This book was an all-round disappointment. The book was slow- despite me complaining about the plodding pace in the other two books, this one still did not pick up the tempo for huge amounts of this tome. Plus the character development came way, way too late in the day. And lastly the idea that I had been waiting 2 books to bear fruit, ended up leaving me with what felt like two overripe bananas.
(Spoiler- that’s what I’m giving this book)
I have been going on since I read the first book that this was an ambitious series that had buckets of potential… Unfortunately that potential was never really reached. As it’s on the subject of religion and gods it could have been so much more philosophical… but not only did it fail in this regard- the philosophy behind it didn’t work!
For one thing- everyone in the book was too obedient. I did not get her loyalty to the gods- or anyone else’s for that matter. No one ever doubted the gods or questioned their tyrannical actions. I mean, it took the main character until page 534 to realise they wanted her dead- even though they’d already tried to kill her!! From a purely logical perspective, when you can see a ruler or god, it humanises them enough that you would see their flaws and at least question them. But no… in this universe, they were all obedient drones.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, (*massive spoiler warning*) after they overthrow these worthless gods- who turn out to have been humans originally- the epilogue implies that some conniving sods will try to find a replacement for them… This was particularly irksome because it implied that everyone would just believe in gods for the sake of it. The moral was revealed at the end of the story: anyone can be indoctrinated with a lie and people like to be controlled by religion. All of these things I can imagine would (rightly) piss off my religious friends.
On top of that they all just have really weird and unhealthy relationships with the gods- like they’re lover/father figures- it’s just odd. I don’t feel like the author really gets religion- unfortunately all I have gathered about the author’s biography is that she’s irreligious- but a lot the philosophy behind this was weak. It was a mixture of poorly thought out ideas and lazy religion bashing.
There were other minor things that irritated me about this book- including other things the protagonist was too dim-witted to figure out- but if I sat here listing them we’d be here all week! So as aforementioned: here are two mouldy bananas to throw at the author…
So have you read this book? Did you like it? And what series disappointed you with its ending? Let me know in the comments!
Since I started reading the last in this series today, I figured it was high time I reviewed this! And if any of you remember 
Let me start out by saying I have a difficult relationship with Trudi Canavan’s books. I feel like they have their ups and downs. Because even though I loved the Black Magician series, I really struggled through the first one. And even though I’ve enjoyed most of her other books, I was bored stiff in Thief’s Magic. So I entered this book with trepidation, wondering if it was gonna be hit or miss. In the end, it turned out to be slap bang in the middle: not terrible, but not great either.
I could easily use this post just to rant and rave about how much I *loved* this series. And, surprisingly, that love did not begin with book 1. Unusually, I started loving this series only after book 2 and then was completely blown away by book 3. Every book since the first one Maas has upped the stakes, made me love the characters more and developed the world in incredible ways! So yeah it’s safe to say this beat middle book syndrome!
With the Novice, Trudi Canavan didn’t just build on the first one, she made *everything* so much better. In all honestly, I hadn’t actually enjoyed two thirds of Magician’s Guild- but the last section of the book got me wanting to read more. And I’m so glad it did! Because the second book (and the third) took everything to a whole other level- the characters came to life, the world went from generic to intriguing and the plot was phenomenally gripping. After the slow world-building of the first one, I had not expected to like, let alone love the rest of the series- but somehow Canavan pulled it off, and this is now one of my favourite fantasy series of all time.
This is a bit more of an unusual one for me to pick. Honestly, I did not think much of Slated– I wasn’t crazy about the idea, the characters and the pacing was all off- so I really don’t get how the sequel managed to impress me. But Fractured was a massive improvement on the series and because of this book I actually became invested in the story. The stakes were higher and the characters were more complex. And unusually for a YA dystopia- I actually liked how it turned out!!
The Young Elites was definitely up there as one of my favourite books of last year- I just loved how dark and unexpected it was. So naturally, I picked up this book with high expectations- and not only did it not disappoint, but it actually built on the success of the first one and made me even more excited about the potential directions this series might take. I loved the twists and turns of the second book even more than the first one! You can read more in my review 
Having read the whole series now, I can safely say this one was my favourite! I rated it higher than all the others- and for that reason it had to be on this list! I’m a sucker for cute romances- so I just loved Cress and Thorne’s relationship. Those characters were just gorgeous! Throw in the awesome direction the plot took and the general character development and I was all for it!
Some people believe this book is firmly in the Middle Syndrome category- but I disagree- which is one of the main reasons why it had to be in this post. Admittedly, it is really similar to the first one, yet as I said in my last post, it had wonderful character development and really advanced the plot to set up the finale- so it definitely deserves an honorary mention.