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The Elysium Chronicles #3
Rebellion
The thrilling conclusion to J. A. Souders’s riveting SF psychological thriller series for teens
In this conclusion to J. A. Souders’s thrilling, twist-filled Elysium Chronicles series, Evie Winters and Gavin Hunter return to the isolated, dangerous underwater city that they fought so hard to escape.
Back in Elysium at last, Evie has finally found her true self hidden under layers and layers of false memories implanted by the woman she knew as Mother. Thanks to the intervention of her father, she knows the horrible truth about Mother and her insidious plans for her city. With the help of the love of her life, Gavin, and her best friend, Asher St. James, she’s determined to free her people from the cruel dictatorship of Mother’s laws. But how do you free people who don’t know they need rescuing?
Working with the growing Underground rebellion, Evie tries to remove Mother from her position by force—with disastrous results. As the body count rises, Evie must find a way to save Elysium before Mother destroys them all.
In this conclusion to J. A. Souders’s thrilling, twist-filled Elysium Chronicles series, Evie Winters and Gavin Hunter return to the isolated, dangerous underwater city that they fought so hard to escape.
Back in Elysium at last, Evie has finally found her true self hidden under layers and layers of false memories implanted by the woman she knew as Mother. Thanks to the intervention of her father, she knows the horrible truth about Mother and her insidious plans for her city. With the help of the love of her life, Gavin, and her best friend, Asher St. James, she’s determined to free her people from the cruel dictatorship of Mother’s laws. But how do you free people who don’t know they need rescuing?
Working with the growing Underground rebellion, Evie tries to remove Mother from her position by force—with disastrous results. As the body count rises, Evie must find a way to save Elysium before Mother destroys them all.
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 12, 2016
About the author
J.A. Souders
10 books493 followersJ.A. Souders was born in the heartland with an overactive imagination and an over abundance of curiosity that was always getting her into trouble.
Because she never grew up, she decided she’d put her imaginary friends to work and started writing. She now lives in the land of sunshine and palm trees with her husband and their two children and is an active member of the RWA, SFWA, YARWA and SCBWI.
She is represented by Natalie Lakosil of the Bradford Literary Agency and her debut novel, RENEGADE, will be released Fall 2012.
**For REVELATIONS ARC requests please contact my publicist at aisha.cloud (at) Tor (dot) com. Thanks!
Because she never grew up, she decided she’d put her imaginary friends to work and started writing. She now lives in the land of sunshine and palm trees with her husband and their two children and is an active member of the RWA, SFWA, YARWA and SCBWI.
She is represented by Natalie Lakosil of the Bradford Literary Agency and her debut novel, RENEGADE, will be released Fall 2012.
**For REVELATIONS ARC requests please contact my publicist at aisha.cloud (at) Tor (dot) com. Thanks!
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
August 10, 2016
Almost three years have passed since the release of Revelations, the previous book in J. A. Souders’ Elysium chronicles trilogy, but loyal fans haven’t forgotten Evie, Gavin or Asher. Renegade gave us a chance to explore a gorgeous underwater view with a very dark side, and Revelations really developed our three main characters and set them on a dangerous path.
In Rebellion, Evie, Gavin and Asher are back in Elysium, fighting Mother with the help of Father and his Underground. Mother is fighting back with all her considerable strength and she always seems to be one step ahead. It’s difficult to fight someone who is endlessly cruel. Whatever Evie does, Mother rewards with a public execution of someone the Underground cares for.
Evie’s still missing some of her memories, but her will to live and fight is back in full force. She struggles a bit in this book, mostly with being a symbol for the Underground, but she accepts her role and always does the best she can. She isn’t one to shy away from responsibility, and all her decisions in Rebellion are truly admirable.
After a rough patch in Revelations, the romance shines again. Gavin and Evie spend some of the time apart, as each of them has a different role to play, but when they’re together, the connection between them is palpable. What seemed like the beginning of a love triangle before isn’t one, and Asher plays an important, but non-romantic role.
The biggest problem remains Mother herself. She lacks nuance, any sort of characterization besides ‘evil sociopath’. This was my main struggle in the previous books, and it remained an issue till the end. As readers, we can’t really fear someone who is predictable, and Mother’s one track mind made it easy to guess what she would do next.
