaylin and Shaunee are conveniently written out of the plot, and also to become James’ new love interest.)
Aphrodite has a vision. This, combined with the Other World poem about Other Kalona being freed, tells them that they need to go to the Other World and ally with Other Neferet in order to defeat Original Neferet, or else Original Neferet will take over both worlds.
All plot lines converge in the Other World, where Other Neferet and Other Lynette do indeed show up to work alongside Zoey and friends. They free Other Kalona (which involves yet another rewrite of that terrible prophetic poem and shooting Other Neferet in the chest with an arrow without warning her), and immediately after Original Neferet shows up with a bunch of soldiers wielding weapons from the cache hidden under the Field House. Because nobody secured those or removed them from the premises. Genius.
But it’s actually mostly fine? Zoey and everyone are safe within their circle (except Other Anastasia, who somehow manages to get shot), Other Neferet’s tendrils are fighting Original Neferet’s tendrils, there’s a second weapons cache under Nyx’s Temple no one knew about that the good guys can use, and Other Neferet isn’t incapacitated by being shot in the chest with an arrow because Other Kalona has healing powers for some reason.
It is, however, still presented as very dire, and culminates in Other Neferet accepting the goddess again and walking free of Zoey’s circle so that she can face Original Neferet, because she has now found love and ~*a family*~. Yeah, the series is seriously trying to convince me that less than a day of not trying to murder Zoey suddenly makes Other Neferet and the Nerd Herd a found family. Sorry, but no. It takes a little more than that.
Anyway, despite being immortal, Original Neferet is easily killed by impaling her on her own spear – but the spear is double-pointed, so of course she then impales Other Neferet on the other end. There’s… no reason for this to happen. Other Neferet doesn’t need to die to achieve redemption. She isn’t sacrificing herself to protect someone. She isn’t having an epiphany and change of heart because of her death. All those things were already accomplished before she died, so it’s just done for straight drama. Which shouldn’t work, because a) being shot straight through the chest with an arrow was immediately assessed as non-lethal, just incapacitating and shitty, b) Zoey has healed similar injuries with the power of the elements and lots of blood, especially from an Imprint, which Other Neferet can get from Other Lynette, and c) OTHER KALONA HAS HEALING POWERS.
Except he seems not to anymore, because Aphrodite has to use her powers as a Prophetess of Judgement to give Other Neferet a second chance. Which turns Other Neferet into a newly-Marked sixteen-year-old red fledgling. Who has no memory of anyone or anything. Which means that she didn’t learn anything.
All that work learning to trust, finding her first true friendship in Other Lynette, moving through her anger and trauma to truly care about and protect other people? Yeah, no. None of that mattered. They did a factory reset.
But wait! There’s more! Nyx shows up and finally does something about all this – which raises a lot of questions about her complete and total inaction through the rest of the series, but okay. Her actions include, but are not limited to: turning all the soldiers who fought for Original Neferet into toddlers, freeing Rephaim from turning into a bird during the day and instead Marking him as a fully-Changed red vampyre, Marking Other Lynette as a fully-Changed blue vampyre, Changing Other Shaunee into a blue vampyre, and erasing Original Neferet’s soul from existence.
Okay. I need to go over each of these. Bear with me, ‘cause this is probably gonna get a bit scattered.
First, I thought Nyx couldn’t control who made the Change? Otherwise, why does she allow so many fledglings to randomly reject the Change and die horrifying, gruesome deaths as teenagers? Seems pretty cruel for a loving goddess.
Second, Rephaim’s punishment was already too light. He raped and murdered alongside his father and the other Raven Mockers for centuries and all he had to pay for it was being a highly-intelligent species of bird during the day when his vampyre girlfriend is asleep. Now he gets to be a powerful red vampyre, which also means he doesn’t even have to worry about aging and dying faster than Stevie Rae.
