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Honor Lost

(The Honors #3)

Rachel Caine (Goodreads Author),

Ann Aguirre (Goodreads Author)

4.03 · Rating details · 698 ratings · 130 reviews

Space renegade Zara Cole may have finally met her match. Lifekiller—a creature that can devour entire planets—is spreading terror throughout the universe, and it seems nothing can stand in the monstrous godking’s way.

Reeling from a series of battles, Zara and her wounded band of allies are going to need a strategy before they face Lifekiller again. Zara’s street smarts may ...more

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Hardcover, 448 pages

Published February 11th 2020 by Katherine Tegen Books

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Average rating 4.03 ·

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· 698 ratings · 130 reviews

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Feb 13, 2020 Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin rated it it was amazing

Shelves: hardback-own, own, sci-fi

Terrific ending!

Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾

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Apr 20, 2020 Alaina rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, fiction, 2020-ng, fantasy

OMG OMG OMG IT'S HERE AND I HAVE IT. I ALSO LOVED IT!!

Honor Lost was such a fun book! I have loved and devoured each book in this series because they are just so completely and unforgivably good. I love absolutely everything about these characters. It was also interesting to see little loves be together and grow. Ugh, I'm looking at your Bea, Nadim, and Zara.

I ALMOST CRIED HAPPY TEARS GUYS!

Keyword: almost

I'm honestly sad to see this series go. It was so much fun to meet everyone and see these w ...more

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Feb 14, 2020 Jaye Berry rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: ebooks, favorites, ya, 2020, sci-fi, space

Perfection, absolute perfection. When I say this book was exactly what I ever wanted from this series, I'm not kidding. This was seriously everything and I will never get over this.

I've never been blessed this much?? I can't believe I had doubts on where this book would go. I'm not going to get into too many spoils but this is the finale to this massively underrated series. I want to sob thinking about how underrated and unknown these books are because they truly deserve the world.

This is an ama Perfection, absolute perfection. When I say this book was exactly what I ever wanted from this series, I'm not kidding. This was seriously everything and I will never get over this.

I've never been blessed this much?? I can't believe I had doubts on where this book would go. I'm not going to get into too many spoils but this is the finale to this massively underrated series. I want to sob thinking about how underrated and unknown these books are because they truly deserve the world.

This is an amazing space story of so many different aliens, sexuality, romances, and culture. The main romance is seriously a polyamorous girl x ship x girl and the authors do not mess around in showcasing how beautiful and amazing their bond is. Plus they are so SOFT AND PURE together. Seriously there are so many good quotes and cute scenes, I was filling up my phone with screenshots. It is so fucking adorable and I am still so emotional.

I've wanted this relationship even when I was reading book one and I don't know how to thank the authors enough for fully committing to this rare and unique ship. It's like I wanted things to happen one way and the authors reached into my brain and were like, "shit that's good we're doing this for her". They could have chickened out BUT THEY DIDN'T and just ??? Thank you ??? SO MUCH. From the bottom of my heart.

I don't want to be extra but I read this in my february month of romances and honestly this feels like the most romantic book I've read so far this month. uGH CAN I JUST HUG A BOOK AND THE AUTHORS FOR FEEDING ME SO WELL?

Beyond the romance that slaps, I did like their adventures and the final battle was pretty damn epic. This is more of a character based story so the plot was kind of weak, no shade. They have to kill the epic god Lifekiller but they deal with so many other random problems nonstop along the way. It's very fast paced, the characters barely ever get a chance to breathe and I just wanted them to have a NAP. (But that scene where they do get a break before the final battle though, if you know you know😉).

This book is exactly how I like my space books: filled with aliens, adventure, and fighting against a big bad (that happens to be their fault lol) all with a fleshed out team of people. We have character development, we have humor, we have diversity of literally ALL KINDS EVER, we have LGBT+, we have romance, we have space battles, we even have sarcastic robots. If you want it, this book (and series) has it, I swear.

