Monday, October 15, 2012

Ascend - Review

Ascend (Trylle Trilogy, # 3)

By: Amanda Hocking

Published: April 24th 2012 by St. Martin's Griffin (first published January 1st 2011)

326 pages

Source: Borrowed my friend Paula's Kindle

( Goodreads | Amazon )



Goodreads--Wendy Everly is facing an impossible choice. The only way to save the Trylle from their deadliest enemy is by sacrificing herself. If she doesn’t surrender to the Vittra, her people will be thrust into a brutal war against an unbeatable foe. But how can Wendy leave all her friends behind…even if it’s the only way to save them?

The stakes have never been higher, because her kingdom isn’t the only thing she stands to lose. After falling for both Finn and Loki, she’s about to make the ultimate choice…who to love forever. One guy has finally proven to be the love of her life—and now all their lives might be coming to an end.

Everything has been leading to this moment. The future of her entire world rests in her hands—if she’s ready to fight for it.

Ascend was probably my favorite of the Trylle Trilogy. I did struggle some more with Wendy. I felt consistently throughout the three books that she was overly self-sacrificing…not in a good way. It became immensely frustrating whenever any situation would come up and her immediately resolution would be to throw herself to the wolves or fall on her own sword or something of that nature.

Despite this constant character trait of Wendy’s, I did feel like Ascend out of all three books had the most character growth in it, which is something that I really look for in a good book. We finally get to see some emotion from Elora. Wendy did make some choices in this book that I agreed with and that I don’t think are typical of the YA world. So kudos to Amanda Hocking for that. I thought Tove’s decision was a bit of a cop-out, making things a bit too convenient. And I felt like the relationship development between Wendy and Loki began to develop a little late in the story. I definitely liked the way everything turned out between the Wendy, Tove, Loki, Finn square (what’s up with Amanda Hocking’s love-squares?)…but I won’t tell you how it ends.

I also found Rhys to be missing from too much of this book. I realize being a manks and all he’s not going to be allowed to the main meetings and such, but with as much as Matt wormed his way into the story, surely there was room for Rhys too.

Overall, I was really pleased with this series. I did have my frustrations with it, but they weren’t the kind that ruin a story for me. Having said that, I realize this is a short review, but I’m giving Ascend a 4 stars if nothing else for the character growth and the decision that Wendy made that I find to be atypical of the YA genre.

Have you read Ascend? What did you think? Let me know!

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