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hannah_farnsworth_'s review against another edition
4.0
REN DIES!!!!! You have got to be kidding me!! I was wishing the entire series that she would finally realize how amazing he was and how much they belonged together, but no. Although I'm putting on the face of disappointment, I was very happy with the way this series ended. Cremer did an amazing job of wrapping up all of the loose ends.
gabyijo's review against another edition
3.0
I have always liked Andrea Cremer's style of writing. It's deep, detailed, and effective. I can always feel Calla's confusion, Calla's worry and Calla's inner and deep feelings throughout the whole story. Bloodrose talks about Calla and the Searchers's retrieval of the parts of Elemental Cross and their struggle in facing Guardians from other places around the globe.
What I love about this book is how Shay's character grew. I always imagined Shay as a weakling who does not deserve Calla (Calla is the alpha and Shay is just another random guy believed is the Scion who can save everyone. Blah.). But in this book, my view totally changed. Don't get me wrong. I am still team Ren, but after reading Bloodrose, Shay kind of amazed me. He is now the guy who can protect Calla. Yes, I am liking Shay better now. And I always have the soft spot for guys who can handle swords really well like Shay.
Sabine's character also grew. I can now look through how bad Sabine had been treated by the elder Banes and how Sabine's character really is like. I always thought that Ren may have some affectionate feelings for Sabine for always defending her, but now I totally understand why. She's become one of my favorite characters and I love the sweet epilogue involving Sabine. Great job, Cremer!
What I hate about this book is the ending. Not the epilogue, but the part before that. The first two books in the Nightshade series are kind of predictable. But Bloodrose is different. The ending is totally unexpected. Unexpected endings should be good. But too unexpected is bad. I'm not saying that Bloodrose is a bad book, I just didn't like the ending. It didn't go as I imagined it should be. And this disappointed me, big time. I waited soooo long for Bloodrose and the ending just crushed my hope of giving this book 5 stars.
So... to end my review, I think the first three quarter of the book is amazing. There are many growths in the characters and I love the loyalties of the packs. I also love the romance happening between Calla and Ren and Calla and Shay. And I kinda can relate to the love triangle that Calla is facing. Choosing a guy from two that can change your life forever is not easy at all. And you can't do it by throwing a coin. The last quarter of the book, as I have already said, disappointed me. There are options to how to end a book and Andrea Cremer's choice bummed me out. But hey, it's still a happy ending and I enjoyed the epilogue a lot, so 3 stars it is.
What I love about this book is how Shay's character grew. I always imagined Shay as a weakling who does not deserve Calla (Calla is the alpha and Shay is just another random guy believed is the Scion who can save everyone. Blah.). But in this book, my view totally changed. Don't get me wrong. I am still team Ren, but after reading Bloodrose, Shay kind of amazed me. He is now the guy who can protect Calla. Yes, I am liking Shay better now. And I always have the soft spot for guys who can handle swords really well like Shay.
Sabine's character also grew. I can now look through how bad Sabine had been treated by the elder Banes and how Sabine's character really is like. I always thought that Ren may have some affectionate feelings for Sabine for always defending her, but now I totally understand why. She's become one of my favorite characters and I love the sweet epilogue involving Sabine. Great job, Cremer!
What I hate about this book is the ending. Not the epilogue, but the part before that. The first two books in the Nightshade series are kind of predictable. But Bloodrose is different. The ending is totally unexpected. Unexpected endings should be good. But too unexpected is bad. I'm not saying that Bloodrose is a bad book, I just didn't like the ending. It didn't go as I imagined it should be. And this disappointed me, big time. I waited soooo long for Bloodrose and the ending just crushed my hope of giving this book 5 stars.
So... to end my review, I think the first three quarter of the book is amazing. There are many growths in the characters and I love the loyalties of the packs. I also love the romance happening between Calla and Ren and Calla and Shay. And I kinda can relate to the love triangle that Calla is facing. Choosing a guy from two that can change your life forever is not easy at all. And you can't do it by throwing a coin. The last quarter of the book, as I have already said, disappointed me. There are options to how to end a book and Andrea Cremer's choice bummed me out. But hey, it's still a happy ending and I enjoyed the epilogue a lot, so 3 stars it is.
