Karissa E. (ophelia99) reviewed on 2/17/2011 + 2527 more book reviews

This was the third, and final, book in the Wondrous Strange series. I am going to be honest and said that this hasn't been my favorite series, I always really think I am going to like the books and then I read them and feel like, eh whatever. I ended up feeling similar with this book. It tied everything up nicely but I had a lot of trouble engaging with the characters and the story and felt strangely ambivalent to it all.

This book picks up where the second one left off. The theater has burned down and Kelley has chased Sonny away by telling him she doesn't love him or want him around. Kelley wants to keep the fact that Sonny is carrying around Green magic a secret, even from him. But someone is taking out the Lost Ones and seems to have it out for the Hunter and Kelley needs to figure out who. She also has to deal with the loss of the theater and the new play the group is trying to put on despite the loss of their venue. Meanwhile Sonny seeks sanctuary with some of the Lost Ones and learns some disturbing secrets.

The book moves at a good clip and has some good twists and turns. Sonny and Kelley are on again, off again as in previous books. All of the different pieces of the story are nicely tied up. So overall the book was technically fine.

I always think I love this series and then when I read the next book in it, I am always a bit disappointed. I don't really like any of the characters, I have trouble finding them engaging or interesting. I always feel like the chemistry between Sonny and Kelley just isn't there. The writing style is a bit too simplistic to me and I never feel like I am really able to picture the surroundings or really feel drawn into the story. The author tries to tie in Kelley's acting with all of her faerie involvement, and she kind of does in the beginning...but then the theater stuff is dropped as the faerie action ramps up.

Overall I think if you liked the previous books in the series then you will really love this book. I wasn't a huge fan of the previous books and this book was similar; it finishes the story well enough but I had some trouble staying engaged in it and really caring about what the characters did. In the future I probably won't pick up any more series by Livingston there is just something about her writing style that doesn't click with me. I have a similar problem with Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely series. I personally would recommend Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey series over this one if you are interested in a YA series featuring faeries.

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