{Review} The Mirrored Shard by Caitlin Kittredge

The Mirrored Shard
by Caitlin Kittredge
Series: The Mirrored Shard #3
Pages: 304
Release Date: February 12, 2013
by Delacorte Press

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Aoife Grayson must face death to win back Dean—the love who was ripped from the Iron Lands of the living when he was shot in the arctic north. But getting to the Deadlands is something that Aoife can't do on her own. And if she can find a way there, Tremaine would surely never allow it. He has sworn to keep her in the Thorn Lands, the fairie home of her mother, Nerissa. But Aoife is determined to find her way out. And she has no trouble if that means she has to kill Tremain and his queen to do it.

*A copy was provided by Random House for review purposes*

Gah!  I’m so sad!  This series started out SO GREAT, and then it sunk like a stone, getting steadily worse over the course of the series.  This book is the final book, and, unfortunately, the worst.  The writing wasn’t awesome, and the story line was so simple, and the staging was absolutely horrible.  In the first book, The Iron Thorn, the escapes were very difficult, thrilling, and believable, the story line was smooth and flowing, and the staging was perfect, but in this book, it was the complete opposite.  The escapes were so easy!  Every single time either something “lucky” happened or someone just “happened” to leave a door unlocked (that didn’t actually happen, but it was kind of like that).  The story line was horrible, bumpy, and the staging was absolutely horrible.  Kittredge introduced and got rid of characters as she pleased, trying to introduce the next place Aoife had to go in the book, and it was so annoying to read.  And, speaking of annoying, pretty much every single chapter ended on a really dramatic, completely irrelevant line.  Example:

“My name,” I said, glaring at him.  “It’s not ‘little girl’.  It’s Aoife.”

~page 243, uncorrected ARC edition

Gah!  It drove me nuts!

In the first book, I absolutely loved Aoife and Dean, and the romance between them, but in this book, I hated it!  Aoife was such a strong character in the first book, but in this one Kittredge tied to hard to make her seem tough and kick-ass.  Instead, she sounded stuck-up and cocky.  Example:

“You have no idea what I can imagine.  Or endure.”

~page 212, uncorrected ARC edition

All.  Book.  Long.  Aoife was all “I’m so awesome, I’m so strong, I’m so kick-butt”.  It was so annoying,  Also, Dean wasn’t really featured in this book at all, so that was kind of disappointing.

This series started off so good, with The Iron Thorn, then it got worse, with The Nightmare Garden, and then just plummeted with this book, and I really, really wish that Kittredge could have followed through with this series.

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