The ending of this book, of this trilogy in fact, is Souders’ attempt to do something completely different, original and thought-provoking. I believe it was supposed to be a mind-bending finale that would leave us all reeling and thinking about it for days afterward. Unfortunately, the effect was quite opposite. With three books of build-up towards a logical ending, changing the game at the last second infuriated me. I was left confused, disappointed and unsure whether the journey was worth it.
In Rebellion, Evie, Gavin and Asher are back in Elysium, fighting Mother with the help of Father and his Underground. Mother is fighting back with all her considerable strength and she always seems to be one step ahead. It’s difficult to fight someone who is endlessly cruel. Whatever Evie does, Mother rewards with a public execution of someone the Underground cares for.
Evie’s still missing some of her memories, but her will to live and fight is back in full force. She struggles a bit in this book, mostly with being a symbol for the Underground, but she accepts her role and always does the best she can. She isn’t one to shy away from responsibility, and all her decisions in Rebellion are truly admirable.
After a rough patch in Revelations, the romance shines again. Gavin and Evie spend some of the time apart, as each of them has a different role to play, but when they’re together, the connection between them is palpable. What seemed like the beginning of a love triangle before isn’t one, and Asher plays an important, but non-romantic role.
The biggest problem remains Mother herself. She lacks nuance, any sort of characterization besides ‘evil sociopath’. This was my main struggle in the previous books, and it remained an issue till the end. As readers, we can’t really fear someone who is predictable, and Mother’s one track mind made it easy to guess what she would do next.
The ending of this book, of this trilogy in fact, is Souders’ attempt to do something completely different, original and thought-provoking. I believe it was supposed to be a mind-bending finale that would leave us all reeling and thinking about it for days afterward. Unfortunately, the effect was quite opposite. With three books of build-up towards a logical ending, changing the game at the last second infuriated me. I was left confused, disappointed and unsure whether the journey was worth it.
August 5, 2016
Umm...WTF just happened?!
Right from the start we are dropped in the action. And I'll be honest, I was completely lost. It has been awhile since I read the first two books. Though I remember quite a bit, I don't remember everything. Usually, I re-read the prior books before jumping in, but I figured I could get away with not doing that this time since I was excited for the conclusion. That was the wrong decision to make. Even after finishing the book, I am still lost on certain things that happened. Am I missing major chunks of information or were they missing altogether?
But plowing through my mass confusion, I really enjoyed this book for the most part. I think we really got to see Evie and Gavin as people rather than just characters in a book. Evie's constant indecision and fear of stepping up as a leader were nice, human touches. As is standard with any YA dystopian trilogy, we get to see the take down of the villain. Evie's actions constantly chipping away at Mother's power base kept me rooting for the good guys to win.
The ending?! Total crap. Total, complete, and utter crap. This is how you choose to end the trilogy? With nothing but more questions? Questions that, assuming this is the last book, we will never get answers to? What the hell do you mean, Evie found the key to taking down Mother but as of the end of the book, Evie is still in Mother's power and goes into a sim. This is not the way to conclude a trilogy. A good conclusion requires closure. I'm not saying everyone has to live happily ever after. On the contrary, I prefer books where there's a little good and little bad to the end. But either way, I expect closure. I want to know, one way or another, who won? Did Evie take down Mother? Or did Mother destroy Evie? This book does not provide that.
It gets 1 star for the excellent story. It gets another star because right up to the end, this was a phenomenal read. But I cannot, in good conscience, give this any more stars because it was a craptastic way to end an engaging trilogy!
Right from the start we are dropped in the action. And I'll be honest, I was completely lost. It has been awhile since I read the first two books. Though I remember quite a bit, I don't remember everything. Usually, I re-read the prior books before jumping in, but I figured I could get away with not doing that this time since I was excited for the conclusion. That was the wrong decision to make. Even after finishing the book, I am still lost on certain things that happened. Am I missing major chunks of information or were they missing altogether?
But plowing through my mass confusion, I really enjoyed this book for the most part. I think we really got to see Evie and Gavin as people rather than just characters in a book. Evie's constant indecision and fear of stepping up as a leader were nice, human touches. As is standard with any YA dystopian trilogy, we get to see the take down of the villain. Evie's actions constantly chipping away at Mother's power base kept me rooting for the good guys to win.
