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Reawakened #3
Reunited
After surviving her otherworldly adventure, Lily wakes up on her nana’s farm having forgotten everything. Her sun prince, her travels to Egypt, and her journey to the Afterlife are all distant memories.
But Lily is not the girl she once was. Her body is now part human, part lion, and part fairy. And if that isn’t bad enough, she must now harness this power of three and become Wasret: a goddess destined to defeat the evil god Seth once and for all.
With the help of her old friend Dr. Hassan, Lily departs on her final voyage through the cosmos and across the plains of Egypt. On the journey, she will transform into the being she is destined to become.
It is time for Lily to find her sunset.
But Lily is not the girl she once was. Her body is now part human, part lion, and part fairy. And if that isn’t bad enough, she must now harness this power of three and become Wasret: a goddess destined to defeat the evil god Seth once and for all.
With the help of her old friend Dr. Hassan, Lily departs on her final voyage through the cosmos and across the plains of Egypt. On the journey, she will transform into the being she is destined to become.
It is time for Lily to find her sunset.
464 pages, Hardcover
First published August 8, 2017
128 people are currently reading
4620 people want to read
About the author
Colleen Houck
27 books9,218 followersNew York Times Bestselling Author Colleen Houck is a lifelong reader whose literary interests include action, adventure, science fiction, and romance. Formerly a student at the University of Arizona, she worked as a nationally certified American Sign Language interpreter for seventeen years before switching careers to become an author. Colleen lives in Salem, Oregon, with her husband and a huge assortment of plush tigers. Follow her by signing up for her e-newsletter!
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 232 reviews
August 13, 2017
Finishing this series was such a complex of emotions because there were so many complicated feelings with the characters because of the three brothers and the "Lily combo." There were sad moments, happy moments, and what the heck moments. Overall, I have thoroughly enjoyed this series. I look forward to finally getting around to reading the Tiger's Curse series in the near future!
July 19, 2017
Damn this was a hard finale to read for so many reasons. One because I didn't want this series to end and two because I had a feeling it was going to be a heartbreaker, which it was, I totally cried. But it was also beautiful, and hopeful, and mind-blowingly fantastic!!!
September 27, 2017
Book Quality: 1 star
Book Enjoyability: 2 stars
What the hell did I just read?
Before starting this book I made a few predictions based on the standard Houck formula I became so acquainted with in Tiger’s Curse. They were:
• The 2 other sentient entities inside Lily will get their own bodies and be paired up with each of the 3 main brothers.
• All beings will become mortal humans despite being gods during the climax.
• Lily will never have to work a day in her life because Amon will somehow have loads of money tucked away.
• Grandfather figure or grandmother will sacrifice themselves OR be paired off together.
• Lily’s parents will learn how ~special~ she is and realize they need to support her more.
I got most of them right. So let’s go through them one by one.
The 2 other sentient entities inside Lily will get their own bodies and be paired up with each of the 3 main brothers.
Yeah so as you may recall from the last book Lily now has (without her consent) a FUCKING LION and a fairy (yes, spelled like that) sharing her body. Hey look, there are now 3 female protagonists and 3 brothers I wonder what will happen…. Houck seems to have a knee jerk need to create as many happy heteronormative relationships as possible by the end of the book. Because remember kids, it doesn’t matter if you’re fucking a literal goddamn lion as long as she’s female. I’m going to completely ignore the matters like lions don’t speak English or any language and aren’t exactly monogamous because Houck certainly isn’t going to address these matters. In her deus ex human form our lion is of course a woman of color because everyone knows lions are from Africa and thus black lady. I don’t want to harp on this fact too much simply because I was really glad to have more than one PoC in a book about fucking Egypt.
So about that whole getting a body thing… Throughout the book we build up tension in regards to the trio becoming Wasret, this ultimate Goddess of the gods who can put Set(h) in his place. The cost for this is the loss of body and souls of the female protagonists. There’s actually a really excellent scene in which Wasret scolds the girls for their selfishness and points out she has just as much right to exist and live as anyone else /and/ she’s capable of saving the world.
In skimming the reviews I noticed a few people mentioning a “bittersweet ending” and sadness. I was excited; real, actual sacrifice? In a Houck book? No way!
No, goddammit!
This does serve as a perfect metaphor for the treatment of Egyptian people and PoC women in general in the series though. More on that later.
All beings will become mortal humans despite being gods during the climax.
So this is technically correct and incorrect.
Lily will never have to work a day in her life because Amon will somehow have loads of money tucked away.
Ahahahaha, what did you think a rich girl like Lily was actually going to end up working on her grandmother’s farm? That’s waaaay too much effort for this self-insert fantasy. Money for life. Somehow.
Grandfather figure or grandmother will sacrifice themselves OR be paired off together.
This is arguably the most WTF thing. Hassan meets Grandma by walking into her house and telling her her granddaughter has collapsed and then he gets a shotgun pulled on him. He summons a Goddess to prove he’s real and Grandma is just like “well ok then, Lily go milk the cows”. Grandma accepts things way too quickly and their “romance” starts basically as soon as they meet. Gag.
Lily’s parents will learn how ~special~ she is and realize they need to support her more.
This is the only one I got completely wrong and that’s for one simple reason; Houck seems to have forgotten the parents even exist. I think they get one line mentioning them in the entire epilogue, hell, maybe even the entire book. What happened to all that buildup in book 1 Houck? Which brings me to a good point…
This series has almost zero planting and payoff.
We are constantly introduced to challenges but they are either dropped completely or get dues ex machina’d out of existence. A few examples:
• Lily doesn’t know what she wants in life and always feels like an outsider-> Dropped
• Lily can’t connect with her parents and be open about her feelings and needs -> Dropped
• Fairy and fucking lion can’t have real relationships with their objects of affection because they don’t have their own bodies->
• Lily, fairy, and lion must sacrifice themselves to form Wasret->
•
Because of this the entire series seems to just randomly jump from spot to spot with no real rhyme or reason. Oh no, Lily has been poisoned by a monster plant! …oh wait, no, never mind, no lasting harm done or real reason for that scene to exist. Also we’ve now spent the first half of all 3 books waking up the brothers. Believe it or not, that had already gotten old in book 2, Houck.
Other criticisms
The The Host nature of the trio is really, really uncomfortably weird. Lily can’t even figure out what feelings are her own anymore and the other girls use her body to makeout with their brothers of choice which leaves all the brothers basically lusting after the same body and it’s weird, weird, weird. But I already talked about that in my book 2 review. Speaking of…
Do you remember how in book 2 I mentioned that there was one goddess described as being dark skinned and she was moody, judgmental, and paired with a kind, gentle blonde and white Goddess? Well that dark skinned goddess was named Ma’at and
Houck you really are a racist piece of shit, aren’t you?
If that isn’t bad enough there’s a chapter that’s titled “Trouble with the Natives” and I kind of chuckled thinking “man I’m sure glad we’re in the Egyptian afterlife world or I bet this would end up being really racist somehow”. Can you guess where this went? The natives of the island in the Egyptian afterlife were a tribal people of dwarfs who wear loin clothes, use spears, and sacrifice women to the monster on their island. I kept thinking back to the depictions of “native people” from 90s kid cartoons. Oh and in case you think Houck didn’t mean it that way she has the fucking lion make a reference to them sharing culture with “tribes of Africa”. Yes, the continent of Africa. Oh and the lion can understand them because she’s from Africa, too! Houck still doesn’t seem to know Africa is a continent. That entire episode plays out as a bad King Kong metaphor complete with no less than 5 mentions of how it reminds Lily of King Kong.
I have to stop ranting about this or I will begin losing hair. So with this piece of shit concluded, place your bets for what incredibly racist series Houck will make next: a white girl in China? A white girl in the Mayan empire? A white girl in a south pacific island? Who knows! All we can be sure about it she will be a white, privileged American girl destined to become the goddess of another culture she has no connection to with her one true love in a perfect heteronormative relationship with one tiny flaw like bestiality or necrophilia.
I’m out.
Book Enjoyability: 2 stars
What the hell did I just read?
Before starting this book I made a few predictions based on the standard Houck formula I became so acquainted with in Tiger’s Curse. They were:
• The 2 other sentient entities inside Lily will get their own bodies and be paired up with each of the 3 main brothers.
• All beings will become mortal humans despite being gods during the climax.
• Lily will never have to work a day in her life because Amon will somehow have loads of money tucked away.
• Grandfather figure or grandmother will sacrifice themselves OR be paired off together.
• Lily’s parents will learn how ~special~ she is and realize they need to support her more.
I got most of them right. So let’s go through them one by one.
The 2 other sentient entities inside Lily will get their own bodies and be paired up with each of the 3 main brothers.
Yeah so as you may recall from the last book Lily now has (without her consent) a FUCKING LION and a fairy (yes, spelled like that) sharing her body. Hey look, there are now 3 female protagonists and 3 brothers I wonder what will happen…. Houck seems to have a knee jerk need to create as many happy heteronormative relationships as possible by the end of the book. Because remember kids, it doesn’t matter if you’re fucking a literal goddamn lion as long as she’s female. I’m going to completely ignore the matters like lions don’t speak English or any language and aren’t exactly monogamous because Houck certainly isn’t going to address these matters. In her deus ex human form our lion is of course a woman of color because everyone knows lions are from Africa and thus black lady. I don’t want to harp on this fact too much simply because I was really glad to have more than one PoC in a book about fucking Egypt.
So about that whole getting a body thing… Throughout the book we build up tension in regards to the trio becoming Wasret, this ultimate Goddess of the gods who can put Set(h) in his place. The cost for this is the loss of body and souls of the female protagonists. There’s actually a really excellent scene in which Wasret scolds the girls for their selfishness and points out she has just as much right to exist and live as anyone else /and/ she’s capable of saving the world.
In skimming the reviews I noticed a few people mentioning a “bittersweet ending” and sadness. I was excited; real, actual sacrifice? In a Houck book? No way!
No, goddammit!
This does serve as a perfect metaphor for the treatment of Egyptian people and PoC women in general in the series though. More on that later.
All beings will become mortal humans despite being gods during the climax.
So this is technically correct and incorrect.
Lily will never have to work a day in her life because Amon will somehow have loads of money tucked away.
Ahahahaha, what did you think a rich girl like Lily was actually going to end up working on her grandmother’s farm? That’s waaaay too much effort for this self-insert fantasy. Money for life. Somehow.
Grandfather figure or grandmother will sacrifice themselves OR be paired off together.
This is arguably the most WTF thing. Hassan meets Grandma by walking into her house and telling her her granddaughter has collapsed and then he gets a shotgun pulled on him. He summons a Goddess to prove he’s real and Grandma is just like “well ok then, Lily go milk the cows”. Grandma accepts things way too quickly and their “romance” starts basically as soon as they meet. Gag.
Lily’s parents will learn how ~special~ she is and realize they need to support her more.
This is the only one I got completely wrong and that’s for one simple reason; Houck seems to have forgotten the parents even exist. I think they get one line mentioning them in the entire epilogue, hell, maybe even the entire book. What happened to all that buildup in book 1 Houck? Which brings me to a good point…
This series has almost zero planting and payoff.
We are constantly introduced to challenges but they are either dropped completely or get dues ex machina’d out of existence. A few examples:
• Lily doesn’t know what she wants in life and always feels like an outsider-> Dropped
• Lily can’t connect with her parents and be open about her feelings and needs -> Dropped
• Fairy and fucking lion can’t have real relationships with their objects of affection because they don’t have their own bodies->
• Lily, fairy, and lion must sacrifice themselves to form Wasret->
•
Because of this the entire series seems to just randomly jump from spot to spot with no real rhyme or reason. Oh no, Lily has been poisoned by a monster plant! …oh wait, no, never mind, no lasting harm done or real reason for that scene to exist. Also we’ve now spent the first half of all 3 books waking up the brothers. Believe it or not, that had already gotten old in book 2, Houck.
