Review: Kinda done with this I think
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 30, 2014
So this installment has the party still separated that makes what 3 books now that this arc has gone on. We do get some stuff on the new baddies and some of the overshadowing that has been going on which is nice. We get more wonderful words almost poetic in its style and the story twists and turns but finally leaves with a cliff hanger.Good1: This author has  way with words that is just beautiful almost poetic in nature just so evocative and powerful that really is the heart of the series is his writing style. I have never come across such wonderful word play really it is a treat.2: You get Ronan's point of view which is nice as you have not really gotten a lot of information on him so this is a treat his back story is a ton of fun and really fleshes out the character.3: The furthering of Danika is both fun and interesting and she has really been developed from when we first got to see here. This is done well and you get to see her finally get beyond some of her issues to reach more of personality instead of cut out of a character.4: The side charcters are done well and they react how you would think they would the consistency is nice to see you don't have anyone acting out of character sometimes it takes them awhile to decide what to do but you can see the conflict of the characters.Bad1: Cross the main character has well lets just say as he has been developed as a character he has lost more and more of what made him fun to read. He was a Warlock now not. He was a tough guy now not so much. I found myself struggling to get through his chapters just because they where boring. Bad things happen to him. People beat him up. He has no magic. But the sword will save him. Just blah really. I like the character but really when you read them all together you see Cross as a much cooler character in the first novel. Now he is just the man with no power who carries a weird sword he has no control over. Danika has awesome warlock powers and a freaky new arm. Ronan has his super snazzy killer skills. Cross has well a sword.2: The sword. Sigh. This plot device because it cannot be anything else is one of the bad things that I hate. Whenever it gets tough oh just have the sword save the day. It is totally out of the blue you really never have any idea of what its limits are because it makes for easier writing.3: Shiv. Okay interesting idea but again it feels more like she will be the character of the month which much like the others the next book will be focused on her and leaving the older characters in the dust.4: This book and the earlier books have a lot of them getting captured seriously EVERYONE gets captured multiple times in just this book. In the previous books same thing. It is just too much.OverallMaybe it is just that I read them all in a row I don't know but when looked at in that fashion tho the words are wonderful the same plot elements keep coming up. Capture. Torture. Escape. Race to get somewhere. Sword saves day. I might come back to the series but for now given I have waited 3 books for Cross to become more interesting but at the moment he is the token guy with nothing really special about him. And given he is what hooked me that is just sad.