Review – The Pearl of the Soul of the World (Darkangel, Book 3) by Meredith Ann Pierce (3.5/5 stars)

This is the final book in the Darkangel trilogy by Meredith Ann Pierce.  It was written in much the same style of the previous two books.  I found the ending very disappointing though and didn’t think this book did a very good job wrapping up the series.

Aeriel has found all of the Guardians and is on her way to decipher the rest of the prophecy.  Will her and her friends be able to defeat the water witch?  In this book we finally meet the Ravenna and Aeriel finally faces the water witch.

This book was much like the previous two in tone.  Pacing is again inconsistent with periods of action and then long periods of waiting.  The writing is still beautiful and the premise continues to be very creative.  The characters are only somewhat engaging and I didn’t find any of them to be all that likable.  You definitely need to read the first two books of this series to understand what is going on in this book.

I was very disappointing in the ending of this book.  If you read the Publishers Weekly description on Amazon.com you will know what I mean.  Aeriel is only briefly reunited with her husband before she has to go off to save the rest of the world.  So, basically although the water witch is defeated, the book ends with the whole world still perched on the edge of destruction.  Despite Aeriel’s initial upset at having to leave her husband and her husband’sinitial comments about how sad he is; her husband has nothing to say about it in the last few pages of the book.  It was like suddenly Irrylath fell out of the book and didn’t have anymore say in the rest of the story.

Overall the writing style is much like previous books and it is a creative book.  If you read the first two books you will have to read this one.  I found the ending to be extremely unsatisfying and disappointing and not in keeping with the characters previous decisions.

This book went towards the following reading challenges:
– The Young Adult Reading Challenge
– The 100+ Book Reading Challenge