The Last Mortal Bond

"Actual rating is 3.5. I originally gave it a 4, but after letting it sit for a day I think it didn't quite reach my personal standard of that rating. <br/><br/>To begin with, the pacing was all over the place. I couldn't help but check how many pages were left while reading the second half because it didn't feel like the bigger plot would be resolved in time. I'm still not sure that it WAS completely resolved as the ending in my opinion was confusing... How did Kaden and Triste's deaths alleviate the problem at hand? What was the point of them having God's within themselves? What's the deal with Valyn's Daredevil powers and how did it actually add to the story other than just giving him cool fight scenes? What was the point of making Adare have the enemies baby? Wasn't the fact that he killed her dad more than enough reason for tension between them? The more I think about it, the more I dislike these choices in this last installment.<br/><br/>Plus, I liked books 1 and 2, but I'm still confused on how they thought it was a good idea to send the heir to the throne to live in the mountains with monks. He had no battle/war experience, no political strategy, and couldn't even properly feel emotions. That just sounds like a recipe for a bad emperor.<br/><br/>The reason why I've landed on a 3.5 is because I do think Staveley writes good dialogue and prose. I also feel like the relationship, or lack thereof, between the siblings is very believable and well done considering they've been separated for most of their lives. It was a bad decision on their father's part to keep them away from each other, but this conflict is really the driving force of the plot. Without that aspect, I don't think there'd be much here."