Children of Virtue and Vengeance

DNFed at 63% (page 256),

This was unfortunately really, really bad in my opinion. I didn't enjoy [b:Children of Blood and Bone] very much, mostly due to the lackluster and convenient ending, but the former parts of the book at least kept me turning the page to see what would happen, and I hoped to find answers with this second installement. But no, this was even worse. While I DNFed this, I looked up spoilers for the remaining half I had left, and I actually went to the back and read the epilogue as well. Suffice it to say, I'm glad I didn't spend my time reading the 200-ish pages I had left because the ending that I read here was equally as underwhelming as the one from Children of Blood and Bone.

Aside from the ending, our main character, Zelie, was someone that I just could not stand. I understand the amount of trauma Zelie has gone through, but I cannot root for someone who treats other people the way that she does, because trauma is still not an excuse to treat people like shit, especially after they call you out on it. Zelie constantly treats Amari like absolute shit despite everything Amati has done for her, Zelie never stands up for her, and is just infuriating to read about. I was honestly hoping for someone from the opposing side to end up killing Zelie, and for Amari to take over in her place and get all the glory, because yes, that's how much I disliked Zelie, someone who I don't think is even supposed to be an unlikable character to begin with!

Also, most of the characters in this story were acting like fools. The teenagers acting the way that they do, I can still understand because they are, after all, teenagers. But even the adults? Why was everyone so out of character? There was drama, conflict, and angst just for the sake of having content to fill up the pages, and it was all completely nonsensical. Characters from the previous books who should be expected to be more wisdomous and rational acted the same way that naive teenagers would. The story just kept going on in circles; there was constant misunderstanding and miscommunication just to drive the lacklustre plot forward.