I was so interested to know what happened next in this series that I actually bought this book, making this the first book in ~5 years I've bought for myself. The world Smith has created is so interesting, and the plots so engaging, that it overcame my usual miserly habits.

It was a little bit of a let down, to be honest. Wren is as kind-hearted, friendly and playful as ever; but therein lies my problem. She and her friends are up against a sorcerer who, for the last three books, has killed countless people, started several wars, and tortures pretty much everyone he gets his hands on. In response, Wren sneaks into his fortress and lays traps for him--but not, say, anything that will actually bind or kill him. She literally short-sheets his bed. Which, fine, whatever, she's a tween at that point--but in this book, when Andreus is yet again torturing people and starting wars, she never regrets her merciful stance. She never wishes for a do-over. That said, when she does go up against him in this book, she does intend to kill him at the expense of her own life, but only because it's literally that or see her father, and all the other mages, die. And what's frustrating is that her plan doesn't kill him, just wounds him, and there is no talk at all about what's to be done with them, save for one of the mages saying "We shall do our best to heal him." NO. Heal him, sure, but after FOUR books of villainy, I want to know that Andreus is going to be punished in SOME way.

And y'know what else was infuriating? Both Andreus and Hawk are like, oh I had a bad childhood, I get to start wars and kidnap people and shit. And the other characters are like, I understand, that must have been very hard for you. Again, NO. I like that Smith wanted to show both sides of the conflict, but it's done in a really heavy-handed way. I'm really tired of bad childhoods being given as an excuse for why someone's a bully or a murderer.

I do like that all of the main characters are, at heart, pacifists. Each of them would rather talk than fight, and several explicitly say that they will not kill another. It's rare that YA fantasy is so patently moral, instead of taking the easy way out. But even as someone who opposes the death penalty, I had a hard time with the "good guys" choices here, because no one argued with them. If even one person had presented the option of just killing Andreus for his crimes, I would have felt better about the book.


My other concern was the romantic subplots.
review tbc ( )

I was excited to see this book as the Wren books were some of my favorites as an adolescent. I gave it four stars, mostly for nostalgia purposes.

I enjoyed watching these characters continue to develop and grow, but somehow it just fell a bit short. I think my main problem was that there was a definite build in the other books towards the war, and also the revelation of some mysteries about the main characters. This book was missing the tension of the war, despite the reappearance of the villain. I also felt like the information about Connor's and Wren's families was a bit of a let down.

All in all, a fun read. It just wasn't quite as good as the others. But I was glad to see the characters again and to know where they all ended up. ( )

I've been a fan of Smith's writing for a long time, so I came in with a bias in favor of this book, but I still think it's a great read. This isn't something that's trying to break new ground, but it tells a fun story, tells it well, and has witty writing. Definitely worth it. ( )

A rather humdrum YA fantasy adventure. I read it a while ago and can't even remember enough about it to write a more descriptive review. ( )

Another good book in the Wren series after a long wait. I liked it but, not as much as the original set. It just felt a bit rushed at the end. ( )