Again, I liked it, same as book 1 and 2. I don't have much new to say. Nice fantasy, nice characters. The con aspect well worked out. ( )

Black Heart: Review This was a great book. It was a great conclusion and I loved seeing hot Cassel got himself out of this latest mess. I really loved how the character grew in this series and also how his relationship changed with Lila and his family. This book was fill with characters that feel into the shades of grey and not such black and white. It was interesting to see how Cassel was being pulled in so many different directions and how in the end his ending was basically a shade of grey and I loved that.
 
I liked how Cassel may not have been a good boy but he did try to do what he thoughts was best. I liked how his ending occurred and how it was left open ended in many ways. I wonder if we will every get another book in this world cause I would love to see this world again.
 
I recommend this series to anyone who like mortal instruments but wanted a book with a little bit of hasher feel to it. I focused more on the moral complications of magic and also how Cassel was really caught in the shades of gray in this entire series. 
 
Spolier series review:
http://youtu.be/0WErmrlOdY4
 
 
Non-Spolier series review:
 http://youtu.be/lTYrewWAS6k  ( )

Black Heart: Review This was a great book. It was a great conclusion and I loved seeing hot Cassel got himself out of this latest mess. I really loved how the character grew in this series and also how his relationship changed with Lila and his family. This book was fill with characters that feel into the shades of grey and not such black and white. It was interesting to see how Cassel was being pulled in so many different directions and how in the end his ending was basically a shade of grey and I loved that.
 
I liked how Cassel may not have been a good boy but he did try to do what he thoughts was best. I liked how his ending occurred and how it was left open ended in many ways. I wonder if we will every get another book in this world cause I would love to see this world again.
 
I recommend this series to anyone who like mortal instruments but wanted a book with a little bit of hasher feel to it. I focused more on the moral complications of magic and also how Cassel was really caught in the shades of gray in this entire series. 
 
Spolier series review:
http://youtu.be/0WErmrlOdY4
 
 
Non-Spolier series review:
 http://youtu.be/lTYrewWAS6k  ( )

Everything fell apart in this third one.
There already were signs in the second book that the plot gets more and more contrived but this one caps it all.
Holly Black has this incredible talent to really make me feel the characters' emotions and put myself in their place and become invested in them. She seems to be especially talented with pits of despair that can grip and squeeze your heart.
But the immersion shattered completely for me as the main plot setup is introduced.
This book fails utterly to convince me that of the million options the protagonists have the choices they make in any way have comprehensible motivation behind them.
It seems like common sense flies out of the window in favour of a pre-planned plotline.
The plotline itself might be thought through but how the protagonists get entangled in all of it is beyond unbelievable. Its a mess of endless coincidences©, completely contrived logic and unnecessary secrecy that leads to missunderstandings™. It's just the entire toolbox of cheap and lazy plot setup.
It seems the author is so single-mindedly focused on how the plot should unravel that she completely neglects how to get there.
It's a regrettable weakness I've seen in all her writing so far (not only this series).
I want to rate this 1 star because I feel irrationally betrayed after getting invested so deeply into these amazingly well-crafted characters and their development. I am not going to be a sucker for sunken cost fallacy, tho, so dnf it is. ( )

Two/three things -- I really should have read this book long before now. I've had it forever, but I really do have to a) be in the right mood for reading Holly's books, and b) sort of hold on to the works of certain authors like a dragon hoarding jewels against the day when I won't still have a book of theirs in my hands available to read still.

Sadly, I think I waited a little too long to read this one because I went into with the foggiest "I remember this is about the Mob/FBI with dark magic, and I remember that REALLY HORRIBLE THINGS happened at the ends of last two books......but I know don't remember what exactly those really horrible things were...oops."

Even with that this book was exquisite though. Razor sharp, dark void, interestingly new magic wise and Mob-y. Like I remembered. I, also, forgot how fast these books read. I was just starting it and then a few hours later, it was already half gone, and before I went to bed it was all gone. This was gorgeous, and I loved the world, how complex and unfair it was, all the choices and sides were, and I loved the ending, the very end of this-but beginning of this-we drive off into the future ending Holly is so good at. ( )