The ending?! Total crap. Total, complete, and utter crap. This is how you choose to end the trilogy? With nothing but more questions? Questions that, assuming this is the last book, we will never get answers to? What the hell do you mean, Evie found the key to taking down Mother but as of the end of the book, Evie is still in Mother's power and goes into a sim. This is not the way to conclude a trilogy. A good conclusion requires closure. I'm not saying everyone has to live happily ever after. On the contrary, I prefer books where there's a little good and little bad to the end. But either way, I expect closure. I want to know, one way or another, who won? Did Evie take down Mother? Or did Mother destroy Evie? This book does not provide that.
It gets 1 star for the excellent story. It gets another star because right up to the end, this was a phenomenal read. But I cannot, in good conscience, give this any more stars because it was a craptastic way to end an engaging trilogy!
December 30, 2016
That wasn't a good twist. That wasn't clever. That was a big fuck you to the readers.
Even without that ending the book really wasn't that great. Two star read is what I was thinking while I was reading. And then that ending. Why did I read this book? What was the point? Why does this book even exist? That was an actual waste of time. Forget one star. I want stars back from this book.
Even without that ending the book really wasn't that great. Two star read is what I was thinking while I was reading. And then that ending. Why did I read this book? What was the point? Why does this book even exist? That was an actual waste of time. Forget one star. I want stars back from this book.
July 15, 2016
Rating: 2.75/5
Review coming soon!
Review coming soon!
July 14, 2016
*Source* Publisher
*Genre* Young Adult, Science Fiction
*Rating* 3.5?
*My Thoughts*
Rebellion is the third and final installment in author J.A. Souders The Elysium Chronicles. Evelyn "Evie" Winters has broken free of Mother's mind control manipulations and joined with the rebellion. It is now time for Evie to be the leader that the rebellion and those who know about Mother's past believes she can be. After all, Evie was not only trained to be one of Mother's enforcers, but was also labeled as the Daughter of the People. Who else can understand Mother's machinations better than those on the inside?
*Full Review @ Gizmos Reviews 07/14/2016*
http://gizmosreviews.blogspot.com/201...
Expected publication: July 12th 2016 by Tor Teen
*Genre* Young Adult, Science Fiction
*Rating* 3.5?
*My Thoughts*
Rebellion is the third and final installment in author J.A. Souders The Elysium Chronicles. Evelyn "Evie" Winters has broken free of Mother's mind control manipulations and joined with the rebellion. It is now time for Evie to be the leader that the rebellion and those who know about Mother's past believes she can be. After all, Evie was not only trained to be one of Mother's enforcers, but was also labeled as the Daughter of the People. Who else can understand Mother's machinations better than those on the inside?
*Full Review @ Gizmos Reviews 07/14/2016*
http://gizmosreviews.blogspot.com/201...
Expected publication: July 12th 2016 by Tor Teen
December 8, 2016
Series in a nutshell: Bioshock aimed at a YA crowd with a prominent romance subplot (and marginally less splicers).
Rating without the final chapter: 3.5 stars
Rating with the final chapter: 1 star
Yeah. The final chapter is really that bad. So here’s the thing about twist endings; they’re really hard to pull off well. A good twist ending will change the entire experience up to that point and cause the reader to reflect on how this new information changes what happened. The twist ending here simply
It's a real shame because this was a surprisingly good and interesting series. There were definite low points here and there but the entire thing was strong enough that they didn't detract from my desire to read. Shame about that ending though.
Rating without the final chapter: 3.5 stars
Rating with the final chapter: 1 star
Yeah. The final chapter is really that bad. So here’s the thing about twist endings; they’re really hard to pull off well. A good twist ending will change the entire experience up to that point and cause the reader to reflect on how this new information changes what happened. The twist ending here simply
It's a real shame because this was a surprisingly good and interesting series. There were definite low points here and there but the entire thing was strong enough that they didn't detract from my desire to read. Shame about that ending though.
November 8, 2016
2 stars
I really wanted to like this last book of the series and hoped really hard that it would be better than Revelations, slower and duller than I had expected. I was drawn in by the interesting premise, but it just went downhill as the series went on. Even though the rebellion storyline wasn't exactly all that original, it wasn't that poorly executed and I was fine until I reached the end.
