Pacing was Off
For me at least, I don't think the third installment lived up to the first two. And that may be because Uriah and Ransom are just too great to follow. And I really want the Prince Charming book. I've been waiting for it since I first discovered Elizabeth Gannon's work.
Overall, I think the biggest struggle was the pacing of the book. While her work tends to contain large chunks of introspective text, I've never had a problem maintaining interest. Normally the banter between the characters keeps things interesting. But that wasn't there for me this time. I feel like the main couple didn't have enough spark to keep me interested the whole way through, and the side couple was...less than desirable for me (explanation later). Things perked up at about 60%, but by 70% I was ready for the book to be finished. I finished it, but more through sheer willpower than a genuine desire to see the story through.
The grammar and spelling has greatly improved, but still needs work. A lot of the difficulty seems to be with homophones, or words that are almost homophones. The most memorable one in this story was "pedals" instead of "petals".
I think the world-building in this one was stronger than it was in the second, and maybe even the first (it's been a while). It was nice to explore more of the Wasteland, and I would like to see even more of the world she's created.
It wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't what I expected from Ms. Gannon.
/spoilers/
I think a lot of it came from the main characters and the main two side characters. I liked Tzadok, it's always interesting to have a lead who is considered dumb. It might have been more interesting if he were actually not terribly bright. But I did like how he and Tandy completely reversed the roles you would've expected of them based on Book 2.
But Ms. Gannon did note that originally she didn't plan for there to be anything between these two, and I can see how that persisted into the novel. The chemistry wasn't the level that I expected it to be, and not what I've seen in her previous works.
What made me want to skip parts was Kobb and his captive (Violet?). She also mentioned at the end that she hadn't planned on either of them playing such big roles. I personally would've appreciated seeing them less. Kobb was interesting on his own, but not when he was with Violet, and Violet wasn't an enjoyable character. She wasn't the /witch/ you liked seeing, she was just violent and foul-tempered. I probably would've liked the book more without her in it, honestly. And as for their relationship, as one of the side characters noted, if you have to explain how it's not creepy, it's creepy.
I did enjoy seeing Uriah's brother the Bear, and his sister Bradley. My fingers are crossed that we'll see them again soon.
I think I just have a preference for anyone associated with Uriah.