A series finale that leaves me smiling and so happy?? Who is she?? This is going down as one of my favorite series ever, no cap. Please stop sleeping on this beautiful trilogy! ...more

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Feb 14, 2020 Linaria rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: lgbtq, ya, scifi

If you haven't read the first two books of this series, I will warn you that this review will contain spoilers for this book and the previous books. I will say this spoiler-free though: The Honors series is criminally underrated. Also, to the person that commented on my last review: poly girlxshipxgirl confirmed. So love isn't just for humans anymore. <3

My thanks to Ann Aguirre and Rachel Caine for not teasing us, or being vague. While there aren't explicit smutty scenes or anything, it's appare ...more

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Feb 22, 2020 Shelley rated it liked it

Shelves: 2020-release, borrowed-library, young-adult-science-fiction

*Source* Library
*Genre* Young Adult / Science Fiction
*Rating* 3.5

*Thoughts*

Honor Lost is the third and final installment in co-authors Rachel Caine & Ann Aguirre's The Honors Trilogy. Picking up right where Honor Bound left off, 16-year old Zara Cole, Bea Teixeria, and their Leviathan ship, Nadim are trying to figure out a way to stop Lifekiller from destroying the galaxy. To make things even more dangerous for the crew, they receive a message from Earth accusing Zara and Bea of unlawful occupat ...more

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Apr 21, 2020 Andy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-narrators-i-love, own, 2020-read, changed-my-life, rainbow-shelf

I freaking love this series so much!!! I am so freaking happy with how everything ended that I could cry all the happy tears.

The Honors series is one of my favorite sci-fi series basically ever and yes that includes counting the masterpiece that is Illuminae. But the characters in The Honors, omg I would die for ALL OF THEM. This series is the ultimate alien craziness and space battle explosions that I love in sci-fi.

Zara Cole and her crew have survived bartering on the Sliver, but after compl ...more

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Jul 02, 2019 FearMyBotanyPowers added it · review of another edition

Oh no. Zara's street skills might not be enough to save them from a THANOS-LEVEL THREAT OH MY COTTON SOCKS WHAT ARE THEY GONNA DO ...more

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Feb 29, 2020 Nick rated it liked it · review of another edition

It kind of felt like a fanfiction to the first two books if that makes sense.

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Mar 29, 2020 Yels rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2020, sci-fi, ya, lqbtq

Strong 4 stars for me giving it 5 stars because Caine and Aguirre went for it and I love them for it.

Honor Lost follows Zara, Bea, Nadim, C-X, and the gang from book 1 and 2. They have saved a planet but now the god-king is off somewhere and they are struggling to catch up to him before he destroyed more worlds. Enter Derry who is now an honor and is sent too kill Zara since the Earth drug lord cannot let it go. Men. Anyway, we have space battles and deaths that I did not see coming.

Caine and ...more

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Sep 18, 2020 Meaghan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2020

This book only cemented the fact that this is definitely my favorite YA sci-fi series/book. It's just got everything I love in sci-fi (romance! space travel! tons of cool alien species and cultures that actually differ from each other and aren't earth knockoffs!!) I don't get why so many people are just overlooking this series entirely.

The romance in this series is seriously one of my favorite things and grew on me so much, even if it's admittedly a little weird. It's a poly romance of two huma This book only cemented the fact that this is definitely my favorite YA sci-fi series/book. It's just got everything I love in sci-fi (romance! space travel! tons of cool alien species and cultures that actually differ from each other and aren't earth knockoffs!!) I don't get why so many people are just overlooking this series entirely.

The romance in this series is seriously one of my favorite things and grew on me so much, even if it's admittedly a little weird. It's a poly romance of two human girls and their sentient space whale ship and their bond is seriously so wholesome and pure! They all love each other so much and care for each other and just wanna have a million adventures together!! I loved seeing this develop from book 1, and where it ended up in book 3 (and I love that these authors just went hard on this romance, instead of just making it vague/implied. Like yes its weird but they love each other! that's all that matters!)

The sci-fi setting of this book is fantastic too. It takes place a bit in the future of Earth, though it's recent enough that Earth and its people and nations are still recognizable to the reader. But Caine and Agguire went hard on building and planning the space that Earth is situated in, and the cultures they coexist (unknowingly) with. There's so much variety and diversity in how each species understands their existence, and how this plays into their actions, desires, and opinions. Every species feels entirely unique and fully developed, and their cultures are all actually important to the story itself, and aren't just there for the background.

This finale was also just outstanding, I could picture the final battles in my head (honestly this series would make such good sci-fi films), and I definitely got a little emotional during some of the final scenes. There was also a perfect balance between the romance and the actual plot of the story, and it led to both aspects of the book being extremely strong. I really loved how the story was tied up here, and still gave some space for reflecting on the entirety of Zara's journey. Overall, I just loved it.