Other criticisms
The The Host nature of the trio is really, really uncomfortably weird. Lily can’t even figure out what feelings are her own anymore and the other girls use her body to makeout with their brothers of choice which leaves all the brothers basically lusting after the same body and it’s weird, weird, weird. But I already talked about that in my book 2 review. Speaking of…
Do you remember how in book 2 I mentioned that there was one goddess described as being dark skinned and she was moody, judgmental, and paired with a kind, gentle blonde and white Goddess? Well that dark skinned goddess was named Ma’at and
Houck you really are a racist piece of shit, aren’t you?
If that isn’t bad enough there’s a chapter that’s titled “Trouble with the Natives” and I kind of chuckled thinking “man I’m sure glad we’re in the Egyptian afterlife world or I bet this would end up being really racist somehow”. Can you guess where this went? The natives of the island in the Egyptian afterlife were a tribal people of dwarfs who wear loin clothes, use spears, and sacrifice women to the monster on their island. I kept thinking back to the depictions of “native people” from 90s kid cartoons. Oh and in case you think Houck didn’t mean it that way she has the fucking lion make a reference to them sharing culture with “tribes of Africa”. Yes, the continent of Africa. Oh and the lion can understand them because she’s from Africa, too! Houck still doesn’t seem to know Africa is a continent. That entire episode plays out as a bad King Kong metaphor complete with no less than 5 mentions of how it reminds Lily of King Kong.
I have to stop ranting about this or I will begin losing hair. So with this piece of shit concluded, place your bets for what incredibly racist series Houck will make next: a white girl in China? A white girl in the Mayan empire? A white girl in a south pacific island? Who knows! All we can be sure about it she will be a white, privileged American girl destined to become the goddess of another culture she has no connection to with her one true love in a perfect heteronormative relationship with one tiny flaw like bestiality or necrophilia.
I’m out.
April 25, 2022
Updated August 17, 2017:
Reunited is exciting, emotional, heart-pounding and incredible. After surviving her adventure in the Netherworld, Lily wakes up at her grandmother’s farm with no memory of it. She has forgotten about her beloved Egyptian prince Amon, his brothers, her travels in Egypt and her journey to the Netherworld. Lily is also no longer the girl she once was but is now part human, part lion and part fairy. To top everything off, Lily must learn to harness this power in order to become Wasret, the goddess destined to defeat the evil god Seth forever. With the help of Dr. Hassan, Lily travels once more through the cosmos and across the plains of Egypt where she will transform into what she is destined to become. Reunited is full of adventure, romance, action, choices, danger, sacrifice and a heart-pounding amazing conclusion to an incredible series.
After surviving her adventure in the Netherworld, Lily returns home and wakes up at her grandmother’s farm, however, she has no memory of Amon, his brothers Asten and Ahmose, her travels in Egypt and the Netherworld, of Tia and Ashleigh or becoming a Sphinx. Lily becomes more confused when Dr. Hassan and the Goddess Nephthys informs her that Seth has escaped from his prison and she must harness the power of three to become Wasret. With the help from Dr. Hassan, Tia and Ashleigh, Lily learns to control her powers and tries to recover her lost memories as they travel to Egypt to awaken the brothers before Seth finds and kills them in the Afterlife. However, to protect the brothers from Seth, the Gods hid them in a different world and only Lily can summon them with the help of Ahmose. As Seth rages war with the Gods, Lily continues to struggle to recover her lost memories as she, Tia and Ashleigh also risk losing themselves as Wasret herself grows stronger.
As they travel to the Isle of the Lost to find Amon and Asten, they encounter ancient beasts, tricky natives, old allies and enemies alike but also conflicts within themselves as all three girls and all boys fight to have a future with the one they love. With everyone reunited and Lily’s memories restored the six of them travel to help the gods’ battle against Seth and his followers only to discover shock of Seth’s destruction, secrets the gods have kept from them, and the truth behind Wasret. With new bonds formed and allies gathering everyone is ready to fight all the while the girls embrace their power but continue to keep Wasret at bay. However, upon facing Seth, they face heartbreak, difficult choices and truths and fury. As Lily and her allies enter the final battle, she, Tia and Ashleigh may have to make the ultimate sacrifice to Wasret if Seth is to be defeated forever.
Lily has no memory of everything that has happened regarding Amon and because of that she’s resisting Tia and Ashleigh and her destiny to become Wasret. I love Tia and Ashleigh. Tia is understandably upset with Lily for her memory loss and Ashleigh tries to claim and encourage them during their situation as they become together. Wasret is a character which is where everything gets confusing with a first person narrating. I don’t know who is in control when that happens. Regarding Wasret, she is authoritative, tough and a little scary.
I absolutely loved and felt a bit confused of the romance. Lily who shares the body with Tia and Ashleigh and all three have a love interest with the three brothers; Lily x Amon, Tia x Asten, and Ashleigh x Ahmose. While I love that all three brothers have a love interest, it’s just weird and confusing when that love interest inhabits one body. Still the romantic moments between the couples was sweet, heated and I want something like that for myself.
Overall, Reunited was amazing. Story, plot and characters were amazing. I loved it. The last couple of chapters were so emotional and gripping to the last sentence. I think everyone at the end got their happy ending and though there were some deaths that were sad, in the end everyone found peace and happiness that made me happy. It is sad to see this Egyptian adventure end but it was great and I look forward to re-reading it again.
Updated October 12, 2016:
It has a cover!!! So pretty!
And a release date!!
Updated September 22, 2016:
Reunited is exciting, emotional, heart-pounding and incredible. After surviving her adventure in the Netherworld, Lily wakes up at her grandmother’s farm with no memory of it. She has forgotten about her beloved Egyptian prince Amon, his brothers, her travels in Egypt and her journey to the Netherworld. Lily is also no longer the girl she once was but is now part human, part lion and part fairy. To top everything off, Lily must learn to harness this power in order to become Wasret, the goddess destined to defeat the evil god Seth forever. With the help of Dr. Hassan, Lily travels once more through the cosmos and across the plains of Egypt where she will transform into what she is destined to become. Reunited is full of adventure, romance, action, choices, danger, sacrifice and a heart-pounding amazing conclusion to an incredible series.
After surviving her adventure in the Netherworld, Lily returns home and wakes up at her grandmother’s farm, however, she has no memory of Amon, his brothers Asten and Ahmose, her travels in Egypt and the Netherworld, of Tia and Ashleigh or becoming a Sphinx. Lily becomes more confused when Dr. Hassan and the Goddess Nephthys informs her that Seth has escaped from his prison and she must harness the power of three to become Wasret. With the help from Dr. Hassan, Tia and Ashleigh, Lily learns to control her powers and tries to recover her lost memories as they travel to Egypt to awaken the brothers before Seth finds and kills them in the Afterlife. However, to protect the brothers from Seth, the Gods hid them in a different world and only Lily can summon them with the help of Ahmose. As Seth rages war with the Gods, Lily continues to struggle to recover her lost memories as she, Tia and Ashleigh also risk losing themselves as Wasret herself grows stronger.
As they travel to the Isle of the Lost to find Amon and Asten, they encounter ancient beasts, tricky natives, old allies and enemies alike but also conflicts within themselves as all three girls and all boys fight to have a future with the one they love. With everyone reunited and Lily’s memories restored the six of them travel to help the gods’ battle against Seth and his followers only to discover shock of Seth’s destruction, secrets the gods have kept from them, and the truth behind Wasret. With new bonds formed and allies gathering everyone is ready to fight all the while the girls embrace their power but continue to keep Wasret at bay. However, upon facing Seth, they face heartbreak, difficult choices and truths and fury. As Lily and her allies enter the final battle, she, Tia and Ashleigh may have to make the ultimate sacrifice to Wasret if Seth is to be defeated forever.
Lily has no memory of everything that has happened regarding Amon and because of that she’s resisting Tia and Ashleigh and her destiny to become Wasret. I love Tia and Ashleigh. Tia is understandably upset with Lily for her memory loss and Ashleigh tries to claim and encourage them during their situation as they become together. Wasret is a character which is where everything gets confusing with a first person narrating. I don’t know who is in control when that happens. Regarding Wasret, she is authoritative, tough and a little scary.
I absolutely loved and felt a bit confused of the romance. Lily who shares the body with Tia and Ashleigh and all three have a love interest with the three brothers; Lily x Amon, Tia x Asten, and Ashleigh x Ahmose. While I love that all three brothers have a love interest, it’s just weird and confusing when that love interest inhabits one body. Still the romantic moments between the couples was sweet, heated and I want something like that for myself.
Overall, Reunited was amazing. Story, plot and characters were amazing. I loved it. The last couple of chapters were so emotional and gripping to the last sentence. I think everyone at the end got their happy ending and though there were some deaths that were sad, in the end everyone found peace and happiness that made me happy. It is sad to see this Egyptian adventure end but it was great and I look forward to re-reading it again.
Updated October 12, 2016:
It has a cover!!! So pretty!
And a release date!!
Updated September 22, 2016:
September 1, 2017
This is also posted on www.perpetualfangirlblog.wordpress.com
Short and Sweet: The best part of the book was when it was over.
Of course, one of the first reviews I actually write for this blog has to be a negative one. I guess that's the joys of reviewing books, though, not every book is going to strike the same to every reader. I, personally, disliked this book with nearly every fiber of my being. Other people may find this to be their favorite series of all time, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's wonderful actually.
If you did like this book though, I would recommend not reading this review. I hated this book and I'm not going to bite my tongue about it. The only good thing about this series is that it's over and I didn't waste another 20+ dollars on the final book in hardcover. I tried so hard to give this book a chance and I read through about 60% before I found myself starting to skim it. I kind of feel like that was a win.
A quick disclaimer: I LOVE Colleen Houck's writing most of the time. Her Tiger's Curse series is one of my most favorite and cherished series of all time. I've read the first book around ten times, it's my go to comfort book. I've read the full series through about five or six times. But one thing I want to make clear is that it's perfectly okay to not love every single book or series that an author comes out with. Just because one resonates with you, doesn't mean every single one will. I think there's a huge misconception about that and it bothers me greatly.
Anyways, let's get started:
The whole Wasret thing is just ridiculous. I mentioned in my last review that having three minds in one body was stupid, but to add in this fourth 'entity' that just wanted to take over and stir up trouble took it to a whole new level. I'll never understand how the author thought this was a good idea.
Not only that, but somehow this whole storyline just seemed completely disjointed and didn't make a whole lot of sense. It's as if she was using how confusing Egyptian mythology can be to just make up some crazy all over the place story and have readers accept it. Example: Asten was Seth's son but not really because Anubis did some healing mumbo jumbo while Asten was an infant and now he's actually Anubis's son? I'm sorry, does the author not understand how biology work? It doesn't make sense.
OH! And the best part was that she ended up throwing in some Twilight 'Jacob and Bella' drama in there too. How she managed to recreate that mess is beyond me. So, Horus felt 'drawn' to Lily and it turns out that it's only because Wasret is his true mate. If my eyes rolled any harder they would fling out of my skull. Seriously, it was dumb when Stephanie Meyer did it and it's still dumb now.
Beyond the dumb, drawn out plot, Colleen's writing was just not up to par in this one. There were some major consistency issues with writing the three separate personalities. At some point she would just drop Ashleigh and Tia from having conversations with Lily in her head and not bring them back for another couple chapters. It just seemed really weird. On top of that, the page or more long descriptions of what characters were wearing just became so tedious to read. The long descriptions about how gorgeous Amon, Asten and Ahmose were somehow ended up even more tedious with an added bonus of nauseating.
Unfortunately (or fortunately), I did end up skimming through the book from about 70-90% and then read the last 10% pretty straight through. It was just so boring that I was honestly thinking about how there's a closet that hasn't had a good cleaning in a few months. When a book makes me want to clean, it kind of hurts my soul.
She also killed off the grandmother(the only half decent character) and Dr. Hassan and had them guarding the afterlife forever.