Turning Other Lynette into a fully-Changed blue vampyre while Other Neferet (now called by her birthname Emily in a move that feels uncomfortably close to deadnaming) reverts to a fledgling doesn’t feel like a reward. Emily has no recollection of who Lynette is. She’s a child while Lynette remains a middle-aged woman. Instead of being Lynette’s best friend and sister, Emily is now her charge – she’s a responsibility. And this is only worse when you consider the fact that Lynette also doesn’t get any adjustment period for becoming a vampyre. She doesn’t get to be a fledgling gradually transitioning into this new society and new biology; she’s thrown headlong into it.
And why does everyone keep getting turned into children? It was nonsensical enough with Other Neferet, but at least there’s the idea that she has lived a long life of evil and Nyx is granting her a fresh start and clean conscience. But the soldiers? From what we saw, that was Dallas and his men – who are all teenagers, maybe in their early 20s at best. They’re all still young enough that they can make a new path for themselves and learn and grow from their mistakes here. Reverting them to toddlers doesn’t accomplish anything except creating a lot of confusion and heartache for their friends and family. Moreover, it does nothing to address why they joined Original Neferet in this fight. If the violence and extremist prejudice they fell into is a systemic problem, turning them all into toddlers isn’t going to fix anything – a lot of them will end up back in a similar position when they’re adults, depending on what influences they encounter.
And last, but certainly not least, if Nyx can just straight up erase people’s souls from existence as punishment for evil, WHY DIDN’T SHE DO THIS BEFORE? There was never any question that Original Neferet was irredeemably evil. She was given chance after chance after chance and she only ever got worse. So why the hell didn’t Nyx stop her permanently by using this power?
Oh, also, for the final WTF moment of this book: Emily has an affinity for Old Magick. This is supposed to be a plot hook to potentially another series, to which I say: UUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH JUST LET IT DIE.
Speaking of not letting things die: A recurring theme in this book that I haven’t touched on is moving on from lost love. Now that sounds heartwarming and wholesome and, you know, actually kind of heathy – but it’s just handled so poorly. For one thing, the constant emphasis on how heartbroken Kevin is because of Other Aphrodite’s death is ridiculous because he knew her for three days. He had an entire grieving ritual for it in the previous book, and in this book he has, like, four different heart-to-hearts with friends, family, and even Other Aphrodite herself before he’s able to move on. But when he does move on – oh boy, does he do it quick! Other Shaunee is rushed in as his new love interest, and all is well again.
But Kevin’s grief over Other Aphrodite and his sudden relationship with Other Shaunee is practically an epic romance compared to James’ romance subplot. See, James is in love with Zoey. Despite only interacting with her for maybe thirty minutes and never having met her Other World counterpart. It’s because his soul knows her, so of course he’s sad and unfulfilled without her in his life. But, hey! One conversation about it with Zoey is enough to clear away all these complicated feelings, and immediately afterward he hangs out with Kacie and they become a couple. It’s just that easy!
And the icing on the cake is, of course, Heath. Heath, who Zoey has had ample angst and closure about in the original series. Heath, whose Other World counterpart Zoey saw at a distance in Lost and felt she could move on from after seeing that he was healthy and happy in this world. Heath, whose Other World counterpart had a conversation with Kevin about moving on and being happy knowing Zoey was alive and well in her world. Yeah. That Heath.
Other Heath shows up yet again at the end of this book so he and Zoey can get closure. The closure they both already have in spades. It gives new meaning to the phrase “beat a dead horse”.
Also, that scene has the audacity to pretend Heath and Stark were good friends in the original series, despite constantly being jealous and at each other’s throats. The only time they were civil was when Zoey was in danger or when Heath was dead in the Otherworld.
And, for one final note of bullshittery: All the queer characters are basically written out of this book. Shaylin and Nicole never appear or have any dialogue. Jack appears briefly and has a few lines of dialogue, but is ultimately sidelined and contributes nothing to the story. Even Damien doesn’t do much other than fill a place in the circle and occasionally do his Smart Guy thing for the sake of exposition and plot convenience. Even Other Neferet and Other Lynette, who could very easily read as a WLW couple are heavily emphasized as “friends” and “sisters”, to the point that Other Neferet becomes enraged when someone suggests that she and Other Lynette are gay.
