Promised (Birthmarked Trilogy (Hardcover), #3) (Birthmarked Trilogy, #3)

by Caragh M O'Brien

[nannah]

Ugh, this review hurts to write.

I adored Birthmarked and Prized. I loved the world O'Brien set up and the characters she introduced and the stories and romance she spun, but Promised just fell flat for me. It broke my heart. The lovely characterization, especially with Gaia and Leon, just didn't seem fully-fleshed out in this last installment. It seemed like they weren't given the same care as the first two books.

I think what bothers me the most is the plot. Nowadays, it's like every third book is a war or a major conflict that really isn't a plot at all. Things happen, but there's no real drive, it's just subplots going on to stir up drama for the sake of it, to fuel on this war that undoubtedly happens, because like I said, it's the third book. Heaven forbid the third book ends peacefully or in away that doesn't involve massive bloodshed or violence or bombs or guns or . . ., etc. Maybe this is just my opinion, but I'm so sick of it. I thought there was real potential for a beautiful, hopeful ending here, but nope, things just had to get worse, and I never really understood why. Why did things just have to fail? Every idea--BAM. A failure. Everything had to go wrong. I can't really think of an idea Gaia had that actually went right in this book! That's so frustrating for a reader to have to deal with!

I don't know. The love square, what was left of it, was pretty darn unbearable here, especially because I thought it'd been over and done with. It just left a day-old taste in my mouth. I really wanted to love this, and I was disappointed.