Paperback, 563 pages
English language
Published March 26, 2012 by Dial Books.
Eighteen-year-old Bitterblue, queen of Monsea, realizes her heavy responsibility and the futility of relying on advisors who surround her with lies as she tries to help her people to heal from the thirty-five-year spell cast by her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities.
These books are so wonderful, and Bitterblue was no exception. All the characters are so alive and thoughtful, and the way characters from previous books were woven into this new tale, growing and deepening while introducing Bitterblue, was wonderful. I cried many times reading this, I love everyone so much. A hugely worthy conclusion to the trilogy, and I can't wait to read the fourth!
These books are so wonderful, and Bitterblue was no exception. All the characters are so alive and thoughtful, and the way characters from previous books were woven into this new tale, growing and deepening while introducing Bitterblue, was wonderful. I cried many times reading this, I love everyone so much. A hugely worthy conclusion to the trilogy, and I can't wait to read the fourth!
These books are so wonderful, and Bitterblue was no exception. All the characters are so alive and thoughtful, and the way characters from previous books were woven into this new tale, growing and deepening while introducing Bitterblue, was wonderful. I cried many times reading this, I love everyone so much. A hugely worthy conclusion to the trilogy, and I can't wait to read the fourth!
4.5 stars
While Graceling earned a spot on my "Ride or Die" shelf, and Fire was a wonderful follow-up (and also on the "Ride or Die" shelf), Bitterblue... is a novel I like to pretend never happened has me conflicted and ultimately disappointed.
I admit that the hype played a part in my disappointment, but it is only a small part. The bullet list includes "needlessly convoluted mystery plot", "dubious character development (or lack of)", "a distinct lack of cats", and so on. You're better off checking out the 2-star reviews on everything that went wrong with this third installment, This one in particular.
Bitterblue was done a great disservice here. Leck got the most (if not the best?) character... involvement... posthumously here, and arguably for the series entire. To be frank, he managed to upstage Bitterblue in her own story! Though, it's because he's that much of a nightmare... and …
While Graceling earned a spot on my "Ride or Die" shelf, and Fire was a wonderful follow-up (and also on the "Ride or Die" shelf), Bitterblue... is a novel I like to pretend never happened has me conflicted and ultimately disappointed.
I admit that the hype played a part in my disappointment, but it is only a small part. The bullet list includes "needlessly convoluted mystery plot", "dubious character development (or lack of)", "a distinct lack of cats", and so on. You're better off checking out the 2-star reviews on everything that went wrong with this third installment, This one in particular.
Bitterblue was done a great disservice here. Leck got the most (if not the best?) character... involvement... posthumously here, and arguably for the series entire. To be frank, he managed to upstage Bitterblue in her own story! Though, it's because he's that much of a nightmare... and then some. But while getting down to just how horrible the man was...
We still really don't know much about Bitterblue. And when we finally, finally feel like we'll focus more on her and not just when she's solving mysteries... the book ends. And that's what probably bothers me the most.
(That, and having her wait EIGHT YEARS to start asking questions. While it could've been made more palatable-- and it is plausible when you stretch it-- I couldn't shake the feeling that it was only there to artificially deepen the ~mystery~ due to cover-ups going on for that long, and longer. oh and to have a love interest and have to worry about birth control, if you get my meaning)
Originally this was one star, because when I finished I definitely uttered several expressions of dissatisfaction with the state of things. I wanted to like it, I really did, and it's one of the few books I didn't like but don't regret reading. Because when Cashore nails it, she really nails it; unfortunately the small moments of awesome peppered throughout was not enough to save this book, and what went astray really did put a damper on things.
I liked the first two more than this one.
