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Fantasy. Romance. Young Adult Fiction. Young Adult Literature. HTML: Iolanthe and Titus's mission comes to its thrilling end in the third book in the Elemental Trilogy�??perfect for fans of Cinda Williams Chima and Kristin Cashore�??which Publishers Weekly called "a wonderfully satisfying magical saga" in a starred review and Kirkus Reviews said "bids fair to be the next big epic fantasy success." In a pursuit that spans continents, Iolanthe, Titus, and their friends have always managed to remain one step ahead of the forces of Atlantis. But now the Bane, the monstrous tyrant who bestrides the entire mage world, has issued his ultimatum: Titus must hand over Iolanthe, or watch as his entire realm is destroyed in a deadly rampage. Running out of time and options, Iolanthe and Titus decide to act now and deliver a final blow to the Bane that will end his reign of terror for good. But getting to the Bane means accomplishing the impossible: finding a way to infiltrate his crypt in the deepest recesses of the most ferociously guarded fortress in Atlantis. And everything is only made more difficult when new prophecies come to light, foretelling a doomed effort. . . . Iolanthe and Titus will put their love and their lives on the line. But will it be enough… (more)
User reviews
The story starts with Titus and
This book starts right in the middle of a battle in the desert, pretty much where the last book left off. However, it was a bit jarring to be thrown right back into that battle while you were struggling to remember what happened in the last book (for some reason the 2nd book was a bit forgettable for me) and try to remember who was who. I really struggled with the first 20% or so of this book and almost stopped reading it.
However the story does pick up and gets better as Iolanthe and Titus get back on the road and come up with a plan to destroy the Bane. There are a lot of surprises and the 2nd half of the book is very good. I think the main problem with this book is pacing; the beginning and parts of the middle really drag while the end is absolutely crammed full of revelations and action scenes. It makes for an inconsistently paced story that’s a bit hard to read.
The other complaint I have is that despite Titus and Iolanthe’s declared love for each other they still don’t trust each other and work together. They don’t respect each other’s skills but are constantly trying to protect and exclude each other. I have a real problem with this. They do start working together a bit better toward the end of the book; but throughout most of the story they make a lot of the same relationship mistakes over and over again,
Towards the end of the book there are some awesome magical battles which were very fun to read about. Additionally I enjoyed some of the plot twists in the second half. I also enjoyed how everything wrapped up.
Overall this was a decent conclusion to the Elemental Trilogy. I think it could have been a much better book if it had been paced better. I did enjoy how the story was wrapped up so that was nice. I would recommend this whole series to fans of magic heavy fantasy.