Title: Strange and Ever After (Something Strange and Deadly #3)
by Susan DennardPublishing Info: July 22, 2014 by HarperCollins
Source: Amazon
Genres: Historical Fiction, Paranormal, Steampunk, Young Adult, Zombies
Find it on the web: Buy from Amazon // GoodreadsDate Completed: March 7, 2015
Related Posts: Something Strange and Deadly (Something Strange and Deadly #1), A Dawn Most Wicked (Something Strange and Deadly #0.5), A Darkness Strange and Lovely (Something Strange and Deadly #2), Truthwitch (The Witchlands #1)
In the conclusion to the trilogy that Publishers Weekly called “a roaring—and addictive—gothic world,” Eleanor Fitt must control her growing power, face her feelings for Daniel, and confront the evil necromancer Marcus...all before it’s too late.
He took her brother, he took her mother, and now, Marcus has taken her good friend Jie. With more determination than ever to bring this sinister man to justice, Eleanor heads to the hot desert streets of nineteenth-century Egypt in hopes of ending this nightmare. But in addition to her increasingly tense relationships with Daniel, Joseph, and her demon, Oliver, Eleanor must also deal with her former friend, Allison, who has curiously entangled herself in Eleanor’s mission.
With the rising dead chomping at her every move and Jie’s life hanging in the balance, Eleanor is convinced that her black magic will see her through to the bitter end. But there will be a price. Though she and the Spirit Hunters have weathered every battle thus far, there will be consequences to suffer this time—the effects of which will be irreversible. And when it’s over, only some will be able to live a strange and ever after.
Susan Dennard will leave readers breathless and forever changed in the concluding pages of this riveting ride.
I started this book because I just needed a series to fall back into when nothing else was grabbing me at the moment. After scanning my shelves, I thought it was finally time to finish the Something Strange and Deadly trilogy! The funny (or not-so-funny) thing is, after picking a book I was sure would grab me, I had nothing but struggles trying to get into STRANGE AND EVER AFTER.
I’ve been a fan of the trilogy from the start. SOMETHING STRANGE AND DEADLY was just a lot of fun and Susan Dennard is an absolutely sweetheart! I actually even enjoyed the second book, A DARKNESS STRANGE AND LOVELY, even more so my plans to finally hop into book three and wrap up the series had me really excited and feeling all kinds of warm fuzzies. It started off well and I was definitely interested in where we had left off (plus Oliver <333) but for whatever reason, I just could not get into the book. My interest started REALLY waning after the first few chapters and I just found myself struggling to focus.
Falling out of love with a series is hard, and I think that’s what happened here. The book wasn’t “bad” by any means but my interest in the series overall just seemed to… drift. It also makes my review that much harder to write because how can I feel SO differently now than I did when I first started the series? It seems unfair to say “it’s me, not you” with a series that I’ve already invested time in and spent time sharing… but either way, that seems to be the case here.
I did still like the magic aspect of the book but I felt like in STRANGE AND EVER AFTER, I just wasn’t AS interested. Did I not get enough answers? Enough explanation? Was I so unfocused that I totally missed those fine details on how the magic system worked? Whatever the true answer is (maybe yes to all of the above), it just didn’t seem as concrete as I had hoped. Oliver (the demon!) was one of my favorite characters from book two and honestly, if he wasn’t in this book, I would have had a very hard time continuing at all. I did struggle with the characters a bit in each book, but I still had that love there for the plot. Struggling with the pacing and seemingly similar battles versus the undead several times over just really made me feel like I was reading what I already read in the previous books and I didn’t quite feel that growth from the characters in this book like I had hoped either. There was character growth, but maybe not as much or not in the way that I was hoping. The worst part of it all is that I honestly cannot place my finger on why I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I thought I would except for the fact that… falling out of love with series happens.
There were still some things I enjoyed about STRANGE AND EVER AFTER but I just was not feeling it this time around. I wished we had gotten to see more of Egypt (and I was secretly hoping for more Egyptian mythology tie-ins). I wish I had seen even MORE from Eleanor. I wish someone hadn’t spoiled the ending for me on Twitter… But such is life and I can’t have all of the happy endings to series that I want! Sometimes these things just happen and really, I should have known this was a possibility. More than anything, I’m just really sad because Susan Dennard is SO amazing that by not liking this book, I almost feel like I’m letting her down. It’s a tricky thing when you start to interact with authors! I think I had many more personal feelings attached this time around so I really felt bad as I was reading.
“The View from Goodreads” is a featured section in my reviews that I decided to incorporate! I tend to update my Goodreads status a LOT when I read — reactions, feelings, notes — so I thought it would be fun to share the sort of “reading process”! All status updates are spoiler-free (no specific plot points will be revealed) but will contain reactions to certain pages and/or characters!
Eleanor // Character Obsessions: Magic, Daniel, defeating Marcus.
I was just so back and forth with Eleanor. I did feel like she had done a lot of growing and I actually REALLY liked that she struggled with her temptations to use her magic… But overall she has always just fallen a LITTLE flat for me and I don’t know why. Everyone else really seems to love her as a kickass heroine but for some reason I just kept TRYING to connect and couldn’t.
Oliver // Character Obsessions: Eleanor, freedom, justice, friendship.
I really loved Oliver the whole time. I think it was his snark that really drew me in! Plus, demon. He really felt like the most well-rounded character in terms of personality and he was the only character that really ever fully came to life for me. I loved his addition and what he brought to the series.
Kept Me Hooked On: Zombies. I keep saying this but it’s true. I usually don’t have the desire to read zombie books but this was such a fun idea and I liked how everything really played out with WHY the undead were plaguing the nation.
Left Me Wanting More: Connection. I wished and I tried but ultimately I just didn’t really make that connection in this series. It was working for a while and I was caught up in the plot but I felt the same things happening in book three and the plot felt tired and similar to the second book. With that, my connection to the characters waned even more and I just had a really hard time.
Addiction Rating
Try it
Well you’ve made it this far into the series so if you haven’t read book three yet, it’s worth it to finish! If you haven’t read the series yet, well… I’m not sure! How do I recommend something that I didn’t fall in love with at the very end? I think it’s a fun series and maybe something I should have read much closer together. It’s possibly the time between book two and three killed me and maybe I should have read the more back-to-back.
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(Click the cover to see my review!)
1 thought on “Strange and Ever After (Something Strange and Deadly #3) – Susan Dennard”
You know, I was just thinking today about how I was really glad that I waited to marathon this series until all the books were out. I don’t think I would have finished it if I had to wait a year or even a few months for this book. I just didn’t love the first few books that much. Falling out of love with a series is definitely hard. This one was my favorite in the series but that was probably because I was able to follow the slow progression of the larger story. But I do agree that more Egypt would have been nice. Great review!