Scythe & Sparrow

I don't know about Scythe & Sparrow, but I would say that's how I felt with the last book in the Ruinous Love trilogy. There was a lot I liked about the story, particularly the characters, but the book's pacing and the story’s structure is quite different from the first two. This time, it's on the youngest of the Kane brothers, Fionn, who has been trying to run away from the darker side of his family, living a quiet life as a doctor in a small town in Nebraska. It's not so much about chaos and danger anymore when Rose comes along with the Silveria Circus and finds herself caught up in it and stuck there after being injured. Due to this turnaround, the book was a bit slower and more contemplative, and at the end, I thought that this was a three-star book for me. I liked it but not as much as the first book.

What I observed a lot while reading was that the story’s pacing is intentional than previous stories. Butcher & Blackbird was fast-paced and continually raised the stakes, while Scythe & Sparrow takes a lot longer to focus on the mundane, the dialogue, the slow progression of the romance between Rose and Fionn. This was not coincidental. Unlike the couples in the first two books, these two are not as self-assured, and the story reflects that with them taking longer to determine their desires. This generally does the job just fine, particularly in the small-town scenes, where their personalities seem to come out. At other moments, it makes the book’s middle feel like it’s drifting off in an unclear direction.

I enjoyed both principal characters and it did keep me engaged when the story was a little slow. The relationship between Fionn and Rose, both wanting to live a normal life and getting involved in others' is different than the previous books. Instead of asking who dies next, the question is whether these two can accept the things they are trying to pretend are not them. The humour was also prominent here, especially in the town and side characters and the book was lighter, even though it was still part of a dark romance series.

The end of the book does return some of the tension that the series is known for, but the ending is more about the characters' arcs than shocking the reader. This makes sense for a final book but doesn't make it as impactful as the first book was. As I read the trilogy, I felt like it was the least violent of the set, and this isn’t because it lacks anything happening, but because the story focused more on character growth than in extreme events.

Generally speaking, I enjoyed Scythe & Sparrow but didn't relate to it as much as I wanted to. I can see why the author has chosen to narrate the story in this manner and I respect that, although it wasn't quite my cup of tea. I'm glad I read it and it was a good, but not great, ending to the trilogy, although it’s more of a three-star than a five-star.