storyflowsolutions's review against another edition
5.0
This was an outstanding finale for the Nightshade trilogy. Unfortunately, people die......people that were very very very very important to the central conflict within the trilogy. Anyways, it was a great book and even though the ending had a twist, I was happy with it. All the wolves remained wolves, Bosque Mar was defeated, the Rift was closed, Connor and Adne got together, and Calla stayed with Shay. It all worked out in the end and the journey to that conclusion was exhilarating and fantastic. I'm sad to see it end, but excited for the PREQUEL!!!
alexmak's review against another edition
4.0
I don't know why everyone hated this book. I personally loved it. The ending was perfect in my opinion, not so much in others. I would say more but I'm trying to keep this spoiler free. Here goes:
While the love triangle grated on my nerves at times it did provide an interesting aspect to the story and showed another way to view Calla. My opinion of her was not always respectable at moments.
The quest to find the pieces to the Elemental Cross gave more depth to minor characters and made for a much more interesting read. It kept me on my toes, never knowing who would live and who would die. And trust me, no one is safe.
Sabine became one my favorite characters in this book, and she is part of the reason I simply loved the ending.
So in my personal opinion read this book. It's very worth it. Don't read all those reviews where people simply did not like who Calla choose and absolutely hated on this book and consider not reading it like I did. Give it a shot and enjoy.
While the love triangle grated on my nerves at times it did provide an interesting aspect to the story and showed another way to view Calla. My opinion of her was not always respectable at moments.
The quest to find the pieces to the Elemental Cross gave more depth to minor characters and made for a much more interesting read. It kept me on my toes, never knowing who would live and who would die. And trust me, no one is safe.
Sabine became one my favorite characters in this book, and she is part of the reason I simply loved the ending.
So in my personal opinion read this book. It's very worth it. Don't read all those reviews where people simply did not like who Calla choose and absolutely hated on this book and consider not reading it like I did. Give it a shot and enjoy.
bloodlover18's review against another edition
5.0
This book was really good like the first two. Only took me 2 days to finish it. I'm happy that Calla and Shay got a happy ending.
spookyoh's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Definitely my favorite book of the 3 but is still kind of terrible and all good character traits seem to go out the window.
Fun Score: 4
Critical score: 2
Fun Score: 4
Critical score: 2
tipshee's review against another edition
1.0
I can't even rate this book without feeling like I'm giving it too much credit (there should be a negative star for atrocity..... so disappointing. I searched high and low for this series only to feel like it was time wasted. It's sad that the only way to justify owning a copy is to pretend the ending didn't happen. WTF were you thinking lady! that was beyond weak. I lovvvveeee books seriously, but I seriously had to stop myself from viciously flinging it across the room in frustration
I definitely don't recommend it
Spoiler
Ren's death was pointless and a complete cop-out.I definitely don't recommend it
shdnx's review against another edition
3.0
[Spoiler-free]
It is done. I have finished reading the last book of the NightShade series, Bloodrose.
Andrea Cremer's books are intriguing. In the one hand, if you look at them objectively, putting all feelings aside, you'll end up rating them all 2 stars at best. If you have read any books from her, this should be evident to you, otherwise keep reading and it will become clear in a minute. In the other hand, from an emotional point of view, the series is outstanding, and would receive 4 stars from me had I been thinking with my heart.
The story
Let me start off by saying the positive things: it was very exciting, fast-paced and hard to put down book. The events chained into one another and there was little rest to be found. NightShade (book 1) was more intense, but perhaps too much so - in Bloodrose the author found a good balance in my opinion.
But. There were a lot of things that didn't make sense. Hell, I will go one step further and say that the story is downright ridiculous. In general the story reminded me of a childhood fairy tale. The bad guys (the Keepers) act so stupid that one cannot help but wonder how they have been winning this war for the past centuries.
The romantic aspects of the book were also disappointing. In essence we see Calla making her choice very early in the book, which left me rolling my eyes for the rest of the book. I can see the author's reason for the choice, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. I liked the other guy much better, even as he met a rather unfortunate fate.
The conclusion, the closing of the series was quite good, I enjoyed it, although it somewhat broke my heart. It made sense, but was not perfect by a long shot. Still, it provided a fairly good ending, so I'm not really complaining; I doubt I could have figured out a (much) better way to end it.
The characters
There's not much to write about here. In general I felt that the characters were just too perfect. Apart from Calla playing stupid, not daring to accept her own choice, there were no negative traits. Everybody on the good side was a good heart, doing everything in their power to help the others in their own ways, no traitors (which is ridiculously unrealistic in itself), and so on. Sorry, people are simply not like that.
