iLoveBooks28

Before I talk about the actual contents of the book, I want to discuss the cover. Just like the first two in the series, I LOVE how the items surrounding Rhine actually appear and have a significant impact on the story. I love the effort that goes into these covers. BUT... I really hate the background for this one. I like the blue/green cover much better.. In my opinion, the green background looks like the designer or photographer or whoever took the picture in front of a green screen and just didn't change it....

But, this book. THIS BOOK. This post DOES HAVE SPOILERS.

The Characters were as amazing as always. I loved how we saw some of the characters from Fever that we thought wouldn't show up again. It was interesting to see a new and different perspective on some of these characters, and for others, it was nice to just catch up with them. I honestly hated Madame in Fever, but I was wrong about her. I loved her character in this book, and I appreciated every page with her on it. I was probably one of the only people who didn't realize she was Rose's mother before! I knew something was up with her, but I didn't know what..! I also LOVED seeing Lilac again, and Silas, too!

However, it disappointed me that Gabriel wasn't in the book until the last fifty or so pages. I understand why that was done, but I wish it wasn't the case. And by the end, I didn't feel anything at all really towards Gabriel. I read Fever last April, and I guess I just forgot how much I liked Gabriel? I really don't know. While Gabriel was away, I really came to respect Linden. I wasn't his hugest fan throughout the first two books, but I grew to really like him in Sever. I sort of liked him as a character more than Gabriel.  

As for new characters, I LOVED REED. He was probably my favorite character in the whole book. He was so quirky and awesome! Another new character I loved was Rowan. I have to admit, I was sort of suspicious of him after finding out he was (sort of) in cahoots with Vaughn, but I loved reading about him! After hearing about him for two and a half full books, I loved seeing what he was actually like in comparison to what Rhine has mentioned.

In the beginning of the book, the plot was sort of slow-going. But about a hundred pages in, I was hooked. I think the book really picked up for me after Cecily's miscarriage. I finished the book within twenty-four hours of me reading that chapter.  And the ending!!! For those of you who haven't read/finished it yet.. it will KILL YOU. Well, it killed me. I was confused about a few things that happened in the ending, though.

Some aspects of Sever were really predictable, and others I didn't see coming. The fact that Hawaii/the-rest-of-the-world still exist didn't surprise me at all. I had suspicions about that since it was first mentioned in Wither.

But Linden's and Vaughn's death, and Rowan's involvement with Vaughn completely threw me off!Linden's death just...wow. I was sort of confused, though, as to exactly how he died? I mean, he was injured from the plane, but that's all it really says. I wish we knew what had actually physically happened to him.

I KNEW Cecily had it in her to kill Vaughn! I LOVED that scene! Never would have expected Madame to encourage it though. Cecily actually grew to be one of my favorite characters in this book. In Wither and Fever (not as much in Fever), I found her somewhat annoying, but the conclusion to the series made me really respect her. She was amazing.

Another thing that confused me was the cure. How does the cure work? How did Vaughn figure it out? The whole series talks about Rhine and Rowan's heterochromia having something to do with it, but we never get an explanation as to how the cure works. That was the thing that confused me the most. Vaughn's just like, "I figured it out! You're cured!" and that's all we know about it. If this was included in the book, my rating might have gone up to 4.5 stars. I had thought that that would be the climax: finding out exactly what they could do to prevent the virus.... I don't know....

So yeah. I loved this book infinitely more than I loved the first two. DEFINITELY read the concluding book in this trilogy regardless of your thoughts on the rest of the series!