The only queer character who really moves the plot forward is Odin, a random Sons of Erebus Warrior sacrificed by Original Neferet so she can get information from the sprites about the Other World and then cross over with the White Bull’s aid. We only know he’s queer because of a passing conversation between Zoey and Darius about how heartbroken his partner Stephen is.
Which just means that the most a queer character could contribute to the finale was dying. Wonderful.
So, yeah. That’s the end of the series. I can tell the conclusion was supposed to be dramatic and emotional, but it mostly consisted of Nyx appearing to tidy up the main characters’ messes, giving them all a cookie and a pat on the back, and then vanishing into the ether. It’s a bewildering conclusion, not a satisfying one.
So. Let’s try again, but briefer. Be warned, there are spoilers ahead.
Other Neferet and Other Lynette have crossed over into Zoey’s world. They want to free Original Neferet so Other Neferet can achieve immortality. They do so, with the help (and unwitting sacrifice) of five young women. However, it becomes immediately apparent that Original Neferet is not going to help them, and so they flee back to the Other World.
Meanwhile, Zoey and friends have noticed strange activity around the grotto, as well as fog blanketing the entire city (which Other Neferet was somehow able to create by calling on water, despite not having an elemental affinity). They dismiss it as the High Council snooping on them despite this not being an issue or concern even once in the previous three books, and then they go to the grotto and cast another protection circle. The grotto is now guarded by spectral bison, which Zoey naturally must address in Cherokee, because stereotypes and racism are the lifeblood of this series.
Other Kevin and Other Stark also have their own side plot going on at the same time. They manage to get onto the Isle of Skye, which involves rehashed conversations from Burned (at some points almost word-for-word) and Other Stark conveniently stumbling upon his connection to Clan MacUallis through completely unnatural and contrived dialogue. Other Sgiach somehow knows a way to the Other World, despite this being a previously undiscovered thing as far as any of the world-building up to this point has shown. This involves cutting Stark and Kevin calling on spirit so that they can be brought to the Otherworld (confusing, I know), where Other Aphrodite guides them to a portal that leads them to Zoey’s world. Conveniently, even though he has to be cut while lying upon the Seat of the Soul like Stark did in the original series, it doesn’t appear that Other Stark needs to be cut to the point of near death – which works out well, because then when he’s ready to return to the Other World, he just pops out wherever he wants to be and isn’t a bloody mess stuck recovering for several weeks.
Anyway, Kevin and Zoey’s storylines converge when Kevin and Other Stark (now called James) cross over. They all go to Woodward Park, where they discover that Original Neferet has been freed. Aphrodite is now conveniently able to sense where Old Magick has been used, and determines that Other Neferet called the sprites to flee back to the Other World. Kacie also has this convenient power and confirms this assessment.
(Kacie, for the record, exists solely to fill a role in Zoey’s circle while Shaylin and Shaunee are conveniently written out of the plot, and also to become James’ new love interest.)
Aphrodite has a vision. This, combined with the Other World poem about Other Kalona being freed, tells them that they need to go to the Other World and ally with Other Neferet in order to defeat Original Neferet, or else Original Neferet will take over both worlds.
All plot lines converge in the Other World, where Other Neferet and Other Lynette do indeed show up to work alongside Zoey and friends. They free Other Kalona (which involves yet another rewrite of that terrible prophetic poem and shooting Other Neferet in the chest with an arrow without warning her), and immediately after Original Neferet shows up with a bunch of soldiers wielding weapons from the cache hidden under the Field House. Because nobody secured those or removed them from the premises. Genius.
But it’s actually mostly fine? Zoey and everyone are safe within their circle (except Other Anastasia, who somehow manages to get shot), Other Neferet’s tendrils are fighting Original Neferet’s tendrils, there’s a second weapons cache under Nyx’s Temple no one knew about that the good guys can use, and Other Neferet isn’t incapacitated by being shot in the chest with an arrow because Other Kalona has healing powers for some reason.