I'll definitely be rereading this series in the future, and I can't recommend it enough! ...more

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Mar 08, 2020 Sophie "Beware Of The Reader" rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorite-ya, favorite-series, scifi

4,5 stars

What an ending to this series!

This book is filled with action upon action. When one crisis is averted Zara and her crew have to deal with another threat to the universe. It’s like they are magnet for danger!

Never before in the series has the situation been so dire and desperate.

Lucky for us, Zara has now gathered many friends from the human honors Yusuf, Marko, Chao-Xing and Beatriz to the aliens Suncross and his crew, the Abyin Dommas Starcurrent. Even the reformed phage Xyll ...more

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May 20, 2020 Kasi rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: dystopia, sci-fi, awful, ya, alien, lgbt, underwhelming, try-hard

This would be one star but I liked the first two books.

At the end of the day this book is an extended threesome between two teenage girls and a giant space whale as well as a heavy handed, brow beating from two middle aged white women on the importance of asking for pronouns. All of this in a world where humans are so far past common era that they think we eat pumpkins to celebrate fall, (not pumpkin pies, or pumpkin products, just pumpkins), but common day slang is used and Cthulhu is still a r This would be one star but I liked the first two books.

At the end of the day this book is an extended threesome between two teenage girls and a giant space whale as well as a heavy handed, brow beating from two middle aged white women on the importance of asking for pronouns. All of this in a world where humans are so far past common era that they think we eat pumpkins to celebrate fall, (not pumpkin pies, or pumpkin products, just pumpkins), but common day slang is used and Cthulhu is still a relevant mention. So apparently we are to believe that slang and pop culture has remained mostly static and that aliens will all basically want to murder you if you get a pronoun wrong.

Basically the world building and species development is weak as hell, I could ignore it in the first two books because it was only one or two points in the book and those points generally made sense or were worth mentioning but after the fourth time Zara reminds readers that it would be rude to assume a "gender identity" (because apparently these authors are so weak they can't imagine a galaxy not centered around human social constructs) I just couldn't stop rolling my eyes. They even make a point of stopping mid-sentence, while an ally is potentially dying to contemplate pronouns. I hate the term virtue signalling but this book is packed with it.

The really ironically funny thing about all that nonsense is that even after Zara realizes she has vastly underestimated a specific race of aliens, and feels bad about doing so, she continues to describe them as "lizards" which would undoubtedly be very rude to do. Even in a YA novel this level of pandering shouldn't be acceptable, if you want a book that deals with issues of gender, sex and identity well? Becky Chambers "The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet", although it is not YA there is also less sexual content than this book.

Otherwise the book is also a trend down hill from the former two in character development and overall progress. It felt like nothing really happened in this book other than alien threesomes and some poorly explained Reasons for stuff happening. Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike sexual content or inclusion, but an author can do it well or they can smack you over the head with it until your eyes bleed.

I'll let you guess which one I think this book did. ...more

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May 11, 2020 Aly rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: lgbtqa, 2020, romance, ya, sci-fi, audiobook, may-2020

This was a good read and I liked how it wrapped up the series, but I was confused for a lot of it. Maybe I should have reread the first two books before starting this. My issue is that there are so many characters and races, plus all these combination names when two or more characters meld together and I couldn't keep them straight. The threesome relationship between Zara, Bea, and Nadim is kind of weird and difficult to truly understand, but I'm all for new types of relationships.

The pacing wa ...more

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Sep 09, 2020 Shelby rated it it was amazing

Shelves: musicians-singers, deserve-additional-reads, destined-mates-bonded, eminently-rereadable, established-couples, vanilla-little-or-no-sex, dark, action-adventure, sci-fi, y-a-fantasy

First of all this was an incredibly satisfying conclusion to this series, though it does leave potential for more stories within this world. I really loved this whole series. The characters were wonderful and I enjoyed all of them.