I don't know what everyone else learned in school, but one of the first lessons I learned about essay writing is that a surefire way to fail is to end it by saying that the whole thing was a dream. Unfortunately, that's exactly what Ms Souders did here. The first 95% of Rebellion was easily worth 4 stars, since the plot was moving reasonably smoothly, but the ending was quite a cop-out. It's really a pity, I was looking forward to seeing how Ms Souders would tie up the series.
I really wanted to like this last book of the series and hoped really hard that it would be better than Revelations, slower and duller than I had expected. I was drawn in by the interesting premise, but it just went downhill as the series went on. Even though the rebellion storyline wasn't exactly all that original, it wasn't that poorly executed and I was fine until I reached the end.
I don't know what everyone else learned in school, but one of the first lessons I learned about essay writing is that a surefire way to fail is to end it by saying that the whole thing was a dream. Unfortunately, that's exactly what Ms Souders did here. The first 95% of Rebellion was easily worth 4 stars, since the plot was moving reasonably smoothly, but the ending was quite a cop-out. It's really a pity, I was looking forward to seeing how Ms Souders would tie up the series.
July 19, 2016
I have waited so long to read this finale and was excited when the publisher sent me a copy for review. I was hoping for a brilliant finish but I'm sad to say while most of the story was really good the end fell short. I am underwhelmed and sad :(
July 18, 2016
more like 4.5
August 2, 2016
3.5 stars
Rebellion is the finale to the Elysium trilogy. If you are unfamiliar with the series, it’s set in an under water sea colony that used to be a resort, but then a woman who calls herself mother killed her father, the owner and took over. Evie is her daughter, but not by birth. Evie keeps getting her memories erased. There’s a boy named Gavin who comes from the surface and romance happens. I recommend it if you like dystopians or the idea of sea colonies. If you have not read the series, then spoilers ahead because this is a review of the final book.
This book, like the previous book, is told from 2 point-of views: Evie and Gavin. I don’t recall the first book having Gavin’s POV. Evie knows that she used to be an Enforcer and she met her birthmother. She meets a woman named Nadia and discovers the Underground, the people living in a place called the Caverns in an underdeveloped hidden section of Elysium. They are planning a rebellion against mother. Also Gavin has to go to the surface because the other have nanites in them that could wipe their memories it the leave.
Gavin goes to his mother, who thought he was dead. Apparently his little brother angered the mayor of their village and now they’re not allowed to trade or be full citizens. Gavin gets pissed about this and the mayor tries to bribe Gavin for information on his son Asher and Evie’s whereabouts. Meanwhile Evie and the Underground come up with a plan that involves wearing mask with her face on them and gaining the trust of the citizens and help to take down mother.
I was a bit disappointed with this finale. I loved the first two books, but this one felt lacking and also the ending left a lot of questions, as crazy as it was. There was not as much romance or action or adventure. Having to wait and extra year to read this book that was not worth the wait. I still like the character and love the setting, but this felt like it was trying to imitate other dystopian finales at least until the very end. I just wish things went differently.
Cover Art Review: I like the cover. Evie is wearing an Enforcer cloak here. I’m not sure if the dress is what they wear too.
~Haley G
My blog:
http://breathlessbookreviews.blogspot...
Rebellion is the finale to the Elysium trilogy. If you are unfamiliar with the series, it’s set in an under water sea colony that used to be a resort, but then a woman who calls herself mother killed her father, the owner and took over. Evie is her daughter, but not by birth. Evie keeps getting her memories erased. There’s a boy named Gavin who comes from the surface and romance happens. I recommend it if you like dystopians or the idea of sea colonies. If you have not read the series, then spoilers ahead because this is a review of the final book.
This book, like the previous book, is told from 2 point-of views: Evie and Gavin. I don’t recall the first book having Gavin’s POV. Evie knows that she used to be an Enforcer and she met her birthmother. She meets a woman named Nadia and discovers the Underground, the people living in a place called the Caverns in an underdeveloped hidden section of Elysium. They are planning a rebellion against mother. Also Gavin has to go to the surface because the other have nanites in them that could wipe their memories it the leave.