It is, however, still presented as very dire, and culminates in Other Neferet accepting the goddess again and walking free of Zoey’s circle so that she can face Original Neferet, because she has now found love and ~*a family*~. Yeah, the series is seriously trying to convince me that less than a day of not trying to murder Zoey suddenly makes Other Neferet and the Nerd Herd a found family. Sorry, but no. It takes a little more than that.
Anyway, despite being immortal, Original Neferet is easily killed by impaling her on her own spear – but the spear is double-pointed, so of course she then impales Other Neferet on the other end. There’s… no reason for this to happen. Other Neferet doesn’t need to die to achieve redemption. She isn’t sacrificing herself to protect someone. She isn’t having an epiphany and change of heart because of her death. All those things were already accomplished before she died, so it’s just done for straight drama. Which shouldn’t work, because a) being shot straight through the chest with an arrow was immediately assessed as non-lethal, just incapacitating and shitty, b) Zoey has healed similar injuries with the power of the elements and lots of blood, especially from an Imprint, which Other Neferet can get from Other Lynette, and c) OTHER KALONA HAS HEALING POWERS.
Except he seems not to anymore, because Aphrodite has to use her powers as a Prophetess of Judgement to give Other Neferet a second chance. Which turns Other Neferet into a newly-Marked sixteen-year-old red fledgling. Who has no memory of anyone or anything. Which means that she didn’t learn anything.
All that work learning to trust, finding her first true friendship in Other Lynette, moving through her anger and trauma to truly care about and protect other people? Yeah, no. None of that mattered. They did a factory reset.
But wait! There’s more! Nyx shows up and finally does something about all this – which raises a lot of questions about her complete and total inaction through the rest of the series, but okay. Her actions include, but are not limited to: turning all the soldiers who fought for Original Neferet into toddlers, freeing Rephaim from turning into a bird during the day and instead Marking him as a fully-Changed red vampyre, Marking Other Lynette as a fully-Changed blue vampyre, Changing Other Shaunee into a blue vampyre, and erasing Original Neferet’s soul from existence.
Okay. I need to go over each of these. Bear with me, ‘cause this is probably gonna get a bit scattered.
First, I thought Nyx couldn’t control who made the Change? Otherwise, why does she allow so many fledglings to randomly reject the Change and die horrifying, gruesome deaths as teenagers? Seems pretty cruel for a loving goddess.
Second, Rephaim’s punishment was already too light. He raped and murdered alongside his father and the other Raven Mockers for centuries and all he had to pay for it was being a highly-intelligent species of bird during the day when his vampyre girlfriend is asleep. Now he gets to be a powerful red vampyre, which also means he doesn’t even have to worry about aging and dying faster than Stevie Rae.
Turning Other Lynette into a fully-Changed blue vampyre while Other Neferet (now called by her birthname Emily in a move that feels uncomfortably close to deadnaming) reverts to a fledgling doesn’t feel like a reward. Emily has no recollection of who Lynette is. She’s a child while Lynette remains a middle-aged woman. Instead of being Lynette’s best friend and sister, Emily is now her charge – she’s a responsibility. And this is only worse when you consider the fact that Lynette also doesn’t get any adjustment period for becoming a vampyre. She doesn’t get to be a fledgling gradually transitioning into this new society and new biology; she’s thrown headlong into it.
And why does everyone keep getting turned into children? It was nonsensical enough with Other Neferet, but at least there’s the idea that she has lived a long life of evil and Nyx is granting her a fresh start and clean conscience. But the soldiers? From what we saw, that was Dallas and his men – who are all teenagers, maybe in their early 20s at best. They’re all still young enough that they can make a new path for themselves and learn and grow from their mistakes here. Reverting them to toddlers doesn’t accomplish anything except creating a lot of confusion and heartache for their friends and family. Moreover, it does nothing to address why they joined Original Neferet in this fight. If the violence and extremist prejudice they fell into is a systemic problem, turning them all into toddlers isn’t going to fix anything – a lot of them will end up back in a similar position when they’re adults, depending on what influences they encounter.
