Ratings292
Average rating4.3
Okay, full disclosure, I fully enjoyed this series. It's fun and you really want to root for the characters, especially in their love lives.
That being said... this is definitely the weakest of the series. You can tell Meyer was in a hurry writing this. (Even with it already being pushed back one release (when Fairest was supposed to come out).) And, like my problems with most books that take a focus around action and military plans, it suffered.
I guess my biggest issue is that Levana should have won and only through her (and her henchmen's) stupidity or through just dumb luck did Cinder and her friends win. They should've died or have gotten caught so many times over. And it got to the point where it was clear none of them were going to die because some of them should have died.
((spoilers))
For example, at one point Levana had Cinder in her prison for over 24 hours. Kill her! She's right there! And if you need to film it, film it! Everything you wanted to accomplish, you could have right there.
Or kill Wolf! String up his pelt as a warning. Why would you want something so feral near you? He almost KILLED you!
And all of Cinder's/friends' plans were ridiculous and stupid and anyone with any real military training could have defeated them in minutes.
Because of this, a lot of the pacing and tension was removed since I wasn't worried about anyone dying. I wasn't worried about whether anyone would end up together. So through the action sequences I more or less skimmed through, making sure I know how Cinder won, reading any dialogue, but other than that I read the happy endings and “awww'd” because I did like the relationships.
(Although, I would definitely not send Winter down to Earth without at least some diplomatic training. Or send her with a real diplomat at first. There's more to diplomacy than just smiling.)
Overall, if you enjoyed the series, you'll want the end. And you'll enjoy it to some degree (I did). It's just very clear that this is the weakest link in the series.