Today is my stop during the blog tour for the Darkest Day (The 19th Year #3) I have read all 3 books in this series and I can honestly say this is a great series.
I’ll share my review of The Darkest Day with you today, there is a guest post about changelings, an awesome poll and a tour wide giveaway.
The Darkest Day (The 19th Year #3)
by Emi Gayle
Blurb:
Mac Thorne’s time as a Changeling is coming to an end.It may have taken eighteen years, but Mac did finally manage to do what the Council wanted: she chose a teacher and renounced the in-between.
There’s just one last step. She must say goodbye to her human. Forever.
After being challenged in every way possible, Mac leaves what she thought would be the easiest task for the last possible moment. As midnight on July fourth draws near, though, she hasn’t found a way to give up Winn Thomas.
Nor does she want to.
With time running out, Mac stands at a literal crossroads. Choose Winn, and she’ll be stripped of the only family she’s ever known — vampires, dragons, and her favorite demon. Even her own mother. Accept her position on the Council and rule as an equal to her twelve peers, and she’ll forget Winn ever existed.
Independence and freedom have never before been so limiting.
In this final chapter of the 19th Year Trilogy, it’s time for Mac to decide.
Responsibility? Or Love?
My review:
I got a copy in exchange for an honest review
Since the first book I have been waiting for the last book so I could finally find out what Mac was going to choose. I really enjoyed this series so far and while I think I enjoyed Darkest Day the least of the 3, it was a good ending to the series too.
The Darkest Day is a bit darker than the earlier books, more bad things happen and things get serious soon with Mac choose being so close. The beginning was interesting, then it got a bit slow and then the ending was great again. I think part of why I thought the story was slow at some point was the fact that I just wanted to know which choice Mac is going to make, the whole series leads to this point and I just wanted to know what she would choose. A lot still has to happen before that and I felt like some of the subplots where a bit unnessecary and this book could’ve been a bit shorter and still tell the same story. There is also this event, that just felt off, with all the danger there is, that happens? I am not going to spoil more, but yeah there was a part that I got annoyed at the book and thought why did that happen? Also around 75% Mac does something so stupid, I couldn’t believe she actualy did that, but yeah she did.
Let’s say that part of this book felt a bit like a fill-up till be could get to the end. And then when I got to the end, it was great. I just kept hoping for their happy ending and everyone kept hinting at a certain choice, but everything is so vague that I actually had no idea what was going to happen and sometimes I got annoyed that none of the council member would actually just say and explain things. The ending makes up for a lot, it nicely wraps some things up and while some parts seemed a bit too easy and convenient, I did like the ending.
There is some character development in this book, but not a lot. The relationship between Mac and Winn changes and develops a bit, but the characters mostly stay the same. I like Mac as a character, but really sometimes she need a good shake or someone to tell her to slow down and think for a change. Really after all she has been through sometimes I think she would’ve learned something, but no, she makes her fair shair of not-so-smart descisions in this book. I almost hated Maddie in this book, she was annoying and dump and I totally agreed with mac that she had something up her sleeve. Really Winn is obvious totally in love with Mac and she still thought she has a chance. Uhm no. I really like Winn, he is the more calm and serious one especially compared to Mac. He is a bit too nice and naive, but is such a nice guy and sometimes I wish mac told him a bit more and didn’t leave him in the dark.
Some chapters are from Mac and others from Winn’s perspective, so we get to see both sides in this book. But while we get to see Mac’s point of view there is still a lot of her thoughts about her choice that she didn’t share, like it all had to build up to the ending. And that was a bit tiring sometimes.
In terms of world building, this book doesn’t add a lot. The little world building there is, is done in the first book and the other 2 books only add little snippets. I understand the story focusses on Mac but sometimes I would’ve liked to get a glimpse how live is for the other supernaturals. What they are, what they can do, where they live. There just wasn’t a lot about that. And the council keeps all these secrets and rules and sometimes I wonder why. World building is one aspect this series could’ve had more, but mostly I think that’s just me, because I want to know everything about this world.
To conclude: The Darkest day had everything from annoyance to slow moments, till emotional scenes and a lot of build-up to the ending. The whole series is working towards to the ending and I sometimes thought there was a bit too much side story in this book. When the ending finally came, I have to admit I liked it. The characters don’t change or grow a lot in this book, most character stayed the same, although I started to dislike Maddie more and more as the book progressed. I wish there was more world building, but I think that’s just me. After the ending, I actually found myself a bit sad that this was the end, because I wanted to read more.
You can add The Darkest Day to your to-read list on Goodreads
You can buy The Darkest Day:
– Amazon
– Kobo
– B&N
And there is a guest post written by the author about the inspiration for writing about changelings.
Inspiration for writing about Changelings
In classical mythology, Changelings are said to be human babies switched at birth. I decided, when I need a mythological character type, to use Changeling but to adjust what exactly it is. Why? because that’s what authors do. We create and design and define based on some semblance of the known to bring out something new to our readers. This isn’t necessary per se, but it is part of a writer’s toolkit – to alter reality.
For me, and for Mac, the protagonist in the trilogy the 19th Year, Changeling fit what her ultimate problem is (or now was) … what will she be when she grows up? By the very nature of the name ‘changeling’, we can see that there’s a grand spectrum of possibility … i.e. shape shifting. Change = just that … a shifting of something whether positive or negative and in my world that I created, it’s all about what Mac can be.Ultimately though, because it seems, in all worlds, good things have to come to an end, that was exactly what Mac faced … the end of her own story, the end of being ‘The Changeling’ and in Darkest Day, she does just that … what defined her once, what was once the bane of her existence but also a privilege comes full circle and she has to choose one supernatural creature to be.
Forever.
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