Evermore Academy

What a journey this book, and series, takes you down! Full of twists and turns at seemingly every single chapter, the book doesn't disappoint with its suspense and intrigue. Even chapters that start off seemingly innocuous often end with yet another plot twist in the tale of Summer Solstice, which kept me, as the reader, invested and in an eternal loop of those "just-one-more-chapter" vibes in those early morning hours.

What an emotional journey you get to experience too (There are likely spoilers beyond this point):

I laughed: C'mon, Ruby has to be one of the most hilarious supporting characters ever. Her quips are great and, even if her actions sometimes caused even more trouble, you can always feel her sense of duty and desire to do the right thing even if it didn't always quite work out! I absolutely loved this brave little Sprite!

I cried: There's a lot in the series that tugs at your emotions. From Summer's background, to Vi and Zinnia and their backgrounds and how Summer came to be in their care, to the love between Summer and Valerian and how, over the series, Valerian came to truly understand and express human love when at one point it seemed beyond his comprehension as a Fae. There's just so much emotional energy to unpack in the best way possible. The author does a great job of really making you relate to and feel each of the characters' emotional struggles. I was a mess by the end of the book and surrounded in tissues.

And I felt everything in between. From the pain of the two lovers being forced apart, to the concern each had for the other in their darkest moments when faced with losing the other and the eventual release they had when finally consummating the bond. This book, on an emotional level, truly had it all for me.

So, with the clear understanding that I rate this book and series with nothing less than 5/5 stars and consider it a must-read for anyone who considers themselves a connoisseur of the fantasy genre, there were still some minor things I felt could have been done a little better:

Firstly, I think ending the book as a trilogy in terms of the main story was probably the right decision. There was only so much you can drag out the will-they, won't-they aspect of the Summer and Valerian relationship and the entire premise of the series essentially hinges on them being forced apart. It was showing signs of getting a little too drawn out by the end of this book and any further would have been too long.

With that said, I'm unsure enough time was dedicated to the ending of the series. I hate to agree with others that it felt a little rushed, but that's the only conclusion I'm able to draw based on the fact that the "reveal" chapters of how everything was wrapped up essentially came within the last 5% of the book. I'm not really sure I truly bought into the redemption of both Inara and Hellebore by the end. Of both, Inara's was slightly more believable considering what she'd been through leading to her ostracization and having to fight alongside Summer during the portal incident, but even then most Fae were portrayed of being largely incapable of such a turn-around. I get that Hellebore felt fury toward Rhaegar after learning about what had happened to his own, seemingly genuine, love interest with his shadow and gratitude to Summer's aunt for saving his sister, but I'm not sure his actions as a result of that made all that much sense in the grand scheme of things and only really served as a means to provide an "out" for a really tricky situation that Summer, Valerian and friends found themselves in at the end. Up to that very point, his character was portrayed as steadfastly Teflon to feeling any form of compassion and almost entirely devoid of a moral compass, which made the turn-around all the more confusing for me.

I also have sooo many questions about the fates of our supporting cast. We never got to see Mack and "Dragon Boy" hooking up. We didn't really get too many details on Eclipsa and her unfinished business with Hellebore. We didn't really learn much about how Valerian won his court back, if at all. His mercy plea at Summer's Nocturus would surely make him an outcast even more so in the eyes of most Fae, even those within his court. And we never really learned all that much more about the Summer King. I live in hope that some of these topics can be explored in future spin-off books, as I'd love to get some proper closure on some of these things and re-visit this cast of characters whom I grew so fond of over the course of this series.