Actual Rating 3.5 Stars
My Initial Reaction...
Overall, I really enjoyed Ignite Me and I'm mostly happy with how the trilogy wrapped up. I do have a few gripes though...
The Narration...
One of my gripes is most definitely NOT the narration. Kate Simses knocked this series out of the park for me and I would pick up a book she narrated without thinking twice. She mastered the poetics of the writing, while still giving characters unique voices full of personality.
The Characters...
This is my gripe. Who are these people? I just spent 2 books and 2 novellas getting to know Juliette, Adam and Warner and then all of a sudden they emerged in Ignite Me with traits that I didn't see coming at all. It's like they just all jumped this big chasm without warning me and so I fell down it instead of jumping with them.
The most believable and least changed for me was Warner. I've always liked him and knew that there was this side of him that we just hadn't seen. And Warner is probably the reason I liked Ignite Me as much as I did. I seriously enjoyed seeing him get a LOT more vulnerable and really letting everyone see how amazing I already knew he was. We're seeing some emotion and a lot of love from Warner in Ignite Me and it's not just for Juliette.
Juliette has pulled a 180 on us. Shy, insecure, slightly off girl is gone replaced with confident, kick ass chick. In general, I'm okay with this. I like my women strong and confident. But holy cow - am I supposed to believe people change that much overnight? One of the biggest tells was a literary device that completely disappeared in Ignite Me - no more scratching out of thoughts. Juliette, who used to scratch out almost every thought she had is now so confident that not once in the entire book did she scratch out a thought. I wish I could gain that much confidence over night! My deal is the believability factor. Not only did I have trouble believing that she could become so incredibly confident in such a short span, but I really struggled to accept that everyone else would just accept it. I mean this girl was afraid of her own shadow weeks ago and now you expect me to believe everyone's suddenly going to be okay just following her? Because I'm supposed to believe that this 17 year old girl who's been OBLIVIOUS to the world is now the BEST person to run it? Sorry, I would have qualms! Believability aside, at least I DID like this new Juliette. She's pretty kick ass, and confidence is sexy...
Too bad I can't say the same for Adam. I never was a big fan of the guy - he had a serious hero complex and was way to protective. But he wasn't a bad guy, so when did he become a total ass hole? I swear the teenage angst that suddenly appeared in this trilogy all due to his break up with Juliette was almost unbearable. I actually felt like this book could have been more appropriately titled How to Take Your Breakup Like a First Rate Ass. I don't know who this new Adam is, where he came from, or how I'm supposed to believe he had a complete personality transplant...
All that aside - I still loved Kenji. Adam's little brother James and Warner had some seriously great moments. The characters in general weren't bad, just not the same people I met and grew to know.
The Story...
The story for Ignite Me was solid, for the most part. I could have done without the relationship drama and resulting teenage angst. But I really enjoyed the development of powers - across the board, not just Juliette - though her developments most certainly were the most bad ass. Warner's probably should have been, but they didn't get the attention they deserved IMHO.
I did have a couple problems. Again there's that believability factor I already mentioned - especially as it pertains to Castle. I could SORT OF believe that all these kids would follow Juliette, but Castle? What was with him? I was also bothered by references to things like Jet Li and the Power Rangers. It felt really out of place - here you've convinced me that we're living in this to dystopian world so fully separate from our world and then BAM! you throw in references that just don't fit for me.
Concluding Sentiments...
I feel like I spent this review gripping and I feel bad about that because I did really enjoy this book. I couldn't put it down and read it super fast. I just wanted it to be MORE epic. The first two books and two novellas were so good and I just felt like Ignite Me didn't live up to the books that preceded it.