Gavin goes to his mother, who thought he was dead. Apparently his little brother angered the mayor of their village and now they’re not allowed to trade or be full citizens. Gavin gets pissed about this and the mayor tries to bribe Gavin for information on his son Asher and Evie’s whereabouts. Meanwhile Evie and the Underground come up with a plan that involves wearing mask with her face on them and gaining the trust of the citizens and help to take down mother.
I was a bit disappointed with this finale. I loved the first two books, but this one felt lacking and also the ending left a lot of questions, as crazy as it was. There was not as much romance or action or adventure. Having to wait and extra year to read this book that was not worth the wait. I still like the character and love the setting, but this felt like it was trying to imitate other dystopian finales at least until the very end. I just wish things went differently.
Cover Art Review: I like the cover. Evie is wearing an Enforcer cloak here. I’m not sure if the dress is what they wear too.
~Haley G
My blog:
http://breathlessbookreviews.blogspot...
January 16, 2018
I really enjoyed this book but the VERY ending like the last chapter really threw me for a loop. I found myself saying "are you kidding me?!". That was the only thing I didn't like about it. I really enjoyed this trilogy tho!
January 31, 2017
While I enjoyed the other two books in this series, I wasn't as impressed with this one. It felt like the entire plot was too easy for the characters and the ending was not what I expected. It was disappointing and I felt duped by the entire series.
October 16, 2016
Terrible. It was so much different than the first two, and the ending was the worst. I had to skim most of it just to get through the book.
October 25, 2016
Spoilers ahead!!
Really good book! Though, there is one thing that I didn't really like: It's been a few years in between Revelations and Rebellion (though only a few months for me) so I forgot some things from the second book that I kinda needed a reminder about. And she didn't have any reminders AT ALL. I forgot how Asher and Evie were related, I forgot that Father was also Evie's biological father and some other things as well. I remedied this by picking up Revelations in the middle of reading Rebellion and re-read the ending to refresh my memory. Anyways, beside that one thing, the book was awesome. I went into this thinking it's the last book in the trilogy only to find out that there's going to be another book (or so I read in someone else's review) after this. Which I'm glad to hear, because the way she ended this book was a complete shock and soooooo awesome!! Though I'm a little confused by it (this is where the spoiler comes in): exactly WHEN did the Underground and Evie come up with the plan to let Mother knock Evie out and make her run these "sims"?? It had to be during this book, but not sure when...so anyone that's reading this review, if you have any ideas, please share them with me lol.
Really good book! Though, there is one thing that I didn't really like: It's been a few years in between Revelations and Rebellion (though only a few months for me) so I forgot some things from the second book that I kinda needed a reminder about. And she didn't have any reminders AT ALL. I forgot how Asher and Evie were related, I forgot that Father was also Evie's biological father and some other things as well. I remedied this by picking up Revelations in the middle of reading Rebellion and re-read the ending to refresh my memory. Anyways, beside that one thing, the book was awesome. I went into this thinking it's the last book in the trilogy only to find out that there's going to be another book (or so I read in someone else's review) after this. Which I'm glad to hear, because the way she ended this book was a complete shock and soooooo awesome!! Though I'm a little confused by it (this is where the spoiler comes in): exactly WHEN did the Underground and Evie come up with the plan to let Mother knock Evie out and make her run these "sims"?? It had to be during this book, but not sure when...so anyone that's reading this review, if you have any ideas, please share them with me lol.
June 27, 2019
Please tell me that's not how it ends?
I almost wish there was another book. What is with that open ended ending?
When did the Sims even freaking start?!
In the beginning? Then what, she saw stuff from Gavin's point of view too? Whaaaaat? Is Asher's grandmother even down there? Did Gavin never go for her. Maybe he is going for her right now 🙄🤔 I don't like this.
And you know what else was weird? That in the last book it was clear Mother knew Father was helping them but besides keeping him at arm's length she did nothing to him and let him keep doing whatever he wanted but an enforcer- one of the people she values because of their usefulness- she kills left and right just for not finding Evie. At least they weren't helping her 🤷
And even I'm a sim Evie never really made any progress with her biological mother 🤔
From the dedication:
Guess she took that to heart which is cool and all but rebellions DO end. This one didn't. You could have ended the rebellion and made it clear that they continued loving each other till death or what not.
Was this a sim for Evie or for me as the reader? 🤔
I almost wish there was another book. What is with that open ended ending?
