Hello Babblers!
I hope everyone’s week is off to a great start!
I’ve highlighted this excellent person trait (read as: flaw, if you must) of mine before, but I am nothing if not a completionist. That’s why when Emma V.R. Noyes posted on her Instagram that she was offering ARC copies of War of Shadows (the third and final installment of The Sunken City trilogy), I immediately raised my hand to contribute! I loved Emma’s first two books in this series, as well as all of her hilarious Instagram posts, so of course I wanted to sign up to highlight this phenomenal author again….plus, I’ve bought all her books in paperback after reading the e-ARCs, but I really wasn’t looking forward to waiting until December to read this final installment, so I’m also being a tad bit selfish, BUT MOSTLY THE HIGHLIGHTING AUTHORS THING!
Looking back, I rated The Sunken City (book 1) 5 stars for the perfection that it was and marked it as my favorite fantasy book during my 2022 mid-year check in. I also rated The Fallen Witch (book 2) 4.5 stars, with my biggest gripe being the flippancy of the love triangle.
So, going into book 3, I was fully expecting to have another fiver on my hands. What I was not expecting was to not like this book! I still love Emma and I’m going to be as delicate as I can, but yeah, not my favorite.
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Publication Date: December 6, 2022
Goodreads Blurb:
The Fallen Witch has risen, bringing chaos back with her. The Ten Kingdoms have splintered. Amare and her friends are on the run. Tectixa is dead set on raising the oceans, wiping out all of humanity in the process. And, as if that weren’t enough, Lukas’s first love is back from the dead.
Before Amare can ask what this means for their relationship, Lukas and Phoebe are stolen away, sending her into a magic-fueled rage. Now, if she wants to save the man she loves and protect the Ten Kingdoms from all-out war, she’ll have to go undercover, pretending to get close to the witch she despises most of all.
Alliances will be formed, trust will be broken, and true love will be the final test.
What I liked about the book:
1. I liked how much page time Tectixa actually got in this book. Typically, we don’t get to see too much of the main baddie except in times of fighting, but I really liked the approach Emma took with allowing her to seem like an ally at times.
2. The perfections that are Lukas Mason and Maoke kept my heart fluttering right to the end. I would read a spin off on either of their backstories in a heartbeat!
3. I like being right! Now, I’m not going to spoil anything by telling you which of my predictions were correct from books 1 and 2, but let’s just say it was quite a huge percentage.
What could have been better:
1. I hate being right! I love when a book keeps me on my toes and goes a completely different route than I think it’s going to! Unfortunately, Emma and I must be on the same wavelength about where this story was going to go, which made it really hard for me to keep reading at times.
2. I really did not like the first third or so of the book. It was supposed to be a lot of backstabbing and strategies within strategies, but it just wasn’t cohesive to me. That mixed with a lot of new characters made it hard for me to get invested in this one. Plus, Lukas wasn’t even really there for the first third so…
3. Speaking of cohesive, one of my bigger gripes with this book was it felt like there were a lot of little bits just thrown together around the overarching plot. Like the author was trying to patch together enough words to make a third story, and by doing that, the story had a lot of pacing issues for me. I would much rather this have been a duology with each book having a slightly larger page count, but with better flow from start to finish.
4. Besides Lukas and Maoke, I really didn’t like anyone by the end of the story, which is crazy because I loved nearly everyone at one point!
Tectixa? – I did not buy her motivations and her feelings changing the way they did. There was so much potential for her to be such a badass villain and to cause a lot of big problems, but then it just fell flat and resolved itself in the most Hallmark-esque way I’ve ever seen. Needless to say, I didn’t care for it.
Mira? – so forgetful and kinda boring. During one chapter her name was mentioned again and I was like “Who the fuck is Mira?”. This is not the reaction I should have had to this character with how big of a deal she was supposed to be.
Finn? – where the hell was he most of this book?
Shoa? – where the hell was she most of this book?
Cora? – for the love of God, stop being so judgy!
Phoebe? – I have less opinions on her now than when she was dead.
Amare? – She was by far the largest disappointment of this series. She went from a total badass who was going to be a Queen Pirate Witch, to a whiny middle school girl with minimal strategy skills and a wicked jealousy streak. My respect for Amare slowly sank with each installment of this series and was nonexistent at the end.
Final Thoughts:
Overall, the series was still good, but after the perfection that was book 1 and near perfection that was book 2, I was expecting a lot more from this story’s ending. The end results were right, but the execution was where the story lost me.
Final Rating: 3 sunken stars
Thank you to Emma V.R. Noyes for the free copy of this book. I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
Want to follow Emma and check out her next projects? Check out her social media below.
Goodreads | Instagram | Website
While you’re at it, let’s be antisocial together!
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