In the end, the book wrapped up perfectly, of course. Everyone got their own bodies, handed off their heart scarabs (what?) to their significant life mate and became gods and goddesses of the cosmos. Because why not? Ugh.
2 stars, only because Unicorns are awesome.
Short and Sweet: The best part of the book was when it was over.
Of course, one of the first reviews I actually write for this blog has to be a negative one. I guess that's the joys of reviewing books, though, not every book is going to strike the same to every reader. I, personally, disliked this book with nearly every fiber of my being. Other people may find this to be their favorite series of all time, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's wonderful actually.
If you did like this book though, I would recommend not reading this review. I hated this book and I'm not going to bite my tongue about it. The only good thing about this series is that it's over and I didn't waste another 20+ dollars on the final book in hardcover. I tried so hard to give this book a chance and I read through about 60% before I found myself starting to skim it. I kind of feel like that was a win.
A quick disclaimer: I LOVE Colleen Houck's writing most of the time. Her Tiger's Curse series is one of my most favorite and cherished series of all time. I've read the first book around ten times, it's my go to comfort book. I've read the full series through about five or six times. But one thing I want to make clear is that it's perfectly okay to not love every single book or series that an author comes out with. Just because one resonates with you, doesn't mean every single one will. I think there's a huge misconception about that and it bothers me greatly.
Anyways, let's get started:
The whole Wasret thing is just ridiculous. I mentioned in my last review that having three minds in one body was stupid, but to add in this fourth 'entity' that just wanted to take over and stir up trouble took it to a whole new level. I'll never understand how the author thought this was a good idea.
Not only that, but somehow this whole storyline just seemed completely disjointed and didn't make a whole lot of sense. It's as if she was using how confusing Egyptian mythology can be to just make up some crazy all over the place story and have readers accept it. Example: Asten was Seth's son but not really because Anubis did some healing mumbo jumbo while Asten was an infant and now he's actually Anubis's son? I'm sorry, does the author not understand how biology work? It doesn't make sense.
OH! And the best part was that she ended up throwing in some Twilight 'Jacob and Bella' drama in there too. How she managed to recreate that mess is beyond me. So, Horus felt 'drawn' to Lily and it turns out that it's only because Wasret is his true mate. If my eyes rolled any harder they would fling out of my skull. Seriously, it was dumb when Stephanie Meyer did it and it's still dumb now.
Beyond the dumb, drawn out plot, Colleen's writing was just not up to par in this one. There were some major consistency issues with writing the three separate personalities. At some point she would just drop Ashleigh and Tia from having conversations with Lily in her head and not bring them back for another couple chapters. It just seemed really weird. On top of that, the page or more long descriptions of what characters were wearing just became so tedious to read. The long descriptions about how gorgeous Amon, Asten and Ahmose were somehow ended up even more tedious with an added bonus of nauseating.
Unfortunately (or fortunately), I did end up skimming through the book from about 70-90% and then read the last 10% pretty straight through. It was just so boring that I was honestly thinking about how there's a closet that hasn't had a good cleaning in a few months. When a book makes me want to clean, it kind of hurts my soul.
She also killed off the grandmother(the only half decent character) and Dr. Hassan and had them guarding the afterlife forever.
In the end, the book wrapped up perfectly, of course. Everyone got their own bodies, handed off their heart scarabs (what?) to their significant life mate and became gods and goddesses of the cosmos. Because why not? Ugh.
2 stars, only because Unicorns are awesome.
August 23, 2023
[ENG/PT-BR]
Oh my. I'm so glad I finished this series. When I read the first book, I am compelled to read the others, and I felt that it wouldn't be over until I finished this. Well, I'll just drop some thoughts in here:
• There were many grammar errors in the book. I know that I don't write perfectly in English but this is a book I'm talking about. The revisor should have corrected them.
• Talking about that, man how I hated when Cherty and Ashleigh talked. I couldn't understand a thing.
• Doesn't anybody in this book know the term "monogamy"?
• I never knew who felt what. It was so confusing Lily having not one, not two, not three , but fucking FOUR personalities. Oh and when they merged and Lily didn't understand if that was her or one of the other girls who was feeling something. It was really disturbing. And what??? Did Lily really like or even love Ahmose?? And he let her??? Fuck you Ahmose. You are disturbed.
• I loved when Lily pushed Ahmose away and just stopped him from trying to win her back. I know that the next second she hugged him and etc but I liked that fight.
• Lily was always searching for confusion she could avoid. The messier her life, the better. I didn't even feel anything anymore because everything she did was try to die. She literally called for Apep (but don't be scared, he was just a giant freaking snake) when he was going away and got scared when he came.
• Why did Ahmose want all three girls? Really. He is disturbed. I hate him. Man. He wanted Tia, who didn't talk to him. He even wanted Wasret, who was going to practically kill Lily, Tia and Ashleigh. What is wrong with him?! This was so not cute.
• When Lily discovered that she would have to kill one of the boys, she had an idea and prayed that Wasret would remember it. Guess what. Colleen forgot all about that and I didn't get to know the idea (correct me if I'm wrong, because I could have missed some detail telling otherwise).
• It was boring to see Lily always finding a new power to help her in a situation. At the end of this book, she was more powerful than any other god. This is so messed up.
• Colleen spent 3 entire books talking about how Seth was tricky and powerful and dark and dangerous. And Lily just went there and said how he looked like a nervous teenage when he finally appeared. He didn't seem like a god: even Sebak looked more powerful than him.
• The ending was so predictable that I am really wishing right now that Lily, Tia and Ashleigh died. It would be more interesting than this and I would have given another star to this review if that happened.
Sooo I guess that's it. Colleen, don't put disturbed teenagers in your books and try to make your readers love them. They are not cute.
Oh and could you stop making every man fall in love with the main character? And stop only writing about evil girls and actually put a girl (with a body of her own) to be a good friend? Thanks.
-
Portuguese:
Oh Deus. Estou tão feliz por ter terminado esta série. Quando leio o primeiro livro, sinto-me obrigada a ler os outros e achei que não acabaria nunca até eu terminar a leitura. Bem, vou deixar aqui alguns pensamentos:
• Havia muitos erros gramaticais no livro. Sei que não escrevo perfeitamente em inglês, mas estou falando desse livro. O revisor deveria ter corrigido.
• E ainda no tópico: cara, como eu odiava quando Cherty e Ashleigh conversavam. Eu não conseguia entender nada.
• Ninguém neste livro conhece o termo "monogamia"?
• Eu nunca soube quem sentiu o quê. Era tão confuso Lily não ter uma, não duas, não três , mas QUATRO personalidades. Ah, e quando elas se fundiram e Lily não entendeu se era ela ou uma das outras garotas que estava sentindo alguma coisa. Foi realmente perturbador. E o quê??? Lily realmente gostou e até amou Ahmose ?? E ele deixou ??? Vai se lascar, Ahmose. Você está perturbado.
• Adorei quando Lily empurrou Ahmose e o impediu de tentar reconquistá-la. Eu sei que no segundo seguinte ela o abraçou e etc, mas gostei dessa luta.
• Lily estava sempre procurando por confusão que ela poderia evitar. Quanto mais bagunçada sua vida, melhor. Eu nem senti mais nada, porque tudo o que ela fez durante o livro foi tentar morrer. Ela literalmente chamou Apep (mas não se assuste, ele era apenas uma cobra gigante) quando ele estava indo embora e ficou com medo (????) quando ele veio.
• Por que Ahmose queria as três garotas? Realmente. Ele está perturbado. Eu o odeio. Cara. Ele queria Tia, que sequer falava com ele. Ele queria até Wasret, que praticamente mataria Lily, Tia e Ashleigh. O que está errado com ele?! Isso não era tão fofo.
• Quando Lily descobriu que teria que matar um dos meninos, ela teve uma ideia e rezou para que Wasret se lembrasse. Adivinhe só. Colleen esqueceu tudo sobre isso e não descobrimos a ideia (me corrija se estiver errada, porque eu poderia ter perdido alguns detalhes que dizem o contrário).
• Era chato ver Lily sempre encontrando um novo poder para ajudá-la em uma situação. No final deste livro, ela era mais poderosa do que qualquer outro deus. Isso é tão sem noção.
• Colleen passou 3 livros inteiros falando sobre como Seth era complexo, poderoso, sombrio e perigoso. E Lily foi lá e descreve como ele parece um adolescente nervoso quando ele finalmente apareceu. Ele não parecia um deus: até Sebak parecia mais poderoso que ele.
• O final foi tão previsível que estou realmente desejando agora que Lily, Tia e Ashleigh tivessem morrido. Seria mais interessante do que isso e eu teria dado outra estrela a essa resenha se isso acontecesse.
Então, eu acho que é isso. Colleen, não coloque adolescentes perturbados em seus livros e tente fazer com que seus leitores os amem. Eles não são fofos.
Ah, e você poderia parar de fazer todo homem se apaixonar pela personagem principal? E parar de escrever apenas sobre garotas más e realmente colocar uma garota (com um corpo próprio) para ser uma boa amiga? Obrigada.
Playlist while reading the series:
• Guys My Age - Hey Violet (Stripped)
• Silhouette - Active Child ft. Ellie Goulding
• First Night, First Day - Mychael Danna
• Prologue - Mark Mancina
• Adagio in D Minor - John Murphy
Oh my. I'm so glad I finished this series. When I read the first book, I am compelled to read the others, and I felt that it wouldn't be over until I finished this. Well, I'll just drop some thoughts in here:
• There were many grammar errors in the book. I know that I don't write perfectly in English but this is a book I'm talking about. The revisor should have corrected them.
• Talking about that, man how I hated when Cherty and Ashleigh talked. I couldn't understand a thing.
• Doesn't anybody in this book know the term "monogamy"?
• I never knew who felt what. It was so confusing Lily having not one, not two, not three , but fucking FOUR personalities. Oh and when they merged and Lily didn't understand if that was her or one of the other girls who was feeling something. It was really disturbing. And what??? Did Lily really like or even love Ahmose?? And he let her??? Fuck you Ahmose. You are disturbed.
• I loved when Lily pushed Ahmose away and just stopped him from trying to win her back. I know that the next second she hugged him and etc but I liked that fight.
• Lily was always searching for confusion she could avoid. The messier her life, the better. I didn't even feel anything anymore because everything she did was try to die. She literally called for Apep (but don't be scared, he was just a giant freaking snake) when he was going away and got scared when he came.
• Why did Ahmose want all three girls? Really. He is disturbed. I hate him. Man. He wanted Tia, who didn't talk to him. He even wanted Wasret, who was going to practically kill Lily, Tia and Ashleigh. What is wrong with him?! This was so not cute.
• When Lily discovered that she would have to kill one of the boys, she had an idea and prayed that Wasret would remember it. Guess what. Colleen forgot all about that and I didn't get to know the idea (correct me if I'm wrong, because I could have missed some detail telling otherwise).
• It was boring to see Lily always finding a new power to help her in a situation. At the end of this book, she was more powerful than any other god. This is so messed up.
• Colleen spent 3 entire books talking about how Seth was tricky and powerful and dark and dangerous. And Lily just went there and said how he looked like a nervous teenage when he finally appeared. He didn't seem like a god: even Sebak looked more powerful than him.
• The ending was so predictable that I am really wishing right now that Lily, Tia and Ashleigh died. It would be more interesting than this and I would have given another star to this review if that happened.
Sooo I guess that's it. Colleen, don't put disturbed teenagers in your books and try to make your readers love them. They are not cute.
Oh and could you stop making every man fall in love with the main character? And stop only writing about evil girls and actually put a girl (with a body of her own) to be a good friend? Thanks.
-
Portuguese:
Oh Deus. Estou tão feliz por ter terminado esta série. Quando leio o primeiro livro, sinto-me obrigada a ler os outros e achei que não acabaria nunca até eu terminar a leitura. Bem, vou deixar aqui alguns pensamentos:
• Havia muitos erros gramaticais no livro. Sei que não escrevo perfeitamente em inglês, mas estou falando desse livro. O revisor deveria ter corrigido.