When did the Sims even freaking start?!
In the beginning? Then what, she saw stuff from Gavin's point of view too? Whaaaaat? Is Asher's grandmother even down there? Did Gavin never go for her. Maybe he is going for her right now 🙄🤔 I don't like this.
And you know what else was weird? That in the last book it was clear Mother knew Father was helping them but besides keeping him at arm's length she did nothing to him and let him keep doing whatever he wanted but an enforcer- one of the people she values because of their usefulness- she kills left and right just for not finding Evie. At least they weren't helping her 🤷
And even I'm a sim Evie never really made any progress with her biological mother 🤔
From the dedication:
'... But most importantly that a true love story never ends.'
Guess she took that to heart which is cool and all but rebellions DO end. This one didn't. You could have ended the rebellion and made it clear that they continued loving each other till death or what not.
Was this a sim for Evie or for me as the reader? 🤔
April 21, 2018
Grrrrr. I was enjoying this book and how it was going until in the last chapter we did out that nothing that has happened in any of the books has been real and it was all a simulation ( doesn't state when the simulation started but I assume all the books was one by what was said in accordance to the story). I'm so mad right now I just want to through everything agenst the wall ( including my phone , which I read all my books on and means more then my life to me) grrrr. If I had known the book was going to end like that I wouldn't have even read the first one. It doesn't even have a proper ending really because she just goes straight back into another simulation at the end of the book. This was worse then when the main charters die at the end of books. How could the author do that all the books are pointless. >:( There is not an emoji face that I could make that show how mad I am.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 19, 2016
I'm really confused if there is going to be another book or not. The ending didn't do a very good job of explaining the plot twist. It was a good idea for the twist, just needed a hell of a lot more explanation. Sadly, I don't think it's needs so much more explaining that another book would be worth it. So, we're stuck in this annoying middle where you have to speculate to half of the ending to determine what the author was trying to do.
July 1, 2019
I really wanted to give this 5 stars, because I loved the trilogy SO much!
But I couldn't do that ending.
I'm not sure if it just felt like a cop-out, or it just didn't fit with what had been going on and any number of possibilities that I'd been expecting.
If it weren't for that ending, I might have had a new favorite series.
I still will recommend it overall, but might give a warning about the last book being kind of disappointing...
But I couldn't do that ending.
I'm not sure if it just felt like a cop-out, or it just didn't fit with what had been going on and any number of possibilities that I'd been expecting.
If it weren't for that ending, I might have had a new favorite series.
I still will recommend it overall, but might give a warning about the last book being kind of disappointing...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 1, 2019
Absolutely a terrible ending to a trilogy. A cliff hangar is ok when another book is on its way, but terrible when it is the last book. It would have been a great ending with the rebellion won and if the last chapter was never written. The sad thing is I really enjoyed how this author wrote, but I won’t be reading any more if her books if they end like that.
June 26, 2017
Completely and utterly ruined by the ending. What a farce.
September 25, 2017
Good...and not so good. The start? Pretty solid and okay-plot. The ending? Oh my. Horrible. No resolution, nothing. Just a bucket load of questions.
November 18, 2017
It was a really good book...but at the end I was like...what just happened? XD
January 3, 2019
A great and wonderful buildup only for a trash ending... With no answers and no shred of hope for another book in this trilogy to answer the questions it left behind
August 26, 2019
More cliche-ridden & repetitive writing, with an insulting ending, after wasting so much of readers' time.
March 31, 2021
That might just be one of the worst endings I've ever read. And to be honest, I already had a hard time getting into the book.
October 26, 2016
The ending sucked! But other than that it was Great!
May 30, 2017
That was fucking awful. That was a stupid ending, especially if this is the last book. All of the others were pointless then.
April 4, 2017
It truly pains me to write a negative review on this book; the first two books were immensely enjoyable to me. They were creepy, disturbing, felt realistic, fun and addictive. Needless to say I was very excited to plunge into this world and see some serious crap go down. So having this book let me down THIS much? I am beyond destroyed. I feel completely betrayed and I have developed even more trust issues.
From this point down I will be spoiling the heck out of this book, so beware.
