Reading The Immortals series has been a bumpy ride for me, and resulted in my choice to not purchase Dark Flame and just get it from the library even though I already owned the first three books.Ever has a lot on her plate in Dark Flame, mainly because in the last two books she basically messed everything up. Damen is still in need of the antidote, and and Jude is still there, waiting patiently. But now, there's yet another thing to worry about. She's falling for her antagonist, her arch enemy that's destroying everything: Roman.
I'm not really sure how I'm going to do this, since I've never had so many negative things to say about a book I chose for myself to read. Please bear with me.
My schedule has been busy with school and show choir, and other typical things that keep me from reading. These reasons are not the only reasons why it took me so long to read this book. Three words: Lack of entertainment.
I'm giving you a warning: I don't have many positive things to say about this book. This review is extremely bleak and complainative. There will be some positive things written toward the end (but probably not the VERY end).
The other books in this series were quite predicatable with constant reiminders of Twilight in the plot. One good thing Dark Flame has going for itself is that this time it strayed from being predictable in that way. The only time I ever felt similarities between the two book series is when Ever describes Jude in comparison to Damen (it was virtually the same way Bella describes Bella in comparison to Edward, but not as deep).
Ever was a big problem for me. It's never a good thing when the main character (who is also the narrator) is annoying or cannot be taken seriously. She drives me crazy! All she does is mess up and whine about it! Nothing gets accomplished, because of her stubborness, resilience, and lack of common sense. (I can't think of an example without adding a spoiler, so I refuse.) For the first half of the book, I thought I was going to puke out of the corniness and annoyingness of hearing about how incredibly hot Damen is. I'm not sure if I would have finished the book if she didn't stop; it irritated me.
The writing style was... was... very drama queen-ish. I think Alyson Noel tried to be dramatic in a more theatrical way... but it just didn't work. Sentences often had the same patten which had one tiny sentence have a past tense verb, and then the next sentence starts with the same past tense verb. It always went something like this: "I walk. Walk until I've no idea how far I've gone" (page 151.) There's nothing wrong with this. But when you hear this sort of thing fifty times in one novel, it becomes quite annoying. (I know, I use the words 'annoying' and 'irritating' way too much in this review.)
In addition, the seven-paragraphs-in-a-row-that-contain-one-sentence-each-about-the-same-subject-in-order-to-be-melodramatic thing got under my skin after the fifth time. Why not make it one paragraph? And I also had a difficult time feeling Ever's attraction/obsession with Roman. It felt more like she was just saying random statements like 'It's eight in the morning' rather than having an emotional issue until I was three quarters in.
Something sort of positive about meaning:
The best part of this book, however, is the general theme. More people should believe in it, because it holds such truth: Love your enemy, and be positive. We get ourselves nowhere, otherwise. I'm not going to say anymore, because it'll give it away. No matter how good or bad a book can be, I refuse to give spoilers.
Other than this bit -which is very powerful to me - I didn't care much for the general theme. (I've actually found this love theme to be a bit corny.)
Dark Flame is basically the worst of the series, and I'm so thankful I didn't purchase it with my own money. There are two more books left, and I'm honestly not sure if I even want to read them. I don't know if I care enough or not at this point. I give every series a full chance to have at least one good book, but this is too much. I'll probably continue (knowing me). I just hope it won't be a complete waste of my time.
I don't know how this series went so far downhill when Evermore was such a beautiful debut.
At least I can say it holds more meaning than Blue Moon and Shadowland.
1.5/5 stars
Noel, Alyson. Dark Flame
New York: St. Martin's Press
2010
Ever is stupid. LOL
ReplyDelete