• E ainda no tópico: cara, como eu odiava quando Cherty e Ashleigh conversavam. Eu não conseguia entender nada.
• Ninguém neste livro conhece o termo "monogamia"?
• Eu nunca soube quem sentiu o quê. Era tão confuso Lily não ter uma, não duas, não três , mas QUATRO personalidades. Ah, e quando elas se fundiram e Lily não entendeu se era ela ou uma das outras garotas que estava sentindo alguma coisa. Foi realmente perturbador. E o quê??? Lily realmente gostou e até amou Ahmose ?? E ele deixou ??? Vai se lascar, Ahmose. Você está perturbado.
• Adorei quando Lily empurrou Ahmose e o impediu de tentar reconquistá-la. Eu sei que no segundo seguinte ela o abraçou e etc, mas gostei dessa luta.
• Lily estava sempre procurando por confusão que ela poderia evitar. Quanto mais bagunçada sua vida, melhor. Eu nem senti mais nada, porque tudo o que ela fez durante o livro foi tentar morrer. Ela literalmente chamou Apep (mas não se assuste, ele era apenas uma cobra gigante) quando ele estava indo embora e ficou com medo (????) quando ele veio.
• Por que Ahmose queria as três garotas? Realmente. Ele está perturbado. Eu o odeio. Cara. Ele queria Tia, que sequer falava com ele. Ele queria até Wasret, que praticamente mataria Lily, Tia e Ashleigh. O que está errado com ele?! Isso não era tão fofo.
• Quando Lily descobriu que teria que matar um dos meninos, ela teve uma ideia e rezou para que Wasret se lembrasse. Adivinhe só. Colleen esqueceu tudo sobre isso e não descobrimos a ideia (me corrija se estiver errada, porque eu poderia ter perdido alguns detalhes que dizem o contrário).
• Era chato ver Lily sempre encontrando um novo poder para ajudá-la em uma situação. No final deste livro, ela era mais poderosa do que qualquer outro deus. Isso é tão sem noção.
• Colleen passou 3 livros inteiros falando sobre como Seth era complexo, poderoso, sombrio e perigoso. E Lily foi lá e descreve como ele parece um adolescente nervoso quando ele finalmente apareceu. Ele não parecia um deus: até Sebak parecia mais poderoso que ele.
• O final foi tão previsível que estou realmente desejando agora que Lily, Tia e Ashleigh tivessem morrido. Seria mais interessante do que isso e eu teria dado outra estrela a essa resenha se isso acontecesse.
Então, eu acho que é isso. Colleen, não coloque adolescentes perturbados em seus livros e tente fazer com que seus leitores os amem. Eles não são fofos.
Ah, e você poderia parar de fazer todo homem se apaixonar pela personagem principal? E parar de escrever apenas sobre garotas más e realmente colocar uma garota (com um corpo próprio) para ser uma boa amiga? Obrigada.
Playlist while reading the series:
• Guys My Age - Hey Violet (Stripped)
• Silhouette - Active Child ft. Ellie Goulding
• First Night, First Day - Mychael Danna
• Prologue - Mark Mancina
• Adagio in D Minor - John Murphy
August 3, 2017
I received this ARC in a fair trade with a fellow blogger. This review is completely voluntary and honest. I was not compensated for this review.
Reunited is the final book in Colleen Houck’s Reawakened series! With every book I read by Colleen, I am constantly amazed by how wonderful the world and writing is! As I might have mentioned before, I don’t know my mythology outside Greek, but I always enjoy learning more through Colleen’s books!
We rejoin Lily as she awakes on her grandmother’s farm. Only thing is, Lily has no memory of the past few weeks. It was actually rather nice too, since I couldn’t remember everything that happened in Recreated either! Lol! So Lily has to get caught up on all that’s happened and what needs to happen. Honestly, Colleen couldn’t have done this better! My little reader heart and mind were so thrilled with this because. Seriously, I can never remember what happened in the previous book a year later! I’m in serious trouble with other series that I am in the middle of!
Dr. Haasan comes back to Lily to tell her all the details, that she basically needs to wake the brothers once again, that she will need to become Warset, and with the help of the brothers they will need to defeat Seth. No problem really, just saving the world like it ain’t no thing! Hee hee. As you can imagine, it’s not as easy as all that.
There are many tasks ahead of Lily on her journey. She does eventually get her memory back and soon finds herself working with Ahmose, one of Amon’s brothers, as they work to find Amon and Asten’s bodies so that they can be raised! Colleen’s books are always filed with a great journey filled with perils and other dangers! There’s never a dull moment!
This book also expands on what is likely the most complicated love confliction ever! As you might recall, Lily possesses the souls of a lioness named Tia and a fairy named Ashleigh. Tia has feelings for Asten. Soon Ashleigh develops feelings for Ahmose. And then of course, Lily loves Amon. So what happens when we have three souls in one body loving three different guys? A complicated mess! But ironically, the brothers handle this all so well! It’s odd, but I can live with it I guess! I’m not touching on its outcome either, because, you know, spoilers!
This book wasn’t without its feels either! There was a lot of unexpected occurrences that really tugged at my heartstrings, and yet it always felt right. It’s a terrible feeling almost, to be accepting of sadness because you know it was the right course, because omg, it was heartrending! Not giving exact details, but we can say this was one emotional read and I honestly didn’t know how things would turn out in the end.
Reunited was a most wonderful read! It was rich with its mythology and culture that I’ve pretty much come to expect with a Colleen Houck book! She’s never let me down before! It was filled with action and so many wonderful character building moments! I always love reading Colleen’s books because they are truly an adventure just waiting to happen! This is a series not to be missed or passed by!
Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars
Reunited releases August 8, 2017
Reunited is the final book in Colleen Houck’s Reawakened series! With every book I read by Colleen, I am constantly amazed by how wonderful the world and writing is! As I might have mentioned before, I don’t know my mythology outside Greek, but I always enjoy learning more through Colleen’s books!
We rejoin Lily as she awakes on her grandmother’s farm. Only thing is, Lily has no memory of the past few weeks. It was actually rather nice too, since I couldn’t remember everything that happened in Recreated either! Lol! So Lily has to get caught up on all that’s happened and what needs to happen. Honestly, Colleen couldn’t have done this better! My little reader heart and mind were so thrilled with this because. Seriously, I can never remember what happened in the previous book a year later! I’m in serious trouble with other series that I am in the middle of!
Dr. Haasan comes back to Lily to tell her all the details, that she basically needs to wake the brothers once again, that she will need to become Warset, and with the help of the brothers they will need to defeat Seth. No problem really, just saving the world like it ain’t no thing! Hee hee. As you can imagine, it’s not as easy as all that.
There are many tasks ahead of Lily on her journey. She does eventually get her memory back and soon finds herself working with Ahmose, one of Amon’s brothers, as they work to find Amon and Asten’s bodies so that they can be raised! Colleen’s books are always filed with a great journey filled with perils and other dangers! There’s never a dull moment!
This book also expands on what is likely the most complicated love confliction ever! As you might recall, Lily possesses the souls of a lioness named Tia and a fairy named Ashleigh. Tia has feelings for Asten. Soon Ashleigh develops feelings for Ahmose. And then of course, Lily loves Amon. So what happens when we have three souls in one body loving three different guys? A complicated mess! But ironically, the brothers handle this all so well! It’s odd, but I can live with it I guess! I’m not touching on its outcome either, because, you know, spoilers!
This book wasn’t without its feels either! There was a lot of unexpected occurrences that really tugged at my heartstrings, and yet it always felt right. It’s a terrible feeling almost, to be accepting of sadness because you know it was the right course, because omg, it was heartrending! Not giving exact details, but we can say this was one emotional read and I honestly didn’t know how things would turn out in the end.
Reunited was a most wonderful read! It was rich with its mythology and culture that I’ve pretty much come to expect with a Colleen Houck book! She’s never let me down before! It was filled with action and so many wonderful character building moments! I always love reading Colleen’s books because they are truly an adventure just waiting to happen! This is a series not to be missed or passed by!
Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars
Reunited releases August 8, 2017
August 23, 2017
This is such a great series and i was glad i didnt judge the book based on the cover because if i did i probably wont read this at all. (i tend to fall in love w/ books that has fancy covers not so like this one) this was such a great read and i hope more book lovers will be able to read this series its just sad that books like this are being eclipsed by books that came from large publshing conpanies and pretty covers (guilty)..
Actually the only reason i rated it a four instead of five is bc i didnt like how the author ruined tge relationship between Lily and the two other brothers by making her actually fall for them, I mean yes i do understand that half of that feeling came from Tia and Ash but still Lily did have feelings for the brothers thag is separated from whag Tia and Ash feels, for me that kind of ruined something good that Lily and the brothers has. Its just an unnecesarry plog to also make her fall for the two and it just tainted my view of Lily, the book will actually be much better w/o that kind of complications. But all in all i enjoyed the series and would recommend this to everyone who wanted something new and fresh
Actually the only reason i rated it a four instead of five is bc i didnt like how the author ruined tge relationship between Lily and the two other brothers by making her actually fall for them, I mean yes i do understand that half of that feeling came from Tia and Ash but still Lily did have feelings for the brothers thag is separated from whag Tia and Ash feels, for me that kind of ruined something good that Lily and the brothers has. Its just an unnecesarry plog to also make her fall for the two and it just tainted my view of Lily, the book will actually be much better w/o that kind of complications. But all in all i enjoyed the series and would recommend this to everyone who wanted something new and fresh
Want to read
March 30, 2017Pre-review 3/30/17:
So I just read the summary and I saw the part about Lily having to become Wasret, and I googled that name, and as it so happens, that's an actual goddess more commonly known as Wosret.
She was also Amun's first wife.
Seriously? Are you freaking kidding me right now?
(Also, what is it with this woman and having American white chicks become goddesses of other cultures? I've got nothing against American white girls, but you know, Indian-Americans and Egyptian-Americans do exist. That's a thing.)
So I just read the summary and I saw the part about Lily having to become Wasret, and I googled that name, and as it so happens, that's an actual goddess more commonly known as Wosret.
She was also Amun's first wife.
Seriously? Are you freaking kidding me right now?
(Also, what is it with this woman and having American white chicks become goddesses of other cultures? I've got nothing against American white girls, but you know, Indian-Americans and Egyptian-Americans do exist. That's a thing.)
February 28, 2021
Short review on the conclusion to the Reawakened trilogy:
If you think book 1 was fun but hated book 2, give Reunited a chance. You might like it.
If you hated both book 1 and book 2, don’t read this. This series is not for you.
After the disaster in book 2, I thought I would quit book 3 altogether. Yet, I’m so glad I kept reading because Reunited was so much better. The relationship issue was still there, but at least Lily had a good reason for being disloyal: she had lost all her memory of her adventure in Egypt. When the Gods called her for help, she could only rely on Tia and Ashleigh to navigate the strange realm of the Egyptian afterlife.
This book reminded me so much of book 1, when Lily was excited to explore the mysterious Egyptian world, but with more depth to each character. In this book, more secrets about the Gods and the Sons of Egypt were revealed. I love reading about the bonds among Lily and the girls, as well as Amon, Asten, and Ahmose. How they supported each other. How they forgave and understood one another. How far they would go to protect one another. As the six of them fought the battle against evil and sorted through their relationship problems, they were united to be a big family. Their power of union was so touching.
I also decided which boy I love the most in this book. Amon was either super noble or profoundly stupid, I can’t decide, but I admired his devotion. I liked him in book 1 but hated him in book 2. After reading him in Reunited, I love him all right.
My only complaint is that the ending was too rushed. After building up all the tensions, the ending seemed too convenient, too easy. I didn’t see it coming, so at least it was not predictable, but it was not a pleasant surprise either.
Also, I hate Wasret. I think that’s my own problem though.
