Tori's Review: Bloodrose by Andrea Cremer

Bloodrose by Andrea Cremer
Series: Nightshade #3
Genre: Young Adult, Werewolves, Paranormal
Rating: ★★★★
Pages: 406
Published by Philomel on January 3, 2012
Date Finished: August 10, 2013
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Calla has always welcomed war. But now that the final battle is upon her, there's more at stake than fighting. There's saving Ren, even if it incurs Shay's wrath. There's keeping Ansel safe, even if he's been branded a traitor. There's proving herself as the pack's alpha, facing unnamable horrors, and ridding the world of the Keepers' magic once and for all. And then there's deciding what to do when the war ends. If Calla makes it out alive, that is. In this remarkable final installment of the Nightshade trilogy, international bestselling author Andrea Cremer crafts a dynamic novel with twists and turns that will keep you breathless until its final pages.

Okay the actual review part of this where there aren't any spoilers for book three will be short. The spoiler section will be longer, because I just cannot handle what happened in this book, and I cannot contain myself. So...read on. There are spoilers for book one and two in this review.

First off, I actually quite liked this book. Despite how heartbreaking it was, I liked it a lot. It didn't take me more than two days to read this book, and the only times that I had to stop reading was for sleep and because I couldn't handle what was happening. I had to sit down and think about what happened for a minute to calm myself down.

I have to admit that, yes, this book would've been one star is a certain somebody's fate had been changed. Because of that, I kind of the Cremer. But then again, now that I think about it, that certain somebody's fate was necessary to the plot. I feel like if it hadn't happened, the ending would've been a lot messier. The bad thing that knocked a whole star off is something that I am not okay with, but I'm not pissed about it either. It's more of a let-me-die-in-a-hole-in-my-misery sort of thing.

Second off, there were a few things that really irritated me. The way the Calla kept bringing up the fact that she was betraying her masters. She brought it up at least every five chapters. Even in Wolfsbane she wouldn't shut up about it, but it was more of a problem in this book. It just got really annoying really fast.

The other thing that really agitated me was the way that Cremer kept adding new magical aspects to the novel. Like, I understood the part about the Guardians that were protecting the caves with the pieces of the sword, and those mystical creatures were okay. But when she added in the ending--and I mean the very ending, if you know what I mean (not the epilogue. The second to last chapter. Kill me now, because I was laughing)--was just fluff. To be honest, I didn't really like that part. Especially because the wolves didn't put up that much of a fight. They just accepted it. Maybe I only hated it because it lacked emotion.

Thirdly, I hated how Ren was such a side character in the past two books. Calla was always like: Oh I love Shay, BUT WAIT, what about Ren? Like okay, bitch (hehe. Get it? Bitch?), I understand that you love Shay, but don't you understand that Ren loves you more? It's just she's always with Shay but she's thinking about Ren. She needs to get her priorities straight, man.

The last thing I hated was all the love couples. Like seriously. Not everybody needs a happy ending (except for Fey and Dax. They obviously didn't really get a happy ending). It seemed like Cremer paired everyone up.

I know that it seems like I have too many issues with the book to still give it four stars, but I still stand by my rating. Nightshade was an extremely good series that I don't regret reading at all. Albeit, there were times when I wanted to drown my copy of the book, I still loved it nonetheless.

Toward the middle of the book, Shay grew on me a lot, and now I love him to pieces. But this is what I think about Shay and Ren: Shay is basically the cute little boy that is trying to live up to his sexy big brother and get the girl that the two brothers are in love with. Shay is cute. Ren is sexy. There's nothing else to it. Shay simply does not wield any sexy qualities other than the fact that he is the Scion and he "saved the world".

So right now, I'm here saying that if you have any doubts about reading this book and finishing off the series (like I did) just go read it and get it over with. The pain only lasts for a few hours or so unless you were seriously emotionally attached with that certain somebody who had a horrible fate (like me, except I'm emotionally cold so I find endings to be beautiful). Just saying.

Here are some quotes to ease my feelings. I only wrote down the funny ones.

Mason grinned. "She is woman, hear her roar."

I loved Mason as a character. (Spoiler Alert: He lives.)

"Oh, wait, I forgot my sunscreen," Connor said. "Silas, be a dear and run back to the academy to get some. We'll just wait. Right, guys?"

I was in love with Connor, to be truthful. (Spoiler Alert: He lives.)

You may think you want to spoil the ending for yourself, but you don't. Just read the book, and the emotions will be more real. Just don't spoil it for yourself.

This is my ranting section where I don't sensor my spoilers (and words, not like I ever do).

Okay I am so FUCKING MAD THAT REN DIED. I know that I said that I wasn't mad in the upper section of my review up there, but I am. I'm so mad that Cremer had the heart to kill Ren. But I'm also glad that she did. The fact that Emilie (however the hell you spell that asshole's name. I don't care) was the one that killed him made the event so much more meaningful. Although I admit that I'm fucking pissed at Ren for not listening to Stephen and just not attacking Emilie, but I do understand why he did. He wanted to get back at Emilie for everything that he (Emilie, not Ren) ever did to him (Ren, not Emile).

Still, I could go on and fucking on about how mad I am that Ren died. I knew that he was. I fucking knew it. I just...I'm so sad.

And here's a funny short story: I was ranting to Lindsay about how I didn't want to read this book is Ren died, and she was just like "Oh yeah btw, I Googled it". And I can't believe she let me read this book knowing that my heart would break because Ren died.

Whatever. New topic.

I'm so pissed at the ending too. What kind of crap ending was that? They all turn to their natural state? I mean it makes sense, but when I read it I was just laughing. Like, Cremer obviously just wanted to create problems for our little wolfie friends, right?

Oh yeah and then when Sabine scarified her wolf for Ansel. That was so sweet.

And the epilogue. I didn't get it, but I didn't appreciate Connor's humor after the sad/heartbreaking/maddening ending.

Oh and let me leave this series with some parting words to our protagonist:

Fuck you.