Summary
You might think that, given my ratings and my reviews of the series, that I didn't like it. You would be wrong. I have thoroughly enjoyed the series, with all its faults, and I'm feeling empty inside, having finished it.
NightShade was the book reading which I fell in love with the concept of werewolves, what it means to belong to a pack, and what it means to be a true leader (an alpha). For this, I will never forget the series, even though I have read better since (Raised by Wolves); kind of like your first love.
Thank you for your work, Andrea Cremer! I'm going to keep an eye out for your further works.
Series rating: 3.0
It is done. I have finished reading the last book of the NightShade series, Bloodrose.
Andrea Cremer's books are intriguing. In the one hand, if you look at them objectively, putting all feelings aside, you'll end up rating them all 2 stars at best. If you have read any books from her, this should be evident to you, otherwise keep reading and it will become clear in a minute. In the other hand, from an emotional point of view, the series is outstanding, and would receive 4 stars from me had I been thinking with my heart.
The story
Let me start off by saying the positive things: it was very exciting, fast-paced and hard to put down book. The events chained into one another and there was little rest to be found. NightShade (book 1) was more intense, but perhaps too much so - in Bloodrose the author found a good balance in my opinion.
But. There were a lot of things that didn't make sense. Hell, I will go one step further and say that the story is downright ridiculous. In general the story reminded me of a childhood fairy tale. The bad guys (the Keepers) act so stupid that one cannot help but wonder how they have been winning this war for the past centuries.
Spoiler
The most ridiculous thing was that, even though the Keepers knew that Shay was the Scion, they did absolutely NOTHING to protect the parts of the Elemental Cross. Yeah they had a few Guardians here and there, but nothing serious. What the f...?! One would think that when your own survival hangs in the balance you would actually try to do something, but no, the Keepers are fine by doing nothing during the whole book. The other most annoying thing was the final battle. Earlier in the book we meet the fire wolves who are apparently worse than the wraith. Okay, but then where are they in the final battle? The Keepers are also just standing there and watching, while supposedly they have powerful magic.The romantic aspects of the book were also disappointing. In essence we see Calla making her choice very early in the book, which left me rolling my eyes for the rest of the book. I can see the author's reason for the choice, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. I liked the other guy much better, even as he met a rather unfortunate fate.
Spoiler
Ren's death would have been funny had it not been sad. I mean, seriously, they were having a war. In a war there are fair fights: why, for God's sake, they did let them fight a freaking duel and watch Ren die from the bench.The conclusion, the closing of the series was quite good, I enjoyed it, although it somewhat broke my heart. It made sense, but was not perfect by a long shot. Still, it provided a fairly good ending, so I'm not really complaining; I doubt I could have figured out a (much) better way to end it.
The characters
There's not much to write about here. In general I felt that the characters were just too perfect. Apart from Calla playing stupid, not daring to accept her own choice, there were no negative traits. Everybody on the good side was a good heart, doing everything in their power to help the others in their own ways, no traitors (which is ridiculously unrealistic in itself), and so on. Sorry, people are simply not like that.
Summary
You might think that, given my ratings and my reviews of the series, that I didn't like it. You would be wrong. I have thoroughly enjoyed the series, with all its faults, and I'm feeling empty inside, having finished it.
NightShade was the book reading which I fell in love with the concept of werewolves, what it means to belong to a pack, and what it means to be a true leader (an alpha). For this, I will never forget the series, even though I have read better since (Raised by Wolves); kind of like your first love.
Thank you for your work, Andrea Cremer! I'm going to keep an eye out for your further works.
Series rating: 3.0
ohmyhoven's review against another edition
3.0
the real rating for this book is somewhere between 2.5 stars and 3 stars.
THE AUTHOR IS CRUEL! WHY WOULD SHE DESTROY A PERFECT CALM AND PEACEFUL LIBRARY?! HOW COULD YOU? WHAT DID THE LIBRARY EVER DO TO YOU?!!!
THE AUTHOR IS CRUEL! WHY WOULD SHE DESTROY A PERFECT CALM AND PEACEFUL LIBRARY?! HOW COULD YOU? WHAT DID THE LIBRARY EVER DO TO YOU?!!!