Thoughts on the entire series: They were okay but I probably won’t reread them unless I’m dying out of boredom.
If you think book 1 was fun but hated book 2, give Reunited a chance. You might like it.
If you hated both book 1 and book 2, don’t read this. This series is not for you.
After the disaster in book 2, I thought I would quit book 3 altogether. Yet, I’m so glad I kept reading because Reunited was so much better. The relationship issue was still there, but at least Lily had a good reason for being disloyal: she had lost all her memory of her adventure in Egypt. When the Gods called her for help, she could only rely on Tia and Ashleigh to navigate the strange realm of the Egyptian afterlife.
This book reminded me so much of book 1, when Lily was excited to explore the mysterious Egyptian world, but with more depth to each character. In this book, more secrets about the Gods and the Sons of Egypt were revealed. I love reading about the bonds among Lily and the girls, as well as Amon, Asten, and Ahmose. How they supported each other. How they forgave and understood one another. How far they would go to protect one another. As the six of them fought the battle against evil and sorted through their relationship problems, they were united to be a big family. Their power of union was so touching.
I also decided which boy I love the most in this book. Amon was either super noble or profoundly stupid, I can’t decide, but I admired his devotion. I liked him in book 1 but hated him in book 2. After reading him in Reunited, I love him all right.
My only complaint is that the ending was too rushed. After building up all the tensions, the ending seemed too convenient, too easy. I didn’t see it coming, so at least it was not predictable, but it was not a pleasant surprise either.
Also, I hate Wasret. I think that’s my own problem though.
Thoughts on the entire series: They were okay but I probably won’t reread them unless I’m dying out of boredom.
April 5, 2024
This series is hard to get into again after 7? 8? years because it's like:
"Hear me out! Lily is a white American but she's also an Egyptian goddess and she has two alter ego spirits inside of her, one of which is an Irish faerie called Ashleigh and the other one being a cat girl called Tia. Right now she has voluntary amnesia about her One True Love, a mumified prince (who is not a wrinkly, dehydrated resin but a hot guy!) and her super mega fighting powers. Now Lily HAS to remember to save the world from the God Seth, who is back and wants ... bad things!!"
And trust me when I say that the summary I give is way less silly than the real deal.
Of course it's hideously bad. An insult against beauty itself even without the casual racism, the blatant cultural appropriation, the disrespect against Egyptian Gods and common sense.
It's an emblematic example of what used to be really normal in the Young-Adult paranormal/adventure romance genre. Rich White Girl + (insert culture author knows nothing about) Prince + random magic inserts from yet another culture the author knows nothing about + bad writing.
It's an everything burger, really.
Since this book has been sitting on my Kindle for nearly a decade and now it's gone. I scrolled through to the end just to be able to dismiss this condemnable series from my mind forever.
"Hear me out! Lily is a white American but she's also an Egyptian goddess and she has two alter ego spirits inside of her, one of which is an Irish faerie called Ashleigh and the other one being a cat girl called Tia. Right now she has voluntary amnesia about her One True Love, a mumified prince (who is not a wrinkly, dehydrated resin but a hot guy!) and her super mega fighting powers. Now Lily HAS to remember to save the world from the God Seth, who is back and wants ... bad things!!"
And trust me when I say that the summary I give is way less silly than the real deal.
Of course it's hideously bad. An insult against beauty itself even without the casual racism, the blatant cultural appropriation, the disrespect against Egyptian Gods and common sense.
It's an emblematic example of what used to be really normal in the Young-Adult paranormal/adventure romance genre. Rich White Girl + (insert culture author knows nothing about) Prince + random magic inserts from yet another culture the author knows nothing about + bad writing.
It's an everything burger, really.
Since this book has been sitting on my Kindle for nearly a decade and now it's gone. I scrolled through to the end just to be able to dismiss this condemnable series from my mind forever.
May 4, 2020
„Połączeni” od Colleen Houck to książka, przy której niewątpliwe można się po prostu dobrze bawić. Jest to przede wszystkim historia pełna przygód, tajemnic i mitologii egipskiej. Autorka ma bardzo lekki i przyjemny styl pisania, dzięki czemu przez książkę się wręcz płynie. Akcja została bardzo dobrze rozplanowana, przez co czytelnik ani przez chwilę nie może się nudzić. Chciałbym, aby ta cześć podobała mi się dużo bardziej, jednak mam w stosunku do niej bardzo mieszane uczucia. Po pierwsze nadal nie darzę sympatią głównej bohaterki Lily. Jej zachowanie, sposób bycia i reakcja na niektóre sytuacje była dla mnie wręcz denerwująca. Nie podobało mi się także to, w jaki sposób został rozwinięty wątek romantyczny w tej książce. Przyznaje jednak, że zakończenie całej trylogii jest naprawdę udane i świetnie przemyślane. Jeżeli szukacie przyjemnej, pełnej przygód i miłości historii, która zabierze was w nieznane miejsca to myślę, że ta trylogia może wam się spodobać.
December 24, 2017
I finally finished the third book in this series. While I loved the first one, the second and third were let downs. Yes, there is lot of adventure, fighting, and romance. But I felt not attached to the main characters like I did in the first novel. Colleen takes some strong unexpected plot twists that made the story seem surreal, the main characters less realistic.
I don't hate the book, but I just found myself not really caring so much about what happened to the characters. I do wish Colleen the best for her next series. I'm still a fan of her Tiger series.
I don't hate the book, but I just found myself not really caring so much about what happened to the characters. I do wish Colleen the best for her next series. I'm still a fan of her Tiger series.
October 9, 2017
This book was read as an act of love for Mother/daughter book club. I like fantasy, but this was over the top. Way too much unicorns, sharing of the mind and confusing relationships between the three brothers. If you are going to read Colleen Houck-read the Tiger's Curse series. Stay far away from this confusing mumbo-jumbo. (Around the Year in 52 Books Challenge: a category from another challenge-read 3 books by the same author)
October 25, 2017
I'm very picky about endings and this one was awesome. Some might see the ending as cheesy and perhaps far fetched, but I loved it. The whole "...and they lived happily ever after" can be said for this book and that's why I adore it. There were too many characters to have only one happy ending, so its nice to see many. I a left contented despite the many tears I don't usually shed. Kudos to the author for wrapping up a great series.
April 25, 2021
dnf niestety, nie chce się już męczyć z tą serią, niby nie ma tragedii ale totalnie mnie nie porywa ://
October 4, 2018
Persönliche Meinung
Ich bin sooo traurig Leute!
Ich habe mich sooo sooo sehr auf Band 3 gefreut...und ich wurde enttäuscht... =(
Das Buch war nicht direkt schlecht, aber es war einfach auch kein würdiges Finale.
Erstens habe ich nicht verstanden, wieso die Autorin Lilys Erinnerungen weggenommen hat. Das machte absolut Null Sinn. Passte nicht zu ihrem Charakter, hat die Story nur länge gemacht als nötig. Es gab dadurch etliche Wiederholungen aus Band eins und zwei und gab Lily auch leider einen faden Beigeschmack, weil sie sich so ganz untypisch verhielt…. Komplett anders als zwei Bücher lang davor. Es hat regelrecht genervt und hat viel zu lange gedauert!
«He kissed me. And it was sweet and soft and full of very wish and promise that I wasn’t sure either of us could keep.»
Super schade fand ich, dass Tia kaum vorkam und wen, dann fehlte da komplett der Biss den sie in recreated hatte... Ich hätte weinen können. Ash bekam dafür ein bisschen mehr Screenplay, was okay, aber leider nicht prickelnd war. Immerhin mochte ich ihren irischen Akzent. Auch Ahmose bekam eine grössere Rolle aber leider war mir, der bisher sympathiste Bruder, in diesem Band eher unsympathisch…
Wenn wir schon bei den Brüdern sind, Amon war wie immer total farblos und, aus welchen Gründen auch immer, der einzige der noch geschwollen dahergeredet hat. Ihn zeichnete einfach nichts aus, keine besondere Charaktereigenschaft, einfach nichts. Ahmose zeichnete aus, dass er wohl in jede Frau der Welt verliebt ist *augenverdreh*. Obwohl er der bisher vernünftigste war, wurde er, meiner Meinung nach, in diesem band eher schwach dargestellt…. Schade! Einzig Asten konnte mein Mädchenherz teilweise höherschlagen lassen, aber er machte so viele Fehler, dass ich auch da eher enttäuscht war... OH MAN!!! Wieso?!
Es ging auch dauernd nur darum wer wen liebt und wieso und doch nicht und iwie liebt Lily alle drei Brüder und alle drei Brüder lieben alle drei Mädchen oder doch nicht? oder doch? Dass die nicht gleich einen 6er hatten, respektive einen dreier (?) wunderte mich wirklich!!!! Und als dann auch noch das Wort MATE fiel... tja, da wars echt vorbei!
Dann, wie bereits gesagt, war die erste Hälfte einfach eine nochmalige Aneinanderreihung von alten bekannten: Nebu, der der Fährenmann, Götter. Apep und Ananse waren irgendwie unnötig (dachte ich... aber falsch gedacht *noch mehr augenverdreh*)
«“Now then,“ Seth said with a wraped smile on his face. „where were we?“»
Und dann der Finale Kampf! So verwirrend!! Da wusste wohl selbst die Autorin nicht mehr, was sie da gerade machte. Da wurde ein grosses Geheimnis gelüftet und alle so: OMG! Aber dann sagt der Gute: nur die Ruhe, das habe ich kommen sehen und dies und das davor gemacht!
Alle: puhh!
Der Böse: LOL da musste früher aufstehen! Ich wusste, dass du das machst und habe davor dies und das gemacht!
Alle: o_O
Der Gute: Ha! Das wusste ich und habe davor blabla gemacht!
Alle: Yes!
Der Böse: YOLO! Das dachte ich mir schon, darum...
………. Wirklich! Ich übertreibe nicht!
«But now the dephts of his eyes were closed, cold. They gold nothing but secrets.
Secrets.
Secrets.
My body collapsed, and when I opened my eyes, I felt hollow and dead inside.»
Und dann dieses Ende!!!!! Es war grauenvoll! Grauenhaft! Ich will gar nicht daran denken. Da war einfach so viel falsch!
Da das ganze Buch war einfach soo lieblos =(
Wieso ich trotzdem 4 Sterne gebe? Weil ich es einfach lieben Will.
Fazit: Ein unwürdiges Ende einer tollen Reihe =(
Ich bin sooo traurig Leute!
Ich habe mich sooo sooo sehr auf Band 3 gefreut...und ich wurde enttäuscht... =(
Das Buch war nicht direkt schlecht, aber es war einfach auch kein würdiges Finale.
Erstens habe ich nicht verstanden, wieso die Autorin Lilys Erinnerungen weggenommen hat. Das machte absolut Null Sinn. Passte nicht zu ihrem Charakter, hat die Story nur länge gemacht als nötig. Es gab dadurch etliche Wiederholungen aus Band eins und zwei und gab Lily auch leider einen faden Beigeschmack, weil sie sich so ganz untypisch verhielt…. Komplett anders als zwei Bücher lang davor. Es hat regelrecht genervt und hat viel zu lange gedauert!
«He kissed me. And it was sweet and soft and full of very wish and promise that I wasn’t sure either of us could keep.»
Super schade fand ich, dass Tia kaum vorkam und wen, dann fehlte da komplett der Biss den sie in recreated hatte... Ich hätte weinen können. Ash bekam dafür ein bisschen mehr Screenplay, was okay, aber leider nicht prickelnd war. Immerhin mochte ich ihren irischen Akzent. Auch Ahmose bekam eine grössere Rolle aber leider war mir, der bisher sympathiste Bruder, in diesem Band eher unsympathisch…
Wenn wir schon bei den Brüdern sind, Amon war wie immer total farblos und, aus welchen Gründen auch immer, der einzige der noch geschwollen dahergeredet hat. Ihn zeichnete einfach nichts aus, keine besondere Charaktereigenschaft, einfach nichts. Ahmose zeichnete aus, dass er wohl in jede Frau der Welt verliebt ist *augenverdreh*. Obwohl er der bisher vernünftigste war, wurde er, meiner Meinung nach, in diesem band eher schwach dargestellt…. Schade! Einzig Asten konnte mein Mädchenherz teilweise höherschlagen lassen, aber er machte so viele Fehler, dass ich auch da eher enttäuscht war... OH MAN!!! Wieso?!
