Well, I'm really sad to say I found the finale to a series that started so originally and strongly to be quite a disappointment. Yelena herself felt off to me in a way during Fire Study not seen in the first two books and there was just so so much unnecessary goings-on and fights and betrayals and traveling... it got a bit old round about the 250 page mark. I was actively waiting for the end of this drawn-out escapade to mercifully come something interesting to happen and I got more back-and-forth, more Yelena making harebrained decisions (pushing Valek away, her "plans") and less of what I loved so much from the first novel. Where were Ari and Janco? Where was Valek, for the last two books? And while we're on that subjecy, what happened to Valek's personality and fire? He went from being just as much of a main character as Yelena to a backup singer in a chorus of dozens. I missed the rounded characters I met in the first book, Poison Study. Largely gone for much of this third and final novel, I missed the power twin's lively additions and dialogue. The personalities introduced in the later books (Cahil, Goel, Tauno, Star) feel much shallower than their earlier, much more interesting predecessors. But seriously: what the hell happened to the charming, devious, rounded personality that Valek had at the beginning of his relationship with the Soulfinder? Poison Study-era Valek was in command, intelligent and not just used as a blue-eyed deadly deux-ex-machina for all so many of Yelena's mishaps/miscalculations. I missed that first Valek, the one who stood toe-to-toe with Yelena instead of hastening to do her bidding; I think I'll pretend these later novels never happened to my cool-eyed Assassin. Through the last two books in this fantasy series, I've learned I like Yelena much better with a company of characters than on her own - she is much more likeable in a cast. I'm very conflicted over this series. While each novel in this series successively in turn degraded in quality, I still mostly liked what I was reading; I just wanted more depth, more ingenuity like what was shown in the first novel. I've recently read and enjoyed Maria Snyder's latest novel, Touch of Power, but now I find I'm very wary for the following sequels, if they trace the same trajectory as this series. Working on a slightly more detailed review to be posted tomorrow.
