Brilliant

excellent on all levels as per, though it is not yet clear how or if this book relates to the others in the series.

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fantastic

this series is one if my favourite things. I'm so glad there is more the worlds are so alive and real

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Not As Good

2021 52 Book Challenge - 51) Published in 2021

I will start by saying that I absolutely adore this series. Everybody I talk to that likes reading gets a discussion about this series.

I was not a fan of this book. All the rest of the series makes you feel something for the characters, be it Nancy's fears or Jack's determination or Lundy's intelligence, but Regan just feels flat as a character. First of all, you learn that Regan is friends with the queen bee of the school and then Regan is rocked by some news which she immediately confides in her friend. Honestly, I was pretty dumb as a pre-teen, but even I at that age would have known that was a mistake. Then she ends up in the Hooflands where she's told that she has a destiny to fulfill but then... everything just kind of stops? And it becomes this weird slow paced meander through the world and then theres a time skip which kinda ruins the "let's watch Regan grow up and learn acceptance of yourself and each other and that normalcy is a myth" vibe that the beginning of the book had.

The start of the ending kinda took me by surprise because it kinda comes out of nowhere? Obviously the book has to end, but it just felt abrupt and then Regan goes off on her own (maybe I missed that part of the audiobook? I still don't know why she went alone) and on the way to the queen she discovers that the hooflands is actually kind of xenophobic (and I will admit, I did really like the discourse that explained the difference between xenophobia and racism because they are not the same thing) and she has this epiphany that would have been great if it hadn't been obvious basically from the moment Regan met the centaurs.

I also need some understanding about Regan and her parents. She literally has some of the most accepting and loving parents shown in this series and Regan professes to love them very much and she goes to this new world and she's like "I kinda miss them because I love them" and then its five years later and she's like "parents what are parents". I just don't understand.

But also that ending. What. Was. That?!? I get that Regan is probably going to turn up in the next book (which is looking more and more like a Cora book) and Cora's disillusionment will put her in the - want to forget their worlds - sister school where presumably she'll meet Regan and that will explain the ending of this book and the fallout of what happened. After the slow meandering plot of the entire book, I'm not entirely sure why the last part had to be so rushed.

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1 person found this helpful