I really enjoyed the conclusion to this graphic novel series. I like that Rue accepted her fate and remained human enough to save her friends and the towns people. I am not a huge fan of gothic illustrations, I found the dark colors distracting (but that is just me) and I felt like sometimes the faces were distorted, not sure if that was on purpose. ( )

Graphic novel. The not so exciting conclusion to Holly Black's Good Neighbor series. Having to wait so long between installments makes me not care. ( )

Ugh this series didn't even manage to redeem itself in this final volume... Weeding from my collection immediately! ( )

I hadn't realized this was a trilogy, with Kind being the final volume, until after I'd already finished it. It doesn't feel like the ending of a trilogy, and not because of the open-ended conclusion -- that I liked, the idea of the new faerie island floating away from the human world, with Rue having made her choice/sacrifice. It doesn't feel like the ending of a trilogy because the middle of the story is missing. The first two books felt more like set-up, and this one felt like an extremely rushed attempt to develop and simultaneously finish the story with the barest minimum of detail. In this one slim volume, Rue has to save her jerky cheating boyfriend from magical blood poisoning, figure out what Aubrey's true plan was, locate a bunch of magical knives, figure out what they have to do with Aubrey's plan, mediate a sudden war between humans and faeries, and trick said humans and faeries into fulfilling Aubrey's plan before either of them figure it out. Also, she has to make decisions about herself and her loyalties -- Is she human or faerie? Should she take her mom's side or her dad's? Her boyfriend's or Tam's? -- that lead to what should be emotionally wrenching identity questions but aren't, because there isn't any time for the quiet but poignant character development the story calls for here. This book should have been split into at least two and it would have been much more complex and emotionally resonant. As it is, it's just disappointing, like reading an outline of a great story that was never fully written. Naifeh's art is moody and expressive, maybe a bit too muddy-dark, but overall I still love his style and think it's a good fit for the story. ( )

I enjoyed the whole series. The art was lovely, although it remained hard to tell many of the characters apart. Dark fae, what's not to like? It's angst-y. but is a YA novel, after all. They're very short, so I'd recommend getting them from the library or buying as a set. ( )