Zara, Bea, and Nadim are such a great team. I loved all of them together. They're all young, but they are determined to do the right thing and save the world in the process. There were some crazy twists in this one I didn't see coming. Some them were of the rip your h ...more

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Feb 16, 2020 Christina rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2020-top-5

5 stars!!! This is everything I could have ever asked for from the end of one of my favorite trilogies ever, and more. The best of scifi and the best of adventure and the best of romance and the best of action and the best of cultural exploration and the best of friendship and the best of love and the best of soulmates and the best of the universe. Perfection (again, as in book 2, the Earth crime lord seems a little over the top, but hell I've been imagining him like Kingpin and it works and I'l ...more

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Sep 18, 2020 Laz the Sailor rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: scifi

A really strong finish to an intriguing trilogy. Our intrepid heroes combine skill, innovation, and pure luck to overcome some astronomical odds. Some of the established characters have become stale, but some of the new ones are quite intriguing. And then there are those who morphed into something else altogether. Love and courage overcome everything.

Exciting and scary from front to back, take away 1/2 star for some OTT situations and a conclusion that was a bit too perfect.

I will explore more f ...more

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Mar 28, 2020 Becca rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Wow, this was such a great conclusion to this trilogy. Always wary when heading into a final book but I wasn't disappointed. The romance worked out exactly as I wanted it to! Zara and Bea sharing their love with Nadim.

There are plenty of touching moments between Zara, Nadim, Bea, Starcurrent, Suncross etc. It's amazing how the writers make you feel so connected to such a range of characters and loads of random aliens.

What really stands out across the series is Zara's character development. She ...more

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Feb 20, 2020 Mila rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: lgbt

This was such a nice and satisfying conclusion to a great and unique sci-fi trilogy. The characters and their relationships were especially fascinating, plus Bea and Zara were so cute together! I just wish more people checked out this series, it's criminally underrated, in my opinion. ...more

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Feb 20, 2020 janel rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

AYYYYYYY! Y’all hear that???? That’s the sound of (view spoiler) Imagine me spraying confetti everywhere right about now. (view spoiler)

Space stuff, and sci-fi in general, is INCREDIBLY hit or miss for me. I’ve found that I need a LOT of detail, and when things are “otherworldly,” I can get lost when there isn’t enough description or explanation of th ...more

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May 06, 2020 Kathy Davie rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi, young-adult

Third in The Honors science fiction series for Young Adult readers and revolving around Zara Cole and Nadim, a living spaceship.

My Take
For some reason, Honor Lost feels more Young Adult than the previous two stories. It's too conspicuous in its fervor, aided by Caine/Aguirre's use of first person protagonist point-of-view from Zara's perspective. Zara is so over-the-top in her determination to "save the universe" that it's a bit jarring.

The characters have mellowed quite a bit since Honor Amo ...more

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Mar 04, 2020 Alexandra rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2020

Review can also be found on *Milky Way of Books*

The final book of The Honors series had everything I loved. Action, mystery and a race in time before the last battle and also so much emotion I could feel my heart beating and mourning for the characters. I loved Zara, Nadim and all the assortment of characters that completed this unique, beautiful and diverse story! The romance hooked me from the start as Nadim was pure love and cuteness! I never felt so much love for a huge, whale-like alien bef ...more

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Apr 02, 2020 Nemo (The Moonlight Library) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2020-read, series, borrowed, genre-sci-fi-space, minority-author-or-mc, source-library, publisher-5-harpercollins, sts, wow, audience-young-adult

This review was originally posted on The Moonlight Library

Although I totally love this series, I found I didn't love this book quite as much as the previous two.

I love all the relationship stuff. I love Zara growing closer and intimate with Bey and Nadim. It's so sweet it makes my teeth ache. I love them and I will defend them to the last. This is a real love triangle, where each of the trio loves and adores each other: none of this possessive 'you must choose' shit. That's why there is a triang ...more

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Mar 12, 2020 Jessi (Novel Heartbeat) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 4-star, books-i-own, want-signed, spaaaace

This one was much slower than the first two. It actually didn't pick up until about the last quarter of the book, and it makes me sad to say that I was kind of bored with it in the beginning and middle. It was lacking the magic that the first two books held for me - the first because I was introduced to the world of the Leviathan and the epic concept of their bonding, as well as the world; the second because it felt like Aurora Rising/Aurora Burning with epic space travel, interesting new alien species, intergalactic space stations, and a creepy abandoned planet (holding a dormant god in prison). I can say unequivocally that the second book was my favorite!