Es ging auch dauernd nur darum wer wen liebt und wieso und doch nicht und iwie liebt Lily alle drei Brüder und alle drei Brüder lieben alle drei Mädchen oder doch nicht? oder doch? Dass die nicht gleich einen 6er hatten, respektive einen dreier (?) wunderte mich wirklich!!!! Und als dann auch noch das Wort MATE fiel... tja, da wars echt vorbei!
Dann, wie bereits gesagt, war die erste Hälfte einfach eine nochmalige Aneinanderreihung von alten bekannten: Nebu, der der Fährenmann, Götter. Apep und Ananse waren irgendwie unnötig (dachte ich... aber falsch gedacht *noch mehr augenverdreh*)
«“Now then,“ Seth said with a wraped smile on his face. „where were we?“»
Und dann der Finale Kampf! So verwirrend!! Da wusste wohl selbst die Autorin nicht mehr, was sie da gerade machte. Da wurde ein grosses Geheimnis gelüftet und alle so: OMG! Aber dann sagt der Gute: nur die Ruhe, das habe ich kommen sehen und dies und das davor gemacht!
Alle: puhh!
Der Böse: LOL da musste früher aufstehen! Ich wusste, dass du das machst und habe davor dies und das gemacht!
Alle: o_O
Der Gute: Ha! Das wusste ich und habe davor blabla gemacht!
Alle: Yes!
Der Böse: YOLO! Das dachte ich mir schon, darum...
………. Wirklich! Ich übertreibe nicht!
«But now the dephts of his eyes were closed, cold. They gold nothing but secrets.
Secrets.
Secrets.
My body collapsed, and when I opened my eyes, I felt hollow and dead inside.»
Und dann dieses Ende!!!!! Es war grauenvoll! Grauenhaft! Ich will gar nicht daran denken. Da war einfach so viel falsch!
Da das ganze Buch war einfach soo lieblos =(
Wieso ich trotzdem 4 Sterne gebe? Weil ich es einfach lieben Will.
Fazit: Ein unwürdiges Ende einer tollen Reihe =(
May 8, 2018
Finally, I have finished the series and this book... I think it was bad, but not without its odd not terrible bits. Starting with the ( relative)positives, and go from there.
The good: there are nods to interesting concepts, ideas about love and sacrifice and what it means share a life and a heart, not always in a romantic sense. The concept of wasret and the overlaps and distinctions from the three elements of her was interesting, the fact that she brought up consent at all was good.... her grandmother is brilliant...there may actually be other things but-
The bad: poor execution like woah. The main issue for me was POV confusion with the first person narrator being Lily at times, Tia, or Ashleigh at others or wasret or just seeming to follow the body that the first three inhabit while referring to all of them in the third person. This would be ok and could be really cool but it switched with no indication to the reader and often within chapters to the point where it’s super unclear who is experiencing what. Another related issue is the problem of consent, at times lily cares about the freedom and agency of the other two in her body but there’s a lot of kissing in a book where the three female leads share one body and at times it’s unclear who’s doing what or wants what and with whom, if that makes any sense. There’s an amnesia plot that also complicates this, cause lily super does things without her memory that she wouldn’t do with them, and person who participated in that knew it. Also amnesia plots are stupid and people should stop.
The writing was still really bad, much of the dialogue was terrible and the plot was bizarre and over complicated.
The gender politics in this one were pretty rough too.... I may add more to this later but to end on a positive, if kind of a backhanded one, this story wraps up neatly as far as the fantasy elements go. I wish we’d gotten more of a sense of how lily’s experiences will effect her mundane life, like is she actually going to see her family differently, will she make more of her own choices, etc but the fantasy has a bow on it and all is well so... I guess I have some sort of closure now, which is what I wanted. (One star was generous though, this was very bad and less fun than the second one.)
The good: there are nods to interesting concepts, ideas about love and sacrifice and what it means share a life and a heart, not always in a romantic sense. The concept of wasret and the overlaps and distinctions from the three elements of her was interesting, the fact that she brought up consent at all was good.... her grandmother is brilliant...there may actually be other things but-
The bad: poor execution like woah. The main issue for me was POV confusion with the first person narrator being Lily at times, Tia, or Ashleigh at others or wasret or just seeming to follow the body that the first three inhabit while referring to all of them in the third person. This would be ok and could be really cool but it switched with no indication to the reader and often within chapters to the point where it’s super unclear who is experiencing what. Another related issue is the problem of consent, at times lily cares about the freedom and agency of the other two in her body but there’s a lot of kissing in a book where the three female leads share one body and at times it’s unclear who’s doing what or wants what and with whom, if that makes any sense. There’s an amnesia plot that also complicates this, cause lily super does things without her memory that she wouldn’t do with them, and person who participated in that knew it. Also amnesia plots are stupid and people should stop.
The writing was still really bad, much of the dialogue was terrible and the plot was bizarre and over complicated.
The gender politics in this one were pretty rough too.... I may add more to this later but to end on a positive, if kind of a backhanded one, this story wraps up neatly as far as the fantasy elements go. I wish we’d gotten more of a sense of how lily’s experiences will effect her mundane life, like is she actually going to see her family differently, will she make more of her own choices, etc but the fantasy has a bow on it and all is well so... I guess I have some sort of closure now, which is what I wanted. (One star was generous though, this was very bad and less fun than the second one.)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 23, 2021
**NO major plotspoilers were harmed in the makingof this review**
"We have no control over the manner of our death. We can only choose how we will live. Besides, winning does not make heroes. Heroes are born of those who strive."
Hey guys,so I finallllly finished Reunited and umm....I have mixed feelings towards this book. :/ it was not really what I expected,majority of it. It took a direction I did not anticipate and one I did not really enjoy. The writing was about the same, and the descriptions of things were not really essential to the storyline so I often found myself skimming over it because I was not into this book for like..the first half. I personally felt what happened and how the character dealt with it, basically was a 180 from the previous books. And even when things were 'figured out' the second half of the story did not really..bring it back for me. It was almost nearly already too far gone. I did not swoon over the men like I did previously. I did not really care about who lived or died. Honestly, I forced myself to just continue skimming, just to see how it ended. It wasjust... a mess. The previous lovable main character turned into a spoiled and whiny 'oh poor me, why me' type of person and they were frankly a coward to keep running and hiding, which was unlike their previous self. And the main men were...different as well. Everything was just off. Howver, that being said, there was enough of my curiosity that I pushed towards the end. And there were some redeemable moment sin the story. Like some sweet/powerful moments between the main characters and their dynamics that touched my soul. When the main character truly got her thoughts in gear I admired. I also admired how she mastered her power and acknowledged her fears. And the tender moments with the menhelped. Then the edning, wow. Although because of my detatched reading, I was not as shocked at a few of the things that occurred, however, I was shocked at the sequence of events. Which lead me to sobbing..aha. The way the story ended, despite how it happened, was actually, alright. Satisfactory and tearful. So yeah...thisbook and I went on a wild rollercoaster aha. Remember, this is all my opinion, if you want your own, read the series.
"We have no control over the manner of our death. We can only choose how we will live. Besides, winning does not make heroes. Heroes are born of those who strive."
Hey guys,so I finallllly finished Reunited and umm....I have mixed feelings towards this book. :/ it was not really what I expected,majority of it. It took a direction I did not anticipate and one I did not really enjoy. The writing was about the same, and the descriptions of things were not really essential to the storyline so I often found myself skimming over it because I was not into this book for like..the first half. I personally felt what happened and how the character dealt with it, basically was a 180 from the previous books. And even when things were 'figured out' the second half of the story did not really..bring it back for me. It was almost nearly already too far gone. I did not swoon over the men like I did previously. I did not really care about who lived or died. Honestly, I forced myself to just continue skimming, just to see how it ended. It wasjust... a mess. The previous lovable main character turned into a spoiled and whiny 'oh poor me, why me' type of person and they were frankly a coward to keep running and hiding, which was unlike their previous self. And the main men were...different as well. Everything was just off. Howver, that being said, there was enough of my curiosity that I pushed towards the end. And there were some redeemable moment sin the story. Like some sweet/powerful moments between the main characters and their dynamics that touched my soul. When the main character truly got her thoughts in gear I admired. I also admired how she mastered her power and acknowledged her fears. And the tender moments with the menhelped. Then the edning, wow. Although because of my detatched reading, I was not as shocked at a few of the things that occurred, however, I was shocked at the sequence of events. Which lead me to sobbing..aha. The way the story ended, despite how it happened, was actually, alright. Satisfactory and tearful. So yeah...thisbook and I went on a wild rollercoaster aha. Remember, this is all my opinion, if you want your own, read the series.
February 21, 2021
Overall 3/5 stars
Non-Spoiler Review:
This book was the third and final book in the Reawakened trilogy. While I enjoyed the first two books, unfortunately this one did not live up to my hopes and expectations. There were several parts of this portion of the story that I felt were unnecessary and/or just complicated the plot. I cannot mention these points specifically due to them being spoilers. The relationships within this book for me also felt forced for lack of a better word, and while I did like the idea, I felt it to be very expected and lack-luster. But on the other side of the coin, I am happy to have finished this trilogy, and to once again see all the characters and not have to wonder what has become of them.
SPOILER PORTION:
The relationship with Ahmose, Ashleigh and at the same time Lilly, was a very strange concept to me. I understand that they are technically the only two "characters" that are not in a relationship, but still it felt inauthentic, and wrong. Another thing is the randomness that is the revelation that Seth is Asten's biological father. I get that he was suppose to be the key to killing Seth, but it ended up backfiring. And the other thing that was really out of left field for me and made no sense whatsoever is right at the end where Lilly's Nana becomes the new goddess of death (in place of Ma'at), like ??? I guess anyone can become a goddess? And Oscar becomes the new ferryman?? Pretty random to me but I guess the author was trying to give all of the characters a "happy ending". Overall, this trilogy does have its flaws, but did I enjoy it overall? Yes. Would I recommend it? Yes, but I would tell the next reader to just stay away from the third book. I love anything relating to Ancient Egypt, and the fact that the author took the time to write these books and put some facts into this book, and also almost perfectly meshed her own ideas was great. But I had just wished the ending was a little more... interesting.
Non-Spoiler Review:
This book was the third and final book in the Reawakened trilogy. While I enjoyed the first two books, unfortunately this one did not live up to my hopes and expectations. There were several parts of this portion of the story that I felt were unnecessary and/or just complicated the plot. I cannot mention these points specifically due to them being spoilers. The relationships within this book for me also felt forced for lack of a better word, and while I did like the idea, I felt it to be very expected and lack-luster. But on the other side of the coin, I am happy to have finished this trilogy, and to once again see all the characters and not have to wonder what has become of them.
SPOILER PORTION:
The relationship with Ahmose, Ashleigh and at the same time Lilly, was a very strange concept to me. I understand that they are technically the only two "characters" that are not in a relationship, but still it felt inauthentic, and wrong. Another thing is the randomness that is the revelation that Seth is Asten's biological father. I get that he was suppose to be the key to killing Seth, but it ended up backfiring. And the other thing that was really out of left field for me and made no sense whatsoever is right at the end where Lilly's Nana becomes the new goddess of death (in place of Ma'at), like ??? I guess anyone can become a goddess? And Oscar becomes the new ferryman?? Pretty random to me but I guess the author was trying to give all of the characters a "happy ending". Overall, this trilogy does have its flaws, but did I enjoy it overall? Yes. Would I recommend it? Yes, but I would tell the next reader to just stay away from the third book. I love anything relating to Ancient Egypt, and the fact that the author took the time to write these books and put some facts into this book, and also almost perfectly meshed her own ideas was great. But I had just wished the ending was a little more... interesting.
