The Beauty of Darkness: The Remnant Chronicles, Book Three (The Remnant Chronicles, 3)

Mary E. Pearson's The Beauty of Darkness was one of my most anticipated reads of this year and I can happily say that it does not disappoint! It has everything I loved about the series from the beginning! Romance, action, betrayals, deceptions, action, and a good dose of humor here and there! The Beauty of Darkness was an emotional and gut wrenching read that held me riveted from the very first page to the very last page!We pick up pretty much where we left off and it's no surprise to say that Lia survived her serious injuries though it did take time. So much happens in this one, it's hard to give even the briefest of summaries, without spoilers of course and without rehashing the entire story, but needless to say Lia has a big and epic journey on her hands, if the 679 pages didn't already clue you in!Lia and Rafe are together again and as they head back to Dalbreck, Lia's gift chimes in that all is not well back in her home of Morrighan and she feels the need to return, despite being labeled a traitor and criminal to her kingdom. This causes a lot of arguments with her and Rafe and my heart ached for them, because I could see both their points reasonably, but it seemed neither one could truly do the same. Kaden joins the party as well and that itself brought up new predicaments. Who can we truly trust in this situation? Trouble is brewing and an enemy is rising. Lia will need all the help she can get.Fair warning, the pacing to this one isn't quite as action packed and fast paced as one might like. It's a little slower, but trust me when I say it's still phenomenal all the way through! Each moment will pack an emotional punch of some kind. There were so many powerful gut wrenching moments in this one that I couldn't read fast enough! Too bad life had to get in my way! As it was, I still ate up the pages of this one in three days, not fill days mind you, but there was a good dose of reading in these busy days! I was lost to the world of Mary's Remnant Chronicles and returning to reality at each stopping point was always a bitter disappointment! I had to know what was going to happen here!I started making my own predictions regarding a few things. And I was happy to see that I was right about the important ones! Yay! But of dear god, it took forever for me to be able to breathe properly! The tension of those final reveals was so intense...I was scared for a time, my heart beating rapidly, tears starting in the back of my eyes thinking it might not go the way it NEEDED to...but I stubbornly kept thinking it HAS to end the way I think it should! And really by a certain point of any book, you can nearly tell if the ending will be happy or not. There's only ever been a few series that ended with ripping my heart out of my chest and really at this point I can only think of one that will always haunt me. Where does this one fall? Well...I won't say just because!The romance in this one was once again swoony and heart-melting! I love Lia and Rafe's relationship. I love how they challenge one another and yet, still hold the other in their time of need. That even despite arguments that would force them apart, they still know what's in their hearts is true. But there are many forces working against them, and their fate remains unclear.This is perhaps one of the shortest reviews I've written for a book that I loved and enjoyed so thoroughly, but I really don't want to get into too many details and ruin any surprises for you all! Simplicity at its best. But basically, if you were at all a fan of this series from book 1, you'll be reading this one eventually and you'll discover all the magic and incredibleness of this finale for yourself in your own time! Just be sure you not to wait too long because The Beauty of Darkness is an incredibly epic read that must be devoured at once!Overall Rating 5/5 stars

I won’t be able to go into much detail in this review, as I decided to keep it entirely spoiler-free. That doesn’t leave me much room to describe it, yet I thought it best. That way, people who haven’t started the trilogy can read this review as well -and maybe I can convince them to start it.The Beauty of Darkness is the last book in the Remnant Chronicles, which means it’s time for Lia’s story to come to an end. I was both excited and hesitant to start this book. I was excited because I adored the previous two books. Yet I was hesitant too: what if I wouldn’t like the way it ended?If you don’t know what the trilogy is about, let me tell you about the synopsis of the first book. In The Kiss of Deception, Lia’s story starts. She’s the First Daughter and Princess of Morrighan, who is getting ready for her wedding. Her parents have signed a document stating she will marry the Prince of Dalbreck, a neighboring kingdom. Lia doesn’t want to get married, or to be shipped of to a different country. So she plans her escape: together with her best friend/servant Pauline, she flees the capital and rides to a small town Pauline knew. She wants to live a normal life, and starts working as a serving girl to pay her rent. Yet the kingdoms aren’t so pleased with her decision to flee. So 2 people are sent after her: 1 is the crown prince she was supposed to marry, and the other an assassin sent to kill her. While you’re reading the first book, you have no idea who’s who. You meet 2 guys: Rafe and Kaden. Yet for about 70% of the book, you have no clue which of them is the assassin or the prince.PLOTI was afraid this book would cut corners in the story line. Lia still had such a long way to go, too long it seemed for one book. Yet I feel like Mary E. Pearson did such a good job of incorporating all the plot and character development into one book. I do think this book is longer than the previous ones?If I were to judge/rate based on the story line alone, I would give this book 5 stars. I was captivated the entire time, and couldn’t wait to see all the threads connect and the schemes revealed. A lot of sidelines of the main plot came together here, to tell one story. And I couldn’t be happier about it. I think the ending of the story in itself, was great. It’s still realistic (you know, for a fantasy novel) and satisfying.CHARACTERSI don’t want to say too much about the male main characters, because what I’ll say in the next part about the romance may spoil you. I will say that both went through a lot, and they grew tremendously. One had to learn to deal with his past, and stop letting it rule him. The other had to take on so much responsibility suddenly, and learn to juggle all of it.As for Lia, I couldn’t be more proud. She faced her fears so she could root out the truth. She faced her destiny, even though she may be prophesied to die because of it. She’s a great friend and fierce protector. There was one moment where I felt like she was losing herself to another person, letting him decide far too much for her. Yet she knew where to draw the line, and fought for her opinions and freedom.ROMANCEYet I can’t help but feel disappointed with a part of this book. Which part, you ask? The romance. This trilogy has a love triangle, that’s no secret. It didn’t really bother me all that much. I’m not just disappoint from the standpoint of “oh no, she didn’t pick who I wanted her to pick”. I’m sad because I feel like Mary E. Pearson tried to have a satisfying romantic conclusion for all the main characters, and it just didn’t work for me. You know that Lia will choose one person over the other. That’s always the case. So a new romance was suddenly introduced at like the 70% mark, so the non-chosen-one could have a romantic happy ending too. It just didn’t work. It came out of nowhere, there was no chemistry and above all: it didn’t make any sense to me! That kind of made me take my rating down, because it really affected my reading experience.If you haven’t read this series, I urge you to pick it up. Of course, if you don’t like romance in your (fantasy) novels, this one won’t be for you. Otherwise, it’s a great YA fantasy trilogy! It’s got magic/prophecies, kings and queens, strong women, kingdoms at war, armies marching and an evil lord with his own assassins-crew.

Yes. This is the epic conclusion this series needed, and it is SO GOOD. I cannot get over Mary E Pearson’s amazing storytelling talent. I was all tied up in knots.

The beautiful bittersweet heartbreaking end to a wild and wandering story. Everything I could have asked for and moreread this series!!!!

I'm lost for words! Wow, wow, WOOOOW what an amazing ride this series took me on. And that ending was fantastic, perfect and so unexpected! Absolutely stunning! Highly recommend!

Questa serie è meravigliosa, la trama incalzante, narrativa magistrale: ho sofferto pagina dopo pagina insieme ad i protagonisti, sentendo mie le loro sofferenze. I dialoghi, i legami che si formano tra i personaggi sono veri, credibili e questa è una grande magia e dimostra la bravura della scrittrice. Una grande scoperta.

A gripping story of love and lore. With endless mysteries and unexpected twists. What a story indeed. Loved every word.