And last, but certainly not least, if Nyx can just straight up erase people’s souls from existence as punishment for evil, WHY DIDN’T SHE DO THIS BEFORE? There was never any question that Original Neferet was irredeemably evil. She was given chance after chance after chance and she only ever got worse. So why the hell didn’t Nyx stop her permanently by using this power?
Oh, also, for the final WTF moment of this book: Emily has an affinity for Old Magick. This is supposed to be a plot hook to potentially another series, to which I say: UUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH JUST LET IT DIE.
Speaking of not letting things die: A recurring theme in this book that I haven’t touched on is moving on from lost love. Now that sounds heartwarming and wholesome and, you know, actually kind of heathy – but it’s just handled so poorly. For one thing, the constant emphasis on how heartbroken Kevin is because of Other Aphrodite’s death is ridiculous because he knew her for three days. He had an entire grieving ritual for it in the previous book, and in this book he has, like, four different heart-to-hearts with friends, family, and even Other Aphrodite herself before he’s able to move on. But when he does move on – oh boy, does he do it quick! Other Shaunee is rushed in as his new love interest, and all is well again.
But Kevin’s grief over Other Aphrodite and his sudden relationship with Other Shaunee is practically an epic romance compared to James’ romance subplot. See, James is in love with Zoey. Despite only interacting with her for maybe thirty minutes and never having met her Other World counterpart. It’s because his soul knows her, so of course he’s sad and unfulfilled without her in his life. But, hey! One conversation about it with Zoey is enough to clear away all these complicated feelings, and immediately afterward he hangs out with Kacie and they become a couple. It’s just that easy!
And the icing on the cake is, of course, Heath. Heath, who Zoey has had ample angst and closure about in the original series. Heath, whose Other World counterpart Zoey saw at a distance in Lost and felt she could move on from after seeing that he was healthy and happy in this world. Heath, whose Other World counterpart had a conversation with Kevin about moving on and being happy knowing Zoey was alive and well in her world. Yeah. That Heath.
Other Heath shows up yet again at the end of this book so he and Zoey can get closure. The closure they both already have in spades. It gives new meaning to the phrase “beat a dead horse”.
Also, that scene has the audacity to pretend Heath and Stark were good friends in the original series, despite constantly being jealous and at each other’s throats. The only time they were civil was when Zoey was in danger or when Heath was dead in the Otherworld.
And, for one final note of bullshittery: All the queer characters are basically written out of this book. Shaylin and Nicole never appear or have any dialogue. Jack appears briefly and has a few lines of dialogue, but is ultimately sidelined and contributes nothing to the story. Even Damien doesn’t do much other than fill a place in the circle and occasionally do his Smart Guy thing for the sake of exposition and plot convenience. Even Other Neferet and Other Lynette, who could very easily read as a WLW couple are heavily emphasized as “friends” and “sisters”, to the point that Other Neferet becomes enraged when someone suggests that she and Other Lynette are gay.
The only queer character who really moves the plot forward is Odin, a random Sons of Erebus Warrior sacrificed by Original Neferet so she can get information from the sprites about the Other World and then cross over with the White Bull’s aid. We only know he’s queer because of a passing conversation between Zoey and Darius about how heartbroken his partner Stephen is.
Which just means that the most a queer character could contribute to the finale was dying. Wonderful.
So, yeah. That’s the end of the series. I can tell the conclusion was supposed to be dramatic and emotional, but it mostly consisted of Nyx appearing to tidy up the main characters’ messes, giving them all a cookie and a pat on the back, and then vanishing into the ether. It’s a bewildering conclusion, not a satisfying one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Death
Moderate: Sexism
Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual violence
Bury Your Gays with a minor character. Other previously established queer characters are largely omitted from the text. Sex shaming.
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