The stakes were SUPER high, but things never really felt dire. Everybody would be panicking about another new threat looming, and I'd just sigh to myself and be like "oh, shut up, you'll be fine." (view spoiler)

I liked the romance between Bea and Zara well enough - it was sweet, took a long time to develop (slow burn yasss) - but I never really felt the chemistry between them even though I really liked them together. (view spoiler) I do, however really appreciate the fact that they saved the kissy kissy for appropriate times - there's nothing that pisses me off more in the middle of a high stakes sci-fi or fantasy when the main couple is freakin' making out when everyone is in mortal peril *rolls eyes* They would kiss every once in a while, but a chaste we-have-more-important-things-to-do kiss. I love when romance takes a backseat to the action!

The main thing I enjoyed about this one in the first half was the world and all of the characters. I still loved those parts! I loved the side characters even more in this one, especially Suncross and Chao-Xing! Suncross stole the title of Favorite Character from Starcurrent in this one - mostly because Starcross is fierce and hilarious and Starcurrent was barely present in this book. I loved him SO MUCH! I loved when he hugged Zara ("This is a hug? Am doing it right?") and then said "Live with honor or die with glory, Zeerakull." YAAASSS HE'S SO BADASS. I found C-X growing on me, too - I actually really liked the direction her character took! (view spoiler)

The battle at the end was badass! I really enjoyed how the final installment wrapped up, it was a satisfying end to a fantastic trilogy!

This review was originally posted on Novel Heartbeat. To see a breakdown of my assessment, please visit the full review here. ...more

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Feb 22, 2020 Maya rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, favorites, sci-fi, lgbtq, wlw

I've had this book since it came out but I kept putting it off. I knew once I got into it it would be sooo good and I was right. Honor Lost really leaned into everything that is so good about this series.

I think my only criticism of this book is that it did feel a little too much like things just kept happening in a disjointed path, but even so the things that happen are all pretty great. It kinda felt like 5 episodes of a TV show leading up to the series finale.

One minor thing I thought was int ...more

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Mar 12, 2020 Summer rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: aliens, space, menage-or-more, ai

This conclusion was everything I hoped for by the end of book 1 and more! I laughed out loud, I cried at work during my lunch break (sorry, not sorry coworkers) and I went on an amazing epic adventure!

I honestly haven't read a book that has any f/f action since reading Kim Harrison in highschool but the relationship that developed between f/space whale/f was so beautiful and sweet and not too explicit that it made my straight ass uncomfortable.

I loved the alien races and all the cultural aspec ...more

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Feb 24, 2020 Kate rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is the most underrated YA sci-fi series and I love it so much. The series conclusion was so satisfying and I can't find anything I didn't like about it! This installment is nonstop action, but there are still plenty of wonderful character development moments.

I absolutely adore the central ship in this series--f/f/space whale. I've never seen anything like it and the resolution to the relationship was beautiful! Aside from romance, there are many great friendships in this book. Even the andr ...more

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Mar 01, 2020 Darcy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-book, 2020, sci-fi, ya

This book brought about a good close to the series. Zara proved that being herself won people over, through kindness and letting people into her life Zara made friends, friends that helped when things became critical and the fate of the world was at stake. That even the Levithan can learn and change, that they can work together to do something big, become something special. I loved the relationship that Zara, Bea and Nadim had and how the 3 of them worked together.

The ending was great, loved th ...more

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Jun 14, 2020 Caitlin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A space opera with plenty of aliens (in various levels of friendly to not friendly). Now with more robots!
There's plenty of obstacles to the main goal, and more than a little angst in the effort to get there. Relationships play a big part, in the plot, too.
Lots of working parts, which come together fairly well in the end. ...more

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Mar 09, 2020 Madam Razz rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I forgot how much I LOVE this series. This left me heartbroken, ecstatic, amazed and just heart warmed. You will smile, laugh and scream, It’s basically the perfect space adventure with amazing lizards and space whales all thrown in.

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Feb 14, 2020 Sandra rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, science-fiction

3 ½ stars rounded to 4. Honor Lost is the last book in the Honors trilogy. Zara, Bea and Nadine’s story comes to conclusion in the battle with Lifekiller, the planet devouring enemy. I really liked books one and two and the story of book three but it sort of, as the saying goes, “jumped the shark” in Honors Lost. Lots of awkward romance between the three didn’t lend any richness to the story and leaving those parts rather awkward and out of place. The storyline with Zara’s ex and his powerful, a ...more

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