Interesting story, and I liked the main characters and the message. But Reintgen really (really!) needs a good editor to cut some of the uber-flowery paragraphs that go on and on. ( )

After four months of being hold #1 at the library, I finally get my hands on this...

My biggest issue with this one was the lack of explanation. This would be a lovely end to the trilogy if one had just read the first two. Alas, I had read ARCs of the first two and the library took forever and a year to get me this one. (I did /think/ about buying this one, which is the closest I've come to buying a book all year. When publishing pays me more...) I commented in my review of book two that I wished I had reread book 1 before that, and really, I kind of wish I hadn't read the previous two when they were released, but had instead been able to read all three in one go. I had the audiobook version from the library and listened to the first eighth, but couldn't get into it. There was just so much I had forgotten, and I was so confused about what on earth was happening. I wish that Reintgen had done one of those stealthy recap things that some authors do excellently, or put in a foreword for us dummies who forgot everything except that they loved the prior.

So for the first half of the book, I was quite disappointed because I was confused and didn't care about any of these characters. I was pretty sure I was going to two or three-star it, which seemed so terribly disappointing after how much I'd loved the first two. But there was a moment halfway through where something happened and I found myself tearing up, and that was when it clicked again. Reintgen is an excellent writer and I'm so impressed with how he can write in a pacy, YA, moving way while also having a couple of really sweet moments in there that had my throat clenching. There's a real feel of epicness to this trilogy, and as I got off the subway with one chapter left, I felt like I was truly at the end of a journey.

There were another two characters's points of view added in this one, and I think that actually detracted hardcore from the book. Because again, it had been too long, and I couldn't for the life of me remember who Anton was, and it took me a while to catch up with Longwei. Reintgen is great at writing pacy scenes, but I don't think the characters were differentiated enough (despite being entirely different) in voice to justify these new perspectives. There was also a lot of fighting and a lot of explanation behind how nyxia worked in fighting, and I think that was lost to me as well as it didn't seem quite as clever as the challenges in the first book had,

I'm sad that this wasn't everything I'd hyped it up to be, but I do think that if someone new to the series goes and binge reads all three in a row, they will have an absolutely fantastic time. I'm so sad that this never really picked up traction, and I'm really excited to see what Reintgen cooks up next because I'm sure it will be fabulous. ( )

Literary Merit: Good
Characterization: Great
Recommend: Yes
Level: High School

This final book was jam packed with action, to the point where I had some trouble tracking the big cast of characters’ names and locations. But it was worth the extra effort as our heroes fought, lost, and kept going, doing it all together. A whirlwind finale to this thrilling space trilogy. I like the diversity of characters and was impressed that the author managed to balance the huge cast and many settings on ships, around the planet, and space stations. The wrap up drug on a bit but I know there were several lost ends to tie up and characters to pay homage to in the final chapters. Impressive thrilling scifi that many readers will enjoy ( )

Not as good as the other books in the series but I cannot put my finger on why exactly except that I think that it was much more predictable than the first two books. ( )