I went through this trilogy like I was walking across fire. The world & characters captured me from the beginning.
I'm so emotional from the ending that I really doubt I can formulate the words worthy of this review.
Em is one of those characters that stay with you long after the books come to an end. She was indeed the hero of her own story.
I see a lot of reviews about her going of half cocked and without a plan, but I see those incidences differently. She did have a plan, and that plan was first and foremost to protect her "us" from danger. She tried so often to leave them behind from the danger and go off to formulate a plan beyond their safety, but they always followed her, and when deaths inevitably happened, Em shouldered the responsibility unduly. They made their choices, but Em and her brash personality was the easy person for everyone, including herself, to blame.
However, Em never let the loss or the new love for others bend her resolve to make a difference, stop running, and right wrongs. She chose to stop surviving and start living, which was one of the most powerful learning experiences I've read... Much like Juliette's journey to stop feeling like a monster in Shatter Me.
The relationship between Em, Will, and Jake also reminded me of the Shatter Me series in choosing the guy that's like you, understands you aren't like everyone else vs the one that makes you feel more normal.
Their relationship is not only complicated, but it broke my heart multiple times. What a cruel trick the author gave with the reunion and hint of a happily ever for Em and the person she chose to share her heart.
While Will and Em burned so hot that words seemed to never be sufficient in communication or their love for each other, they had a bond that was deeply palpable to readers. It was as deep and strong as it was volatile, but for two people so larger than life, nothing else seemed sufficient.
Sadly, Em let other people make her feel that she needed to be better, softer, or more "normal" and those feelings made her think that her love for Jake was competitive against her love for Will because Jake was funny, goofy, unrealistic, and naive. It made him a loveable character that could lighten a harsh life.
I think she made the right choice between the two and my heart burned with fury and grief when that choice was stolen from her.
The author tried to make the end read as happiness is possible out of the ashes of sadness, but I just couldn't see it.
The happy ending just felt feigned much like the ending of Allegiant. Life does move on after loss, but there are some losses that people just don't get over after someone fills their entire heart. Maybe I just felt that Em had survived so much and was so stoic for everyone else in their times of need that I just really wanted her to have the happy ending of her heart's first and true choice?!?
Sigh~ despite the ending not being what I wanted , for the characters, I can't help but still give it the four stars the rest of the story so aptly deserves.
UPDATE: There is an alternate ending on Amazon!!! Damn, it is the way the book should've ended to begin with. Thank you AE Watson:)