Saturday, April 16, 2016

Book Review: Season of Glory by Lisa T. Bergren


Purchase HERE

Title: Season of Glory

Author: Lisa T. Bergren

Series: The Remnants #3

Genre: Dystopian/Speculative

Audience: Young Adult

ABOUT THE BOOK

The power of the Remnants and their people are growing, threatening Pacifica’s careful plans for domination. Among the Trading Union, village after village, outpost after outpost, and city after city are drawn to people of the Way, and agree to stand against those who hunt them. But Pacifica intends to ferret out and annihilate the Remnants—as well as everyone who hasn’t sworn allegiance to the empire—setting the stage for an epic showdown that will change the course of a world on the brink … forever.

~ MY REVIEW ~
**2 stars**

Season of Glory is the third and final installment to THE REMNANTS series by Lisa T. Bergren. It was interesting enough, but I just didn't get into it, overall.

Andriana and Ronan, and their fellow Remnants, are hoping to travel back home after Ronan's fatal injury ... and miraculous recovery. Their battle is far from won, but they wish for a brief rest. Meanwhile, Keallach struggles between the pull of darkness and light, and his desire to marry Andriana. In this intense spiritual, and physical, war, will the Ailith be able to stand strong together and bring light and righteousness back to the world?

As much as I have been loving Christian dystopian, this book, unfortunately, is probably my least favorite of Lisa Bergren's YA dystopian trilogy. Season of Wonder had me enthralled; Season of Fire fell a bit flat; and Season of Glory left me feeling pretty much nothing at the end. I suppose, as the series went on, I just didn't feel connected with the characters. Didn't care much about the story. Obviously, these are just my personal thoughts, and you may feel very differently about this book!

There was a lot of violence, darkness, and gruesomeness in this book. One battle after another. (It could feel a little repetitive). I'm not really big on lots and lots of battle scenes and war stuff. It's simply not my thing. But anyway, caution in regards to the violence!

Romance. There was some sweetness between Andriana and Ronan. But she still struggles a bit with attraction toward Keallach, which I just find difficult to read about. Please guard your heart, girl. What on earth are you trying to do?? On that note, there was a scene between the two that was particularly disturbing, and much too sensual in my opinion. It was completely unnecessary to add that much detail to an inappropriate encounter.

There were some thought-provoking lessons here and there, in this tale of light vs. darkness. But at times I felt there was too much emphasis on "the Ailith", and not enough on the Maker Himself! Take this one character, for example; he basically returns to the Ailith and the "good side" because he feels drawn to his "family". He feels the pull of the light inside them. He knows that, together, the Ailith can be so powerful, and toward a good cause! I felt he returned to the good side because of his "brothers" and "sisters", and not because of the Maker at all. Which is a big problem. We don't become Christians because we love other believers ... we become Christians because God loved us, and we want to love Him! We don't become Christians because we're "chosen" or part of some special group, but because Jesus Christ died for our sins, and we accept that sacrifice and accept Him as Lord! I don't know; I just felt the spiritual message of Season of Glory was quite confusing at times. Despite it blatant theme of spiritual warfare, it didn't feel all that deep, Biblically.

So yes. I don't really know what else to say. I liked POV characters Andriana and Ronan well enough; but the other main character, Keallach, was frustrating, confusing, and just altogether infuriating. I don't know what he wanted or who he is, really. There's lots of action and battles, some romance, and overall a good vs. evil story. Season of Glory might be your thing; but all in all, it just didn't end up being mine.

I received a copy of Season of Glory from BookLook Bloggers in exchange for my honest review.

2 comments:

  1. Aww, that's always too bad when the final book in a series leaves you like that. :-/ I'm sorry! I hate disappointments. *hugs you* Dystopian (at least for me) tends to not have good endings and to leave me without any feeling of hope, even the Christian ones, and that saddens me, because Christ IS the Great Hope and the ultimate Happy Ending! At least you liked the first one though. ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know! It's quite disappointing. :( But thanks! *hugs back* It IS very saddening!! I totally understand what you're saying, Deborah! As Christians, we have HOPE and, indeed, a happy ending for sure! Dystopians that show no hope are just upsetting. :/

      Like Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins ... ugh, horrible ending! But I'm thrilled to say that the movie, Mockingjay: Part 2 actually ended with so much hope and even peace! It was beautiful. ^_^

      Delete