Warning, spoilers:
I was really disappointed with this book. 😢
Actually, my disappointment goes back to the way Crown of Cinders ended, because Sain seemed to die so easily and it all felt a little confusing with Joclyn finding out her true identity and that she had to die (what happened after that? Who found her? Did she take months to come back or was it instant? How did that work?) and there was so much chaos going on, and then with the fight with Ilyan and Ovailia, you just assumed both died in the cave.
Then, with no warning whatsoever, the next chapter comes & Joclyn’s on the beach in France, there’s no explanation like ‘x years later’, you’re just thrown into the future unexpectedly, and she discovered that Ilyan is alive. Book ends. Ok, no worries, there’s one book left and that made me excited to read it!
So even though I was frustrated with how the final showdown happened in Crown of Cinders and how the loose ends were kind of sloppily tied up, I was so excited to see that A- Ilyan was indeed still alive and B- to find out what was going to happen after they rescued him because so much had happened in the world with the Vily escaping, and I wanted confirmation that Ovailia and Sain truly were dead, etc. I just needed better clarification and closure to this story spread out in over 8 previous books.
In this book, “Ilyan”, I expected there to be a lot of interaction regarding these characters, at the least letting us know what was going on with Joclyn while Ilyan was imprisoned for 15 years! There’s none til the very very end. By the time I reached half way through the book and realized I was still only on year 8 of Ilyan’s imprisonment, I knew the whole book was going to be about his imprisonment. I was very frustrated.
Not only was it so hard to read because it went through 15 years of torture of this once powerful King, which was heartbreaking and dark to read, but also, the plot dragged on. I found myself skimming through a lot because reading about his torture and as the reader knowing who he is and what he could do, it was beyond frustrating and unenjoyable to read. Like ok, enough already, just move this along.
I wished that the author would’ve first of all, not have dragged out those 15 years- skip over most of it while still giving us the info that he was tortured and what they wanted from him without making us endure the entire book with it.
Secondly, if she would’ve done what she did in all the other books and switched back and forth between Ilyan and Joclyn’s perspectives it would’ve broken up the slow/maddening feeling of Ilyan’s imprisonment and we could’ve seen what Joclyn and Wyn and Ryland were up to all those years and how they were trying to put things back together. What happened with Joclyn appointing Ryland as King, etc. any info on confirming Sain’s and Ovalia’s deaths. I did see at the end of the book that there’s a spin off series that may seem to address this, but it would’ve been appreciated in some aspect within this story.
I feel like if the author would’ve had maybe the first third or even half at most of the book be about Ilyan’s torture and him regaining his memory and powers, speeding us along through those fifteen years, that would’ve been more than sufficient, then have it pick up where the last book left off with Joclyn and Ryland rescuing him. I wanted more reunion scenes with all of the characters, I wanted to see his people apologize for the way they treated hi m and Joclyn with the Sain thing. I wanted their vindication.
Speaking of that, I also didn’t like Ilyan not taking his Kingly role back. I know he probably needed a little time after all of that torture, but HE is the King and Joclyn should be Queen- she’s the freaking Silny, the origin of magic! All of those magical races should be falling over themselves in apology for how they mistreated her and should be honoring and serving her, so I’m not excited about this direction and Joclyn and Ilyan taking a backseat in this world, and not excited about Mira possibly becoming Queen if Ryland stays King and their relationship develops into the direction it seems to be going in.
Also, the biggest thing of all that bugged me was why did Joclyn never have any sight visions of what was happening to Ilyan all of those years?? I guessed that their bond was broken when she “died”, but if he was alive somewhere, you would think she’d have some sort of sight about it? This would’ve been interesting to read what was happening with her all that time, as I mentioned earlier.
Even if she didn’t get all of the intel of where he was in a sight, it would’ve been cool if the narrative perspectives changed from Ilyan to her and showed her getting glimpses of Ilyan alive somewhere being tortured and her trying to find him. And what she and Ry, etc, were doing to put the world back together.
She restored Ilyan’s magic somehow when they touch at the end and their bond is reconnected and they can read each other’s minds, but then that still doesn’t explain why their bond was broken to begin with? If it broke when she died, then wouldn’t they have to be ‘rebonded’ to restore their connection? That didn’t happen, he just touched his scarred hand to her and it restored his magic and their bond. Maybe I just missed out on an explanation, it just seemed confusing. The point was, I feel like she, as the Silny, the origin of magic, should’ve/would’ve known he was alive and would’ve had some kind of sight about it. I don’t like that fifteen years passed and it took mortals and snail mail for the Most Powerful to find her man.
I’m not trying to be too critical, I thoroughly enjoyed this series, these characters, especially the first four books. Rebecca Ethington is an incredible writer and world-builder, I absolutely fell in love with these characters.
But I would say all of the books, especially the later books, need an editing overhaul. A lot of grammatical errors and typos, as well as I think books five and six could be edited into one book. They felt slow, like there was a lot of excess info on minor characters lives so long ago, too much detail that I wasn’t interested in, and the plot felt stunted with a lot of repeats of previous scenes from previous books (sometimes word for word), just from another character’s perspective.
I’m going to read The King of Imdalind series, hopefully I like it and don’t get frustrated with Ryland being King instead of Ilyan. I still highly recommend this series.