For most of this book I felt like it was unnecessary and the topics could’ve been covered in the other books without having this one in between. By the end of it I had changed my mind a bit. I’m still kinda torn. I guess I’ll be able to better determine how I feel about it after book 6. That’s not to say this book isn’t interesting. It is. And a lot happens especially toward the end!

Amazing like all of them. I need the next one!

ATY Prompt: A book related to “Going for the Gold”

4⭐️

what the fuck just happened

it pains me to not give this a raving review because I'm attached to the characters and typically really enjoy raven's writing BUT

1. this was soooo much filler
2. the memory erasing

I won’t lie, I was kind of disappointed with this book. It took me forever to finish it because I kept taking breaks from it.

Auren’s point of view was just boring up until the last 90%. Honestly the reason I kept putting this book down. We could have skipped the first half of it and not missed out on much plot imo.

Then we have Dommik and Queen Malina. While I wasn’t a fan of their romance arc, their plot line was at least somewhat interesting. I could have done without the single spicy scene in the middle of battle though. I felt like it was thrown in there just for the sake of having spice but like why are they doing this while her city is being slaughtered? “So we can say we lived before we died,” or whatever Dommik says. Ugh I hated that part so much. And I’m over him calling her Queenie. But other than that like I said, their plot line was probably the most interesting for most of the book.

Now for Os, what was even the purpose of having his point of view? It felt like filler and we could have gotten the same information without it.

I was disappointed that Auren and Slade were separated the entire book. There was no real reunion other than their Päyur bond locking into place.

The best part about this book was unhinged Slade. Still by far one of my absolute favorite MMCs. He made this book for me.

I think this book was just drawn out for most of it. Which is a shame because the parts that were good, were really good. I still love this series and I do love how Auren has grown as a character overall. I can’t wait to read the next but boy was this one just not it for me.

I have loved this series so much but I’m a bit mad at this book. It could/SHOULD have been half as long & gotten to the point (which it never actually did). I don’t feel like there was any sort of resolution just more problems compounding.

I actually like the storyline set up with the whole Fae vs. Orea incoming war but my god we really took too long with too little anything to get there.

The only highlights for me were:
• Slade’s revenge tour (I literally wanted to skip all POVs except his)
• Malina coming to terms with her being a wretched person & actually becoming a queen (or person in general) worthy of support

I am really excited to read the final when it comes out because overall I love this series - Auren & Slade, the Wrath, the badass magic - but this book & the first are my official duds of the series.

Gold - 4.5 ⭐️
I love this series so much. For it being my favorite series, it took me a while to commit to reading it. Knowing that the characters would be separated and that so many people were emotional about the ending had me holding off for a while even though I was waiting impatiently to get my hands on it. I also wanted to savor it! Even after starting Gold, it took me a little longer than normal to get invested/hooked. I did get hooked though! Especially in the second half of the book where I felt like a lot more was going on/moving forward. There were a lot of revelations and tidbits of information to bring together mysteries or open plot points. Auren is always growing in the series, and she had a lot of new information to digest. Slade is in his villain era, and I’m here for it! I’m very excited to see what happens and how it wraps up in Goldfinch! Like usual, we have a cliffhanger!

I love this series but this was my least favorite installment. Too long and too many POVs and it was a chore. I hope the series finishes strongly.

Where to begin...

I really have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, I missed AurenSlade something fierce and having them back on a paper brought me entirely too much joy. On the other hand... Gold felt pitifully like a filler book. Maybe it's because I was expecting amazing things from this book- with it supposedly being the last book of the series and then suddenly being just one more book instead - but this felt underwhelming.

I think I'd rather just read an enormous book than just read this and now have to wait 8 more months until I can get my hands on the actual series finale.

Spoiler

I was expecting at the very least an AurenSlade reunion. I knew a lot of the plot wouldn't be solved in this book, but I genuinely didn't to not have them getting back in this book - mainly since the reasons don't really make sense to me. A lot of things were left unresolved, and while I know I will get my answers in Goldfinch, it still feels like something was stolen from me.
Why was Slade suffering so much while Auren barely flinched at their distance?
Did we really need all those Os chapters? Don't get me wrong, I love him and Rissa but his POV barely moved the plot along.
I ended up liking Malina's chapters in this book but at times, her story felt more important than Auren's.
Why was I supposed to care about Auren's new adventure when Orea was being devastated and when I knew little to nothing about these people she suddenly found herself surrounded with? If Raven wanted me to care, I feel like we should've learned more about them in the past.
WHY DIDN'T I GET AURENSLADE REUNION? I'M PISSED OFF

Like I said, I feel very conflicted about Gold. I have a very soft spot for AurenSlade and I missed them so much, but at the same time I feel like more could've happened in this book. That being said, my expectations for Goldfinch remain very high and I can't wait to get my hands on it.