Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Final Review - I've finished this dastardly disappointing disaster and it shows that it was written in haste over a six week period that the authors describe. This duo is in desperate need of a professional editor post haste. I will leave it at a two because while it suffers hugely, there is a story and world here that was created albeit it suffers due to the authors' ineptitude to polish the plot in favor of supporting characters seeing their time in the sun this go around. To be frank, this was one of the worst written books I have read in a while. While they should be working to tie up loose ends and give everyone their just desserts, they do not accomplish this. Unlike skilled writers of multiple POVs who use their POVs as a vehicle to move the plot, Caroline and Susanne can't seem to get themselves out of the raunch and comedy to utilize their POVs as plot movers. Darcy's foreshadowing for her curse was poorly done because the authors were more focused on giving the readers laughs or sex scenes. Being "tired" or "exhausted" is not effective foreshadowing to the beast that she becomes. If they had her wake up in odd locations or feel Lavinia's calls, then maybe, it would have been more apparent that the curse was working in a different way than the characters believed. They do time jumps without any discretion or description. First we start right after the Christmas battle, then we are thrown into March, miraculously, it becomes the twin's birthday and then autumn? Way to mess with our heads without writing it to reflect as such. It does not take more than a few paragraphs to describe the time gone by by the POV you are writing from the set the current scene. Next - because they are writing so many POVs the story development hurts immensely. These authors love their creation, and it is apparent but with that love comes an unwillingness to let certain scenes or POVs go when they are editing. There is time devoted to characters that have no effect on the plot. They are in the endgame of this series and because they gave time to the supporting characters (that never should have had a POV to begin with) the plotline of the story of the twins faltered. This book should have been tight with development (character and plot) but alas, we are stuck with more raunchy scenes and forced upon comedy then needed that takes away from important story telling. There is also little to no development in our two main baddies (why there are two? Please enlighten me). We learn little of Lavinia other than she is creepy, ok whatever. And Lionel does all he does because he was bullied? Really, that is all you can come up with for him? They do not go into Lavinia's background, why she is owed an Acrux, and her planning (how it would have been nice to see some of that). Lionel is made to look like a fool when we get POVs of him which is not how he is written from the non-POV side. Yes, you can have a villain who has fears and embarrassments but Lionel was hyped over six books for being sadistic, masochistic and down right awful but none of that was seen. It was as if the authors took joy in making him a a farce. Finally, giving us another prophecy as a cliffhanger is a cop out. There was already one prophecy that was being deciphered (and now that I think about, was completely forgotten about in this book and rarely touched upon). If they had taken out all of the fluff and merged the important plot points of Book 8 into this, they could have ended the series in Book 7. But now, the readers will have to wait a year to see the culmination of this series which I do not feel confident will end in any particularly amazing fashion after this snore-fest of a seventh book. As I stated earlier, this should never be compared to the beloved Harry Potter that is a beautiful classic in itself. ******* 1st review - Right now, I am about 40% into this book and it is an absolute snore fest. These authors are in desperate need of a professional editor that can guide them. Right now this feels like they have a lot of scenes that they wrote that they couldn't part with so it made the cut which is making it difficult to get through because they do not have any bearing on the plot. The chapters are too long and filled with fluff that isn't progressing the narrative. There has been little plot development or character development to this point and that is disappointing since this book was so hyped. I've always believed that, as these books were written, adding more points of view was a mistake because now they have more plotlines and characters that need resolution which is distracting from the overall storyline and it is obviously hurting this book as they attempt to give all of these characters attention. It feels like a second rate soap opera at this point. As I read along, I may change my review but right now as I am in the thick of moments that should have been edited out or down, I can't see myself giving this more than a two star, I am just disappointed and discouraged to read further. Edit update 1- Ending my night at 72% and I am just frustrated. Keeping it at a two star still. There is just so much fluff. I'd say about 5 or so chapters are relevant to the storyline while the others have no substance to the plot. It is obvious that this was written in a rush over six weeks. There are holes in the story and still no reason for the Lionel's "orderist" opinion. In his chapters, it feels like the authors are making fun of him instead of writing a true villain. I need intention and malice but I am getting silly side stories or high school bullying. This is not enough motive to bring down a kingdom for me. I am still on the train that there are too many points of view and it is detracting from a proper story. Instead of using these points of view as a vehicle to propel the story, they just give them fluff pieces (cough, Seth and Caleb cough) that do not aid in the overall story telling. Will update once I finish but still, a sorely disappointed reader who really thinks JK Rowling should interfere with comparing this to our beloved Harry Potter, this doesn't even come close to it.