A review by lazygal
The Bitter Kingdom, by Rae Carson
3.0
Not a bad finale to the trilogy, but not wonderful, either. As with the other books, we have battles, talk about the Godstones, Elisa growing into her role as Queen, etc.. And, of course, there's a trek away from and back to Joya. The underground scenes reminded me of Lord of the Rings, which isn't new to me - for whatever reason, few writers do something new and different with mines and caverns.
Elisa's growth wasn't as great as I had hoped. That might be due to her being only 17, or because her real growth came in the first book (when she dropped all the weight and became more independent). She does continue to increase her diplomacy skills and her comfort level with her role in the grand political scheme of things also increases, but beyond that?
Still, as I said, not a bad conclusion and one that fans of the series will appreciate. Unless, of course, it isn't the end (I would have loved more on what the history of the Inviernos actually was - there are hints, but only that).
ARC provided by publisher.
Elisa's growth wasn't as great as I had hoped. That might be due to her being only 17, or because her real growth came in the first book (when she dropped all the weight and became more independent). She does continue to increase her diplomacy skills and her comfort level with her role in the grand political scheme of things also increases, but beyond that?
Still, as I said, not a bad conclusion and one that fans of the series will appreciate. Unless, of course, it isn't the end (I would have loved more on what the history of the Inviernos actually was - there are hints, but only that).
ARC provided by publisher.