I am almost finished (just one book away) several series on my bookshelves, so I’ve decided to knuckle down and actually finish them!

The Ether (The Dragons Descent) by Laurice E. Molinari

3 stars

By far the most mixed in terms of religious ideas and mythology. (For example, most Christian’s I know don’t hold a specifically listed place in Sri Lanka as “sacred” but all Christians were lumped together with a small minority that does think that, and we had lots of mythology creatures mentioned throughout that confuses with Scripture).
It was consistent with the characters and tone and wrapped things up pretty well. Though the final “big bad” confrontation felt a little thin and too rushed for me.
All in all, it was a pretty good finale to the story and I was invested to the point of finishing it in a day.

Divergent (Four) by Veronica Roth

3 stars

I don’t know that this was needed, but I did enjoy the first 2/3rsds.
Once we stopped Fours backstory into Dauntless and moves into some of his POV in Divergent, I didn’t care as much.
His actual backstory was interesting, but I felt the whole novella was pretty meh.

Defier (The Conqueror) by Mandy Fender

2.75 stars
Honestly, this was the best written book from the series. It still had a lot of editing problems, and character development seemed a little out of place. I never understood how Lennox managed to get to the place we see her in for this book. The plot was quite scattered, and it wasn’t really an understandable flow to it.
After reading all three, I actually think that if this series had been rolled into one standalone book, it would’ve been way better. She would’ve had more time to edit, vet, and really look at plot and structure a lot easier if it had just been one book. Having said that, as I’ve said in other reviews for the books previous, there was a lot of potential for this. It was just disappointing not to see it live up to its potential.
The ending was quite odd. This is not biblically based in terms of events listed in revelation. However, there is a lot of Christian phrases, words, and ideas, that don’t seem to fit into the story. If Mandy had used revelation quotes, or things that were actually prophesied about happening at the end of the world, rather than throwing random stuff at the wall, it would’ve been better. If she had also just not made it an end of world Revelation type story, this would’ve made a lot more sense as well. It felt a lot like she just needed to pick a lane, and either have something that was very well entrenched in Revelation, or not at all.
The final “big bad” confrontation scene was lacking. Everything was rushed, none of the characters made sense, and we didn’t get enough time with any of them to really feel anything for them outside of surface level.
As I mentioned earlier, this was the best written out of the three books. I think this was the actual story that Mandy wanted to tell, at least that’s how it read. The first two books were just a lot of set up for this essential story. Which again goes into my point of Just making this book one rather than three small ones. Lots of potential, just didn’t hit the mark.

The Selection (Kiera Cass)

3.5 stars
Nice ending for all the characters. I didn’t see certain. Things coming until book 2, but they did make sense.
I had a good time, and some things that happened – I KNEW IT. I think our main character ended in a good place, and the progression of her love story as well as the plot in general was pretty good.

Well, I am on my way, but there are still more. I am glad that these can officially be checked off my list, and while I really enjoyed some, others I could take or leave.

Have you read any of these series? What did you think of them?

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See You in The Adventures!

Christy Grace