3.5

Wow. So, this book was kind of difficult to get through. Up until about three-quarters of the way through, I was afraid I was going to end up hating it. Part of it was some of the negative reviews, but more of it was the fact that everyone was really being annoying.

There was some of this in the second book, too. People were holding unrealistic expectations of other people, people were demanding trust while being mistrustful, etc. And there's a lot more of that in this one, to the point where I pretty much wanted to reach through the book and smack everyone upside their collective and individual heads.

There were also parts, especially closer to the beginning, where the set-up of the story seemed like it was taking forever, and I kept thinking "this is the last book in the trilogy - something big better happen soon." Also, there was a lot of repetition of plot points. When (view spoiler)[Yelena got captured, yet again, I rolled my eyes and was like "seriously? this again?" (hide spoiler)]

Luckily, just when I was getting so frustrated with it I was beginning to lament the whole thing, it started getting better. People stopped being quite so insufferable, Yelena got a grip (though, in fairness, there are still those unrealistic demands on the poor girl), and things moved along.

The ending was not perfect. I felt that the climax was rushed, and there were a few too many convenient happenings and last-minute epiphanies, but, overall, I was content with the ending. Partially because I'm a sucker for HEA endings, and, also, because I liked the little dangled threads which didn't make the story feel incomplete, but which could leave an opening for further entries in the Study series - which I certainly wouldn't mind there being, as long as Snyder can write it without everyone being so bloody annoying for 3/4 of the book.