So from the start I found this book incredibly difficult to really get into, it just felt slow and repetitive and it honestly aggravated me that Gavin had to be gone through the majority of this book AGAIN. I felt like their time apart in the previous book helped them grow as characters, and it felt like it was there for a reason. This time it just felt like a ploy to add.... drama?... tension? It just felt pointless. And for that matter, why do we have any chapters through Gavin's POV? That makes absolutely no sense at all considering this book was a sim that Evelyn was going through; so how would we be seeing inside Gavin's head exactly?
Now the ending. I would've given this book a solid two stars if it weren't for this flipping ending. I'm all about leaving a few things to the readers interpretation, done correctly that can leave the book in your mind indefinitely, wondering what happened after all the chaos in a book. However, you still actually need to answer SOME questions, and it still needs to feel like a solid ending. This books ending? NOTHING WAS RESOLVED! THERE WAS NO CLOSER FOR ANYTHING THAT HAPPENED! And the few things that were attempted to be answered were so rushed and muddled that it honestly just made it worse. The whole freaking book didn't even happen for Christ's sake! I can't even express how incredibly angry and let down I was by this.
I wish I had enjoyed this book. I really truly do, which is why I'm taking this blow so aggressively.
From this point down I will be spoiling the heck out of this book, so beware.
So from the start I found this book incredibly difficult to really get into, it just felt slow and repetitive and it honestly aggravated me that Gavin had to be gone through the majority of this book AGAIN. I felt like their time apart in the previous book helped them grow as characters, and it felt like it was there for a reason. This time it just felt like a ploy to add.... drama?... tension? It just felt pointless. And for that matter, why do we have any chapters through Gavin's POV? That makes absolutely no sense at all considering this book was a sim that Evelyn was going through; so how would we be seeing inside Gavin's head exactly?
Now the ending. I would've given this book a solid two stars if it weren't for this flipping ending. I'm all about leaving a few things to the readers interpretation, done correctly that can leave the book in your mind indefinitely, wondering what happened after all the chaos in a book. However, you still actually need to answer SOME questions, and it still needs to feel like a solid ending. This books ending? NOTHING WAS RESOLVED! THERE WAS NO CLOSER FOR ANYTHING THAT HAPPENED! And the few things that were attempted to be answered were so rushed and muddled that it honestly just made it worse. The whole freaking book didn't even happen for Christ's sake! I can't even express how incredibly angry and let down I was by this.
I wish I had enjoyed this book. I really truly do, which is why I'm taking this blow so aggressively.
July 8, 2016
I received an early copy of this book from the publisher.
I was really happy with the way that the book started by jumping right into the action. I think it sets the right tone for the rest of the book, because it is very action heavy and fast-paced. All of the relationship problems have finally been sorted out (yay, no love triangle!) and we get to focus on the bigger issues. Evie is kind of forced into leading this rebellion against Mother, and it was awesome to see her rise to the challenge and grow as a character, gaining confidence along the way. Overall, I really enjoyed the book, but I did not get a sense of closure. This is the end of a trilogy, but I had a lot of questions left, especially after that last chapter. So while it was a good book and I did like it a lot, I don't know if I would say it was a satisfying ending to the series since it left so many problems unresolved and so many questions unanswered.
I was really happy with the way that the book started by jumping right into the action. I think it sets the right tone for the rest of the book, because it is very action heavy and fast-paced. All of the relationship problems have finally been sorted out (yay, no love triangle!) and we get to focus on the bigger issues. Evie is kind of forced into leading this rebellion against Mother, and it was awesome to see her rise to the challenge and grow as a character, gaining confidence along the way. Overall, I really enjoyed the book, but I did not get a sense of closure. This is the end of a trilogy, but I had a lot of questions left, especially after that last chapter. So while it was a good book and I did like it a lot, I don't know if I would say it was a satisfying ending to the series since it left so many problems unresolved and so many questions unanswered.
April 23, 2016
Actual rating: 2.5 stars. I was going to give this 3 stars because I thought it was a solid ending to the trilogy. There were a few points of annoyance but, on the whole, good...and then the ending happened. I try not to let what I want to happen influence my rating and while I get what Souders was trying to do (and it was actually really interesting), we aren't told enough in the ending chapter. To be fair, my minor annoyances are actually explained away by the ending, but still...I just needed more information to be sold on it.
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