Title: Charmfall
Author: Chloe Neill
Series: Dark Elite, #3
My rating: 3 of 5
(Book read on July 5th, 2013.)
Summary:
High school can be a battlefield, but for Lily Parker, surviving at St. Sophia’s School for Girls is a matter of life and death...
Protecting Chicago from the dark side can be an exhausting job, especially when you’re a junior. So when the girls of St. Sophia’s start gearing up for Sneak, their fall formal, Lily decides to join in on some good, old-fashioned party prep - even if it means not giving demons, vampires and the twisted magic users known as Reapers her undivided attention.
But when a Reaper infiltrates the school, Lily doesn’t forget what she’s sworn to protect. She reaches deep into herself to draw out her magic - and finds that it’s gone. And it turns out she’s not alone. A magical blackout has slammed through paranormal Chicago, and no one knows what - or who - caused it. But Lily knows getting back her magic is worth the risk of going behind enemy lines...
My Thoughts on the Book:
Ok, so I first read Firespell (the 1st book in the Dark Elite series) over 3 years ago, and I enjoyed it a lot, but I never got around to reading the rest. I was actually waiting for the last to come out, which it did last year, but I kept postponing reading it. Anyway, of course, I had to re-read Firespell before I read Hexbound & Charmfall, and I did, and I enjoyed it a lot once again, and I liked a lot Hexbound, too, and I liked Charmfall, but to be honest - these could've all been one book.After reading Hexbound, I realised that I shouldn't expect to get (and learn) a lot more about the world. Sure, it had potential, I was intrigued, and what I've learned about it in the series I liked a lot, but you can get only so much of world-building and the overall story arc in less than 250 pages in a book. Sure, each of the books had a beginning, a main story that kept the characters going & a fitting ending, but it was lacking in the overall story arc & world-building aspect. So, instead leaving me feeling like I've read 3 books, I feel like I've read only one, like I've read the 1st book in the series, and there should be more to come.I guess, this will end up not quite a review, but me complaining. I just feel a little but sad about it, because the story has potential, but I think it should've been executed in a different way. And there aren't even more books planned in the series, this is the last one, and I can actually understand why not. To be honest, even if there were, I probably wouldn't have read them. So, yeah, this makes me sad.Now, for the story in Charmfall, once again it was fun. We got the mystery - suddenly almost everyone with powers (both adepts & the Dark Elite) have lost their powers, and Lily, Scout & "the gang" are trying to find out who's responsible.So, we meet some old characters, we meet a few new characters, we get to learn a little bit more about the supernatural society, and of course there's the humour & the fun interactions between the characters. All the characters are likable and fun.So, we got some action, some mystery, some romance, some investigating, lots of running around, and overall - Charmfall was a nice read. Even with all my thoughts on the trilogy, I'm not sorry I got & read these books, but I just wish they were treated differently before they were published.Also, I really enjoyed Chloe Neill's writing style, it's fun, so I'm looking forward to finally trying her Chicagoland Vampires series soon!
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