November 13, 2017
Это ревью – попытка разобраться, что же не так с «Воссоединенными». Оно большое, так как при всем желании я не смогла урезать его, откинув какие-то свои мысли. Плюс, рецензия содержит кучу спойлеров к книге. Я предупредила:)
Сюжет. По сути, вся книга – это подготовка к битве с Сетом. Для этого Лили-Тия-Эшли отправляются с Хассаном и бабулей в Египет (зачем было брать с собой бабулю???), чтобы разыскать Сынов Египта и призвать их на свою сторону. Но удается призвать лишь Ахмоса, и вдвоем (вчетвером), оставив старичков, они отправляются в недоступные даже богам земли за Амоном и Астеном. И тут появляется проблема: удельную долю этой части составляют выяснения отношений, т.е. происходит все по такому шаблону: Санта-Барбара, немного экшна, потом снова Санта-Барбара (о которой чуть ниже). Поэтому читать хотелось лишь те редкие моменты, когда что-то происходило.
О дамах. После первой книги история потребовала больше крутых женских персонажей, но создавать их автору было лень. Поэтому она применила читерский способ: создала крутых полусамостоятельных персонажей. Их невозможно воспринимать как отдельные личности, потому что автор не даёт нам шанса! Отбросьте эти бредни про сестринство и равнозначность, потому что это совершенно не так. 90% экранного времени в теле Лили хозяйничает именно Лили. Это объяснимо, ведь тело все-таки ее, но вот Тия и Эшли появляются лишь тогда, когда надо позажиматься с парнями, а затем игнорируются все следующие главы.
Мне нравится Лили из первой части, где она была смелой, искренней девушкой, которая хоть и не особо въезжала в происходящее, но при этом обладала огромным потенциалом (который Коллин загубила ко всем богам). В третьей части, когда Хассан проводит ликбез, она внезапно становится такой badass барышней с кучей, кучей претенциозности и высказываниями а-ля Селена Сардотин. Чего стоит тот момент, когда она пафосно оттаскала за ухо бедного песика. Но вот только все напускное бахвальство и якобы сила этой троицы куда-то девается каждый раз, когда они вляпываются в неприятности (а это происходит постоянно). И приходится спасать этих героинь то Васрет, то Ахмосу, то кому-либо ещё.
О юношах. Конкретно в этом пункте я хотела поговорить лишь об Ахмосе, потому что он безумно испортился со времен первых двух книг. Мы видим, как потерявшая память Лили начинает испытывать к нему чувства, а он, забыв что эту девушку безумно любит его брат, нагло пользуется ситуацией. Он заявляет, что видел этот путь (их как пары) среди возможных и не сожалеет о нем, и вообще называет Лили истинным волшебством среди всех виданных им чудес. Но это не мешает Ахмосу через пару ��траниц, общаясь уже с Эшли, клеить её, зная, что Лили все это видит и чувствует, а потом при появлении Васрет подкатывать шары уже к ней. А все потому, что «неужели моя привязанность должна ограничиваться только одной из вас?» (с) Ахмос.
Но при этом он хороший парень. Логика, ты где? Ты умерла, бедняга.
Любовный клубок. Вот тут логика не просто убита, но еще и зверски изнасилована. Что мы имеем? Лили любит и Амона, и Ахмоса (и на Астена заглядываетя). Ахмос любит Лили, Эшли и даже не против Васрет. Астен тоже не может понять, в кого же он во второй книге влюбился – в Лили или все же в Тию? А вот львица и фейри вполне определены в объектах своей привязанности. Ну и чувства Амона остались непоколебимы со времен первой части. И, будто бы автору всего предыдущего показалось мало, выяснилось, что из-за сердца-скарабея, данного Лили Амону еще в конце второй книги, он ощущал все её чувства. Как бедняга вообще может удерживать равновесие и стоять с такими-то рожищами?
Но самая худшая часть этого любовного клубка в том, как Коллин все это разрешила. Эта любвеобильная шестерка просто взаимно обменялась сердцами-скарабеями: Лили махнулась с Амоном, Тия с Астеном, а Эшли с Ахмосом. Фишка такого скарабея в том, что приняв его от другого человека, ты начинаешь любить только его. Парапапам! Т.е. Коллин наворотила кучу драмы и выяснений отношений, а потом… просто слила все это самым наглым образом! Видимо, решила, что читатели схавают. Но нет.
Злодей. Давайте признаем, злодей из Сета просто никакущий. Он получился просто обладающим мощной силой прыщаво-сопливым подростком, разобидевшимся на божественную родню и в порыве гнева поколачивающем женщин. Я думаю, что создание такого откровенно слабого злодея автоматически нивелирует всю крутость победы главных героев над ним.
Концовка полна одновременно пафоса и сахара. Отдадим Коллин должное, она умеет создавать эпичные декорации, битва при водах Хаоса тому подтверждение. Но вот сама битва получилась какой-то тухленькой. У меня всего несколько вопросов. Во-первых, выходит, что куча летающих единорогов отдали свои жизни просто из-за нежелания Лили подчиниться неизбежному и призвать Васрет? Во-вторых, когда эта непобедимая Васрет ака Освободительница явилась, почему Сет терпеливо ждал, пока она должным образом пропонтуется, и лишь затем превратился в дракона? Парень, у тебя был шанс. Более того, сама Васрет меня не впечатлила. Она явилась в тот момент, когда все положительные персонажи были повержены, и одним своим присутствием сместила чашу весов победы в свою пользу. Помимо этого, она оказалась непобедима как Супермен и просто по щелчку пальцев все исправила. Никто не умер, ничего не было потеряно. Это скучно. Это неинтересно.
И еще немного о том, что меня возмутило. Коллин, на кой черт ты кастрировала пантеон египетских богов? Васрет-супермен перекроила Сета и Амон-Ра, создав нового чувака, сразу же полюбившего Нептис, затем двух змей превратила в одного уробороса. Вот какой смысл был всего этого? А как автор может объяснить случившуюся дальше чехарду? Васрет не только Васрет, но еще и Геката, и Ваджет. А Гор клеился к Лили потому, что заранее чувствовал в ней свою пару – Васрет, но он не просто Гор, он еще и Нехени. А Астен сын Сета, но потом уже не Сета, а Анубиса… короче, все настолько запутано, что напоминает мне дешевый русский сериальчик, растянутый на 100500 серий.
P.S. Ну и последний вопрос, просто на засыпку. Что в книге про египетскую мифологию забыла ирландская фейри? Короче, если бы я билась головой об стенку при почтении этой книги, то проломила бы стену и осталась бы без черепа.
P.P.S. На самом деле, если откинуть любовную чехарду и бред реформ Васрет, в сухом остатке мы получим несколько действительно классных квестов и подобие прекрасных отношений Лили и Амона из первой книги.
3/10.
Сюжет. По сути, вся книга – это подготовка к битве с Сетом. Для этого Лили-Тия-Эшли отправляются с Хассаном и бабулей в Египет (зачем было брать с собой бабулю???), чтобы разыскать Сынов Египта и призвать их на свою сторону. Но удается призвать лишь Ахмоса, и вдвоем (вчетвером), оставив старичков, они отправляются в недоступные даже богам земли за Амоном и Астеном. И тут появляется проблема: удельную долю этой части составляют выяснения отношений, т.е. происходит все по такому шаблону: Санта-Барбара, немного экшна, потом снова Санта-Барбара (о которой чуть ниже). Поэтому читать хотелось лишь те редкие моменты, когда что-то происходило.
О дамах. После первой книги история потребовала больше крутых женских персонажей, но создавать их автору было лень. Поэтому она применила читерский способ: создала крутых полусамостоятельных персонажей. Их невозможно воспринимать как отдельные личности, потому что автор не даёт нам шанса! Отбросьте эти бредни про сестринство и равнозначность, потому что это совершенно не так. 90% экранного времени в теле Лили хозяйничает именно Лили. Это объяснимо, ведь тело все-таки ее, но вот Тия и Эшли появляются лишь тогда, когда надо позажиматься с парнями, а затем игнорируются все следующие главы.
Мне нравится Лили из первой части, где она была смелой, искренней девушкой, которая хоть и не особо въезжала в происходящее, но при этом обладала огромным потенциалом (который Коллин загубила ко всем богам). В третьей части, когда Хассан проводит ликбез, она внезапно становится такой badass барышней с кучей, кучей претенциозности и высказываниями а-ля Селена Сардотин. Чего стоит тот момент, когда она пафосно оттаскала за ухо бедного песика. Но вот только все напускное бахвальство и якобы сила этой троицы куда-то девается каждый раз, когда они вляпываются в неприятности (а это происходит постоянно). И приходится спасать этих героинь то Васрет, то Ахмосу, то кому-либо ещё.
О юношах. Конкретно в этом пункте я хотела поговорить лишь об Ахмосе, потому что он безумно испортился со времен первых двух книг. Мы видим, как потерявшая память Лили начинает испытывать к нему чувства, а он, забыв что эту девушку безумно любит его брат, нагло пользуется ситуацией. Он заявляет, что видел этот путь (их как пары) среди возможных и не сожалеет о нем, и вообще называет Лили истинным волшебством среди всех виданных им чудес. Но это не мешает Ахмосу через пару ��траниц, общаясь уже с Эшли, клеить её, зная, что Лили все это видит и чувствует, а потом при появлении Васрет подкатывать шары уже к ней. А все потому, что «неужели моя привязанность должна ограничиваться только одной из вас?» (с) Ахмос.
Но при этом он хороший парень. Логика, ты где? Ты умерла, бедняга.
Любовный клубок. Вот тут логика не просто убита, но еще и зверски изнасилована. Что мы имеем? Лили любит и Амона, и Ахмоса (и на Астена заглядываетя). Ахмос любит Лили, Эшли и даже не против Васрет. Астен тоже не может понять, в кого же он во второй книге влюбился – в Лили или все же в Тию? А вот львица и фейри вполне определены в объектах своей привязанности. Ну и чувства Амона остались непоколебимы со времен первой части. И, будто бы автору всего предыдущего показалось мало, выяснилось, что из-за сердца-скарабея, данного Лили Амону еще в конце второй книги, он ощущал все её чувства. Как бедняга вообще может удерживать равновесие и стоять с такими-то рожищами?
Но самая худшая часть этого любовного клубка в том, как Коллин все это разрешила. Эта любвеобильная шестерка просто взаимно обменялась сердцами-скарабеями: Лили махнулась с Амоном, Тия с Астеном, а Эшли с Ахмосом. Фишка такого скарабея в том, что приняв его от другого человека, ты начинаешь любить только его. Парапапам! Т.е. Коллин наворотила кучу драмы и выяснений отношений, а потом… просто слила все это самым наглым образом! Видимо, решила, что читатели схавают. Но нет.
Злодей. Давайте признаем, злодей из Сета просто никакущий. Он получился просто обладающим мощной силой прыщаво-сопливым подростком, разобидевшимся на божественную родню и в порыве гнева поколачивающем женщин. Я думаю, что создание такого откровенно слабого злодея автоматически нивелирует всю крутость победы главных героев над ним.
Концовка полна одновременно пафоса и сахара. Отдадим Коллин должное, она умеет создавать эпичные декорации, битва при водах Хаоса тому подтверждение. Но вот сама битва получилась какой-то тухленькой. У меня всего несколько вопросов. Во-первых, выходит, что куча летающих единорогов отдали свои жизни просто из-за нежелания Лили подчиниться неизбежному и призвать Васрет? Во-вторых, когда эта непобедимая Васрет ака Освободительница явилась, почему Сет терпеливо ждал, пока она должным образом пропонтуется, и лишь затем превратился в дракона? Парень, у тебя был шанс. Более того, сама Васрет меня не впечатлила. Она явилась в тот момент, когда все положительные персонажи были повержены, и одним своим присутствием сместила чашу весов победы в свою пользу. Помимо этого, она оказалась непобедима как Супермен и просто по щелчку пальцев все исправила. Никто не умер, ничего не было потеряно. Это скучно. Это неинтересно.
