Author: Michelle Madow
Publisher: Dreamscape Publishing
Length: 217 pages
Source: Review Copy from Author
Find the Holy Grail. Win the war. Save the world.
A lot has changed for Annika since being kidnapped by vampires to become a blood slave in their hidden kingdom of the Vale. Not only has she learned she’s a Nephilim—a race that’s supposedly extinct—but she’s found herself on a dangerous quest for the Holy Grail. Luckily, she has the vampire Prince Jacen by her side, and the two of them feel ready for anything—especially now that they trust each other more than ever.
But finding the Grail is only the beginning. Because when Annika learns that a demon is leading a pack of wolves to war against the vampires, she must stop him before it’s too late. If she can’t, he’ll open a Gate to Hell… and the world as she knows it will be lost forever.
Get ready for an action-packed, adventure-filled ride in the EPIC conclusion to The Vampire Wish series!
Review:
Characters: Does anyone recognize these characters from when they were first introduced because honestly, I don't. Don't get me wrong, everything that led here has felt more or less in character and the development of each of these characters has felt realistic and deserved, but in truth, these characters have developed more than almost any I've read before. Annika is a prime example of this. She went from being a blood slave, wishing for the strength to protect herself to impersonating a vampire princess to an activated Nephilim to the potential savior of the world. To say she's been on a wild ride is a severe understatement and there's still more development for her in this book. While these characters are recognizable, their motivations and their goals have constantly shifted throughout the series and it's a joy to see how the change and develop over time. My personal favorite character to watch grow has been Camelia, previously a Jafar-type advisor, her humanity has leaked out at moments and I've really grown to root for her success, maybe not with her more duplicitous actions, but I wanted her to find a happiness that didn't conflict with characters I cared more about.
Romance: So, there really isn't much more to say about the romances in this book than I've already said before. I really do enjoy seeing Jacen and Annika work together in this story and their bond is stronger than ever as they race to save the world from near-certain doom. I love how the author never treated their romance like a race to the finish and has really developed and established their bond and chemistry before rushing into anything with them. Next, there's Karina who's soul mate comes back from the dead, the same soul mate she can't remember, and to make things even more complicated, without her memories of Peter she rushes off to tell Noah that she wants to be with him. Okay, here's my biggest problem with this book, and in all honesty, it's a very small problem, but this subplot wasn't touched on all that much. It is resolved by the end of the book, but without any real focus on it, it just sort of fell flat and I kind of lost interest.
World Building: So, wow, does this book go into the world building. It's not nearly as informative as the previous installment but there's a lot going on. Annika's quest for the Holy Grail leads to some very interesting information and everything that's been building since, well to be honest the second installment, but was truly established at the very end of book 3, finally comes to a head and we learn just what that demon has been doing in Marigold and where it came from. It's so weird to connect this book with the first because while this story started off as Aladdin with vampires and other supernatural creatures, it's turned into something else entirely unrecognizable by the time this installment rolls around, and much like the characters, everything feels both very different, but natural as well.
Predictability: Honestly I'm not sure why I'm keeping this in here I mean, there were quite a few twists and turns in the story and there were also a few things I was able to predict, but on the whole I didn't pay that much attention to how predictable or not this story was. I was just so swept away by it that I never had time to theorize and catch on to the foreshadowing, not that really was any. In fact, I've never really noticed this before but Madow's writing doesn't leave time for a lot of foreshadowing, I mean, some things make sense because they fit into a certain formula, but most of the reveals come nearly out of nowhere.
Ending: The final climax happened a lot sooner than I was expecting it to. I mean it's not like it happens in the middle of the story, but there's definitely a lot of time after the final climax to cool down and set up the next adventure. The final climax though was a lot of fun, I mean there's a war going on but the scenes were really nice and fast-paced and there was a lot of good action to soak up. The cooldown period, as I like to call it, really was all about moving forward and setting up the next series in this world, which I don't mind at all because it also helped tie up Annika and Jacen's story as well a few others for now. There is a sort of epilogue to this book that honestly does the most to set up at least one character's role in the next series, and that's all I feel comfortable saying.
Rating:
Is this book perfect, no there are honestly a few flaws with it, but in the end, I'm giving it 5 stars because it's a highly addicting story with fun and exciting characters and even though it's not perfect I enjoyed every minute of this book, well except for some of the Karina/Peter/Noah stuff but again, a very small issue.
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