basically, acftl was a disappointment, i feel like most people feel that way right now 😭

the first 60% of the book was perfect, but something bad happened in that last part idk what stephanie did there 😭 i understand she decided to change the end at the last minute, but honestly i would have waited longer if it meant we got a less rushed and more developed conclusion to the trilogy. (like stephanie baby if u were struggling you should have just pushed it back more, it would have been worth it i swear)

the whole thing about eva’s love being the cure to jacks’s curse was a huge cop out, and the plot surrounding the two trees was just weird and unnecessary. when we all saw that map with the tree of souls i feel like we all had the same idea that the tree would be the explanation for how jacks became a fate in the first place. and yet 🧍🏼‍♀️

the book focused far too much on apollo and his weird, rushed attempt at a corruption arc. the end was super anticlimactic, and after reading the waterstones epilogue, i really hope stephanie isn’t gonna give us an apollo book bc his character is so flat and BOOOOORING!!!!! his chapters added nothing to the story for me, and in fact it made the book feel totally different from the other two. not enough focus was placed on eva and jacks, and instead we had to hear waaaay too much about apollo and his daddy issues and his attempt at being an ass kisser to the valours. the book as a whole just didn’t serve as a conclusion for me and left me with more questions.

also the lack of a big love confession from jacks just had my enjoyment of the book dead in the water by that point 💔 this is a character who has spent many years having his heart broken repeatedly, being unable to feel love or receive love without killing people, and watching the girl he finally fell for die in his arms, and you’re telling me all he had to say was “i love you,”…..like cmon!!! he said more to tella than he did to evangeline and he apparently doesn’t even remember what tella looks like!

plus….what happened to the whole deal about how fates became human once they fell in love? why was this left as a gaping plot hole? i was very frustrated when the “epilogue” (if you wanna call whatever that was an epilogue) called jacks “not-so-human”……so like…..is eva gonna eventually die and jacks just ends up alone again? like where was the closure?

the last 40% was such a clusterfuck and it is really glaringly obvious that stephanie was either rushing to meet the deadline, or more focused on her new project to focus on finishing the finale of ouabh. it’s really sad to see, especially after waiting so long to read it! it’s wild that most of the fan theories i’ve been seeing the past nine months have wound up being more fitting than the actual ending 😭

(also, where the fuck was LUC??)

but yeah, the first 60% was enjoyable enough for me that i ended up giving it 4 stars. if i really let my head rate it i’d probably give it 3 or maybe 2.5 🤔 it really disappointed me.