Review: Quintana of Charyn by Melina Marchetta

This is the third and final book of the Lumatere Chronicles and as with the last two books I have mixed feelings about this one. There are a few spoilery bits, if you haven't read the other two books yet, but nothing major.

As with the other books I had problems with the characters all along. Already on page 4 I was super annoyed at Finn. Yes, Isaboe has a strong friendship with Froi, but so do you! So why do you need to get all jealous about it and throw a hissyfit? And Isaboe is just so mean towards Quintana. Why does Quintana have to pay for her fathers sins? I just didn't really understand the characters' reactions a lot of the times and that made it seem like they were just dolls having whatever reaction was required at the time for the sake of the plot.

The plot in this book seemed longwinded, much like the other books. I don't know if any of the storylines could have been cut without messing with the plot, but they all just seemed to progress so slowly. And the ending was really slowgoing too, until it all jumbled together in the last few pages. That felt a bit like comic relief at the end of a very long and slow plot development.

The book had a few moments that I enjoyed, but that was mostly the action packed parts or when characters interacted with each other without throwing a hissyfit for no reason. There was a lot of anger and frustration from all the characters and that got a bit tired in the end. I also quite enjoyed the comic relief bit at the end, because it was kind of funny. But it just seemed a bit out of place in the plot.

I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.