3 Stars.
Pros: I am a sucker for happy endings but ones that are still a little open ended so the reader can decide what happens/I appreciated that instead of constantly betraying one another, everyone decided that it was best to actually work together to try and fix everything they had broken.
Cons: The constant repetition of words, "nothing, nothing, nothing," "gone, gone, gone", "blood, blood, blood", "yes, yes and no" got really old really fast/The constant dying and then coming back to life bit, I mean, no author actually wants to kill off a character but again, like "X-Men's" Phoenix, no one ever really stays dead so it's hard to be upset cause you figure they'll just come back to life.
Full Review:
After the catastrophic events of the second book, everyone is left reeling, Malachiasz especially. It always seems to be Malachiazs who's left to unravel but its natural for him. Though truth be told, since everyone dies and comes back in these books, at least once, if not twice, I don't feel like I'm giving much away by revealing that Malachiasz is alive.
The band of weary travelers pick up their scattered pieces and try to go about fixing everything they broke. It's not an easy time, lots of unraveling sanity and all that. But love and friendship is found along the way, which I found comical and soothing during what was a rather dark read. The banter between everyone was at times amusing but could also be off-putting. Reminiscent of when Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin are having an epic lightsaber duel on Mustafar and they have to ruin it all by talking. "The Jedi are evil from my point of view" that line alone ruined what was a truly epic battle.
Anyway...though the commentary and repartee was sometimes eye roll worthy, for the most part it didn't take away from the book all that much. Most of the wrongs are righted and it all ends in a more or less happy way, which I appreciated. I was tired of the constant betrayals and wanted everyone to actually work together, which they did. But thinking back on it, it was all really rather conveinent. Not so corny as "skipping off into the sunset holding hands" corny but the ending had its fair share of contriteness. It was understandable though and even acceptable for the trilogy to end the way it did.
This was, to me, an acceptable conclusion to Duncan's "Something Dark and Holy" trilogy. The first book, Wicked Saints was fun, fast paced, dark, unexpected and really had you at the edge of your seat. The second book, Ruthless Gods felt a little more forced, like Duncan was trying a bit too hard to pull us into her world of heavy metal, eldritch, dark Gods. But Blessed Monsters had its moments of clarity, of reality, making you realize that in her world and ours, no one's hands are clean, no one gets away unscathed but your strength is learning how to accept your scars and move past them.
I wish the second and third books were as fun and unique as the first but they served their purpose and I'm glad that I read the trilogy. It wasn't groundbreaking but it was fun and entertaining and really, that's all I look for in books these days.
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