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Sep 28, 2021
Well... I was both unimpressed and impressed. At the same time. It's disgusting. I'll stop being dramatic now. The beginning information section was what got me kinda mad. It's literally just a repeat of everything we already know. I enjoyed some parts of it, like the detailed descriptions of some of the places, since some of them aren't as clear in the books. I also LOVED the activities section, especially the recipes and quizzes! They were really fun and I enjoyed the extra perks. The pictures were gorgeous, and there weren't enough of them. That being said, I think the info book would have done MUCH better had it been a bunch more of that, and some actually exclusive info that we haven't learned from the first 8 books, instead of being a repeat load of information about characters and stuff etc etc etc blah blah blah. I got really bored and skimmed most of it. I would have given the information book maybe 3 stars. The novella was great. I thought it was a great improvement from how far the series has fallen. That being said, it still felt like more unnecessary ramp up to a non-existent finale. And let's face it: the ramp up has started to ramp down. There's too much of it. We really need to start getting answers. The first three books of the series were brilliant because stuff actually HAPPENED. After that it was like stuff started repeating itself. I remember during the first three books I was actually getting anxious for the characters towards the finale of the books because I was actually invested. Shannon has lost some of her tension and her foundation as the series has gone on. At first, I knew she had the answers, and she just wasn't sharing them. That was hard to live with, but still awesome because it made me keep reading. However, as time has gone on, she's created such an intense network of secrets that we're either about to be very impressed or realize exactly how far Shannon has fallen since beginning the series. I'm betting on the latter of the two. I'm an author, which means I can spot when the author doesn't know where their story is going. That's what's happened with Messenger. At first she knew what she was aiming at. Now she's lost sight of that and is stalling because she's scrambling to get a hold on where she used to be. Quite frankly, it makes me sad. She's listened to the fans too much instead of just sticking with what needed to happen from the beginning. Anywayyyy back to the review of the novella... It definitely had a lot of deja vu elements. My main issue was the whole Stellarlune debacle. I'm sorry. It's great that you're trying to build suspense, Shannon, but at this point it's blatantly clear that you have absolutely no clue what on earth Stellarlune even is! That being said, I think we're finally starting to get somewhere with the characters. Honestly, instead of growing, the characters have fallen a couple of notches lower than when they started. With the Novella, they're finally back to where they're supposed to be. We're starting to see hints of change in Sophie *breathes sigh of relief* which makes sense considering just how much she's been through... Then there's Ro. I LOVE Ro. And we get to see a whole side of her that she keeps buried and hidden. I absolutely LOVED it. It was really touching. Fitz is finally back to being the proper bro that he was at the beginning the series after his foray into a land with a bunch of random anger issues that made no sense. And Keefe wasn't himself... but let's cut the kid some slack. He's been through WAY too much! That review went WAY longer than I was intending... apologies! I would recommend this book to KOTLC fans, but be warned...it's not everything you're hoping for.