Review Detail

I finally got around to finishing this series and I read it straight through, for the most part. It did take me quite awhile to get through the whole series though as it wasn't as interesting as I was hoping. I liked that the first and second books dealt with the zombies and I enjoyed visualizing the locales, especially during that era. I do feel like this series could have been condensed into a duology as opposed to a trilogy, because as much as I liked the third book, and I did like it much better than the other two, the series overall dragged so much and included so much frivolous and repetitive stuff. I did like Dennard's writing, the world she created, and the plot wasn't too bad, I just think it didn't have to go on as long as it did.

The characters had their ups and downs as far as likability. Eleanor grew on me. She was very naive and weak in the beginning, kind of narrow-minded and selfish in the second book, but she grew a lot and matured in her way of thinking in the third book and I definitely liked her more in the end. Daniel and Oliver had their moments where they really pissed me off and moments where they tugged at my heart. I didn't really care for the romance because, like the characters themselves, there was just too much back and forth, hot and cold, calm and explosiveness with it all. I didn't like how Daniel and Eleanor could be so affectionate one minute, then condemning each other for their actions and arguing the next. The same thing with Oliver. He really cared for Eleanor and stood by her side through it all, but the way he treated her and spoke to her some of the time really grated on my nerves.

If I had to choose a favorite character, it would have to be Jie. She was very feisty, outgoing, and I liked that she didn't adhere to what was expected of girls like her at that time. She was definitely a fun character.

I was pretty upset about the ending, a particular incident, to be exact. Granted, I understood the logic in it and it fit with a certain character, but still. It was not what I was hoping for. I would say this series was just okay for me overall, with the last book being the better of the three, despite the upsetting ending. I know a lot of other readers loved this series, and it does have a unique feel to it, what with the Egyptian mythology and all.