Reviews by Ali

This book was ok. I thought that the plot itself was pretty generic and didn't stand out much from others in the genre. Alina as a character was likable enough, but nothing about her personality really stands out. I did like Mal as a character and was glad that he wasn't the typical YA "hot" and "brooding" guy. My biggest disappointment with this book was the world building. Alina's world is just not developed enough at all, which is upsetting because that's what had the potential to be really interesting and very different from the types of worlds I'm used to reading about in fantasy. The bits that were there were good, but there were too many points left undeveloped. For example, the Darkling at one point remarks something to the extent of wanting the people to be free of the king's "tyranny." Maybe I missed it, but nowhere did I see anything that would confirm he was a tyrant. Also, the border wars? What's that all about? Supposedly the country is at war and has been for years, but other than passing mentions you don't hear much about it or what the countries are even fighting about. Parts of the ending seemed just a little too convenient.
I'll be skipping the sequel.

I really enjoyed this book. Definitely scary and sometimes completely disgusting. Those who have read the book...that scene with the "snowman" in the cab of the truck?? GAG. The plot was faced paced and there was always something crazy happening. The 400+ pages go by very quickly. Even with all that action, you do get to know the characters and see them develop throughout the book. You don't have to have read the first book in the series to read this one, but some familiar faces do crop up towards the end. Try not to get too attached to any of the characters, because something completely terrible WILL happen to them. Not even the main characters are safe.

To sum up: this book is everything I want from a zombie book!

I really enjoyed this story. It was interesting to hear more from Alodia and the relationship between the two sisters than we did in Fire & Thorns. However, it was a lot shorter than I expected. About 60% of this ebook is the actual prequel, and the rest is made up of excerpts from the first book and Crown of Embers. I was disappointed with the length and probably wouldn't have paid the $3 if I had known that ahead of time.

This book was ultimately a big let down for me. So many questions that really should be answered, as its the final book of a trilogy, were just left open. Even the explanations that were given (like WICKED's whole reasoning for putting the kids through everything that they did) weren't enough and honestly didn't make a lot of sense to me. That being said, it was still an engaging read and you will not be bored reading this book. But if you're looking for more than constant action sequences and plot twists, you'll be disappointed too.