И еще немного о том, что меня возмутило. Коллин, на кой черт ты кастрировала пантеон египетских богов? Васрет-супермен перекроила Сета и Амон-Ра, создав нового чувака, сразу же полюбившего Нептис, затем двух змей превратила в одного уробороса. Вот какой смысл был всего этого? А как автор может объяснить случившуюся дальше чехарду? Васрет не только Васрет, но еще и Геката, и Ваджет. А Гор клеился к Лили потому, что заранее чувствовал в ней свою пару – Васрет, но он не просто Гор, он еще и Нехени. А Астен сын Сета, но потом уже не Сета, а Анубиса… короче, все настолько запутано, что напоминает мне дешевый русский сериальчик, растянутый на 100500 серий.
P.S. Ну и последний вопрос, просто на засыпку. Что в книге про египетскую мифологию забыла ирландская фейри? Короче, если бы я билась головой об стенку при почтении этой книги, то проломила бы стену и осталась бы без черепа.
P.P.S. На самом деле, если откинуть любовную чехарду и бред реформ Васрет, в сухом остатке мы получим несколько действительно классных квестов и подобие прекрасных отношений Лили и Амона из первой книги.
3/10.
October 24, 2020
Loved it! I think the author did a wonderful job at describing the different personalities living within Lily and their separate and united interactions with the Sons of Egypt. It could have been really awkward or confusing, but I think it was just right. Colleen Houck has a way with love interests, magic and mythology, overcoming insecurities to fight and sacrifice for the greater good, and taking hidden elements from prior books in a series to tie up every loose end we may not have even remembered. She weaves all these elements together to tell stories that are based on real legends but totally original. I never knew what was coming next, but by the end it all felt exactly as it always should have been. And yes, I cried at the end.
No swearing, nothing sexual beyond holding, kissing, and a little glimpse of desire, but some pretty scary monsters and intense fighting scenes. Nothing overly gory, but this is the last book of a fight to save the world from Chaos, so there are more battles. I'd say high school and up. And if you liked this series, definitely go read everything else Colleen Houck has done!
No swearing, nothing sexual beyond holding, kissing, and a little glimpse of desire, but some pretty scary monsters and intense fighting scenes. Nothing overly gory, but this is the last book of a fight to save the world from Chaos, so there are more battles. I'd say high school and up. And if you liked this series, definitely go read everything else Colleen Houck has done!
June 12, 2021
5/5⭐
Idealne zakończenie serii. To chyba jedyna seria, której wszystkie tomy oceniłam na 5/5.
Nie wiem co napisać. Cała seria rozpoczęła moją miłość do mitologii egipskiej(i ta miłość rozrosła się, z mojego powodu, na cały Starożytny Egipt).
Autorka tak pokochała wszystkich bohaterów, że nie umiała nie dać każdej postaci szczęśliwego zakończenia. (Ale na końcówce i tak płakałam XDD)
Poprostu kocham całą serię, i wiem, że nie każdemu się spodoba, ale ja mam szczęście, że te książki, które kupiłam za 45zł(całą serie XDD), stały się dla mnie takie drogie jak np. Rywalki, List do króla, Dary Anioła.
Nie muszę żałować 45zł
Napewno będzie w topce roku ❤
S P O I L E R
Nie podobało mi się to, że Amon został Wielkim Wezyrem a Lily nie pamiętam kim. Wolałabym, żeby wiedli normalne życie na Ziemi. A nie jakieś nadal związane z bogami i ratowaniem świata. No i chciałam zobaczyć jak Lily przedstawia Amona swoim rodzicom (wtedy juz swojego męża).
Idealne zakończenie serii. To chyba jedyna seria, której wszystkie tomy oceniłam na 5/5.
Nie wiem co napisać. Cała seria rozpoczęła moją miłość do mitologii egipskiej(i ta miłość rozrosła się, z mojego powodu, na cały Starożytny Egipt).
Autorka tak pokochała wszystkich bohaterów, że nie umiała nie dać każdej postaci szczęśliwego zakończenia. (Ale na końcówce i tak płakałam XDD)
Poprostu kocham całą serię, i wiem, że nie każdemu się spodoba, ale ja mam szczęście, że te książki, które kupiłam za 45zł(całą serie XDD), stały się dla mnie takie drogie jak np. Rywalki, List do króla, Dary Anioła.
Nie muszę żałować 45zł
Napewno będzie w topce roku ❤
S P O I L E R
Nie podobało mi się to, że Amon został Wielkim Wezyrem a Lily nie pamiętam kim. Wolałabym, żeby wiedli normalne życie na Ziemi. A nie jakieś nadal związane z bogami i ratowaniem świata. No i chciałam zobaczyć jak Lily przedstawia Amona swoim rodzicom (wtedy juz swojego męża).
February 20, 2018
Eu não canso de me surpreender com a capacidade da Colleen Houck. Acho um dom extremo a pessoa conseguir escrever um livro bom e ruim ao mesmo tempo. A história é legal, sério. Ela faz um mesclado entre mitologia e realidade que fica muito bom, deixa interessante, coloca muitos pontos que mostram que a história foi super pesquisada, pensada e estruturada. E, ao mesmo tempo, ela enche o livro de clichês toscos, frases super manjadas e personagens sem graça e mal feitos. E isso se eu for olhar só pra esse livro.
Comparando com "A Maldição do Tigre", aí que a coisa fica feia pra esse, que é uma imitação piorada do primeiro. A mitologia egípcia, por mais legal que seja, já tá muito batida, a indiana não. Nesse ponto o "Tigre" é muito mais original. As personagens do "Tigre" são melhores, mais completos, mais tudo.
Nesse livro, as personagens são completamente ruins. Sério. São superficiais, sem identidade própria. Não me identifico com ninguém, não me apaixonei por ninguém. O Amon, que é PROTAGONISTA, me pareceu distante o livro todo, em toda a série, na verdade. Talvez dos 3 irmãos, o Ahmose foi o que ficou melhor caracterizado. E mesmo assim, não ficou bom. Ele não chega nem aos pés do Ren ou do Kishan. Nesse ponto, é decepção demais.
Porém, a trama, a história, os fatos e acontecimentos, foram muito legais. Fiquei bem envolvida, querendo saber o que ia acontecer.
No geral, não recomendo. Acho que tem livros melhores ("A Maldição do Tigre" incluindo) pra se ler.
Comparando com "A Maldição do Tigre", aí que a coisa fica feia pra esse, que é uma imitação piorada do primeiro. A mitologia egípcia, por mais legal que seja, já tá muito batida, a indiana não. Nesse ponto o "Tigre" é muito mais original. As personagens do "Tigre" são melhores, mais completos, mais tudo.
Nesse livro, as personagens são completamente ruins. Sério. São superficiais, sem identidade própria. Não me identifico com ninguém, não me apaixonei por ninguém. O Amon, que é PROTAGONISTA, me pareceu distante o livro todo, em toda a série, na verdade. Talvez dos 3 irmãos, o Ahmose foi o que ficou melhor caracterizado. E mesmo assim, não ficou bom. Ele não chega nem aos pés do Ren ou do Kishan. Nesse ponto, é decepção demais.
Porém, a trama, a história, os fatos e acontecimentos, foram muito legais. Fiquei bem envolvida, querendo saber o que ia acontecer.
No geral, não recomendo. Acho que tem livros melhores ("A Maldição do Tigre" incluindo) pra se ler.
March 2, 2018
Did I enjoy the series? For sure. However, there were a lot of things that irked me. All throughout, it annoyed me that her parents are not really mentioned at all as if a teenage girls could disappear for weeks on end without a phone call or police searches. Now, I know the whole series is all make believe but completely ignoring it was a bit distracting to me. The love triangle (if I could call it that) was really odd for me too. The ending, although not terrible, was so odd. How did this girl go back to NY socialite life with a random Egyptian boyfriend who goes around making feasts for mummies??? Or do her parents let her live out the rest of her life in Iowa on a farm without any involvement from her parents? Anyways, I enjoyed the series but it was a bit of an odd series.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 17, 2017
I really enjoy the imagination of Houck. She weaves wonderful tales full of descriptive worlds and characters that are so fun to me. The ending was nicely wrapped up, and I felt resolved to let this series be done. Can't wait for her to do another one though. The only negative I would say is that I found myself a little lost near the end when she was tying up everything...and I'm not sure if that's because it had been too long since I'd read the previous book or because I was distracted with children needing things (like food, help with homework...such demanding little people :) But, regardless, I really enjoyed the book. At some point, I'd love to go back and re-read the series through from beginning to end.
May 16, 2022
1 tom - 2/5
2 tom - 4/5
3 tom - 2,75/5
Całość - 2,5/5
Absolutnie nie warto poświęcać czasu na tę serię. Więcej frustracji z absurdalnych sytuacji niż przyjemności z czytania. Mimo, że pierwszy tom oceniłam najniżej, to dostarczył mi lepszej zabawy, niż pozostałe tomy, podczas których okropnie się męczyłam. Drugi tom wydaje mi się najlepszy pod względem fabuły i akcji. Romans nie jest JESZCZE aż tak dokuczliwy jak w 3 tomie, w którym mamy do czynienia z SIEDMIOKĄTEM. Nigdy nie czytałam książki z tak fatalnym wątkiem romantycznym. Poziom mojego zażenowania był ogromny. Co do fabuły, akcji było tyle, że w pewnym momencie nie nadążałam. Co 5 stron zmiana miejsca i kolejne beznadziejne rozwiązania fabularne. Klimat Egiptu z 1 i 2 części gdzieś przepadł. Ale główna bohaterka wciąż jest "idealna i niezwyciężona".
2 tom - 4/5
3 tom - 2,75/5
Całość - 2,5/5
Absolutnie nie warto poświęcać czasu na tę serię. Więcej frustracji z absurdalnych sytuacji niż przyjemności z czytania. Mimo, że pierwszy tom oceniłam najniżej, to dostarczył mi lepszej zabawy, niż pozostałe tomy, podczas których okropnie się męczyłam. Drugi tom wydaje mi się najlepszy pod względem fabuły i akcji. Romans nie jest JESZCZE aż tak dokuczliwy jak w 3 tomie, w którym mamy do czynienia z SIEDMIOKĄTEM. Nigdy nie czytałam książki z tak fatalnym wątkiem romantycznym. Poziom mojego zażenowania był ogromny. Co do fabuły, akcji było tyle, że w pewnym momencie nie nadążałam. Co 5 stron zmiana miejsca i kolejne beznadziejne rozwiązania fabularne. Klimat Egiptu z 1 i 2 części gdzieś przepadł. Ale główna bohaterka wciąż jest "idealna i niezwyciężona".
March 7, 2021
I think I lost some interest in this series because of how much time passed since I read book 2. I still enjoy all the adventure and mythology but the love-octagon was just way too crazy for me. 😅 And of course it worked out for everyone in the end.
I’ll just say that Colleen’s Tigers Curse series was one of my favourites, and I LOVED the angst of that love- triangle. Now I just have to read The Lantern's Ember.
I’ll just say that Colleen’s Tigers Curse series was one of my favourites, and I LOVED the angst of that love- triangle. Now I just have to read The Lantern's Ember.
April 22, 2020
So many emotions 😭😭😭 it was a truly happy ending. Far from the ending I thought I wanted. But the ending was perfect. A great end to a great series. And I love the research done with all the Egyptian gods and goddesses! Well done
Read
January 21, 2021I is finished. I will say I enjoyed this one more than the second one. The ending made me cry. Overall a decent trilogy. Long enough to like the characters. I mean the whole Wasret thing was a lil weird but....got over it. Love the brothers.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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