Bottomline: A bit heartbroken and devastated with the direction of the books after book 2. Stopped reading because it was making me so unhappy, and left me so unsatisfied that I'm writing the first review in years.
**note--spoilers included**
I really enjoyed books 1 and 2 of the Furyck Saga.
Book 1 was a solid fantasy romance and built a strong foundation for a longer saga and world creation. I could have done with a little more relationship-building between Eadmand and Jael, but the story, dialogue, and individual character descriptions and motivations kept the plot moving. Book 2 took the story to the next level, adding in the complexities of the two-pronged battle at Hest.
At this point, the saga seemed ready to launch into a storyline with complexities reminiscent of Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings, adding new character threads to an existing weave. For me, it lost my interest when it became clear that there was no hope to save Eadmund until the very end of the saga. Although I enjoy stories with depth and characters that endure hardship and eventually triumph, I still need some positive reinforcement along the way. I'm not reading fantasy because my day life is so cheerful, I'm reading it to escape into a fantastical world. I look to the characters struggling with the same things I do--love, relationships, mental health issues--watch them learn through trial and error and ultimately work together to triumph over evil and darkness, not just in their world but within themselves. This saga leaves Jael on her own. She has supporting characters like Edela and Aleksander (sidenote --why do so many characters have names that start with E? Please make it easier on us next time), but Jael does not open herself up to them and ask for support. Even Frodo had Sam.
I also got frustrated of the number of times a character that was struggling with something epically difficult would smile because of something small. The number of times I read about Aleksander smiling as he is dragging Axl in the middle of the wilderness with no hope and constant heartbreak around Jael makes no sense whatsoever. On the trip Jael and Aleksander take to the Hallow Wood, they trade smiles non-stop even though they are both empty and dying inside. Perhaps the author was trying to communicate their strength in finding positivity in the present in small ways, but it came off disjointed and bizarre.
Since I'm unloading, another aspect that bothered me is that in book 3, as we are following multiple storylines, it seems like nothing is happening for the entire book. We get one day at a time while characters are stuck doing the same thing over and over again when the next steps are predictable, but its being drawn out without adding much.
Finally, building to an epic finish where Eadmund battles Jael is a good goal, but there had to be a way to create more moments between Eadmund and Jael in-between. Once his soul was bound to Evaine, his storyline became predictable and repetitive. Little scenes where he would feel slightly conflicted then have sex with Elaine, which is such a messed up form of rape. There is a lot of rape in this saga. Not sure if it was warranted. I would have been much more engrossed if Jael had more time with him and they helped support each other. Instead, he became a depressing repetitive character, and she became an unrelatable rejected wife expected to save the world without any support around her.
I gave up reading when Jael miscarries her child.