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The Madman’s Daughter #3
A Cold Legacy
After killing the men who tried to steal her father’s research, Juliet—along with Montgomery, Lucy, Balthazar, and a deathly ill Edward—has escaped to a remote estate on the Scottish moors. Owned by the enigmatic Elizabeth von Stein, the mansion is full of mysteries and unexplained oddities: dead bodies in the basement, secret passages, and fortune-tellers who seem to know Juliet’s secrets. Though it appears to be a safe haven, Juliet fears new dangers may be present within the manor’s own walls.
Then Juliet uncovers the truth about the manor’s long history of scientific experimentation—and her own intended role in it—forcing her to determine where the line falls between right and wrong, life and death, magic and science, and promises and secrets. And she must decide if she’ll follow her father’s dark footsteps or her mother’s tragic ones, or whether she’ll make her own.
With inspiration from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, this breathless conclusion to the Madman’s Daughter trilogy is about the things we’ll sacrifice to save those we love—even our own humanity.
Then Juliet uncovers the truth about the manor’s long history of scientific experimentation—and her own intended role in it—forcing her to determine where the line falls between right and wrong, life and death, magic and science, and promises and secrets. And she must decide if she’ll follow her father’s dark footsteps or her mother’s tragic ones, or whether she’ll make her own.
With inspiration from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, this breathless conclusion to the Madman’s Daughter trilogy is about the things we’ll sacrifice to save those we love—even our own humanity.
390 pages, Hardcover
First published January 27, 2015
80 people are currently reading
8698 people want to read
About the author
Megan Shepherd
30 books2,755 followersNew York Times bestselling author Megan Shepherd grew up in her family’s independent bookstore in the Blue Ridge Mountains. She is the author of several young adult and middle grade novels. She now lives and writes on a 125-year-old farm outside Asheville, North Carolina, with her husband, two cats, and an especially scruffy dog.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 727 reviews
February 28, 2015
I pressed the scalpel to the base of the brain and cut.Many authors have tried to replicate the classics. Most have failed. No young adult series have done it as successfully and as brilliantly as Megan Shepherd's Madman's Daughter series.
I knew every fold of skin, every joint and artery. I’d memorized human anatomy on pages in a book, and I felt it beneath my own fingers. My fingers were shaking, but I took a deep breath and thought of my father’s steady hands, and mine stilled.
“My God,” Lucy said, watching with rapt attention. “You really were born for this.”
It is so easy to fuck up a classic. It is so difficult to embrace the spirit of a series while maintaining a sense of originality, while maintaining one's own original plot throughout an entire series.
Truly, I applaud Ms. Shepherd. She has done it brilliantly. She did it in the first book, a retelling of The Island of Dr. Moreau. I wasn't even a fan of that book (although the Simpsons remake was pretty fucking awesome), and Shepherd made me love the story. The second encompasses Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which was entirely enjoyable.
And now this, the grand finale. Frankenstein. It just happens to be one of my favorite classics of all time, and God help her if Shepherd fucked it up. As anyone knows, my rage burns with the fury of a thousand Kanyes.
She didn't.
I fucking loved this book. It was fantastic. There were moments that made me rage, but it was a good rage. It was the kind of impotent rage on behalf of a character. It was the kind of rage that only a well-written book could inspire. It was indignation inspired by true emotions.
Shepherd is so fucking good. I loved the way she presented the essence of morality that existed within the original. The sense of right and wrong that comes from the question of: who are we to play God? Who are we to mess with the elements of life and death? What are the consequences of such a game?
And is it really, truly evil? Is it so wrong to want to save a loved one from the grasp of death?
I don't know her background, but there's got to be some medical shit going on with Shepherd, because the goriness in the book is fucking spectacular. The blood, the guts, the horror. The details of the surgeries and the death. The smell of decay. The rotting corpses
This is not a book for the faint of heart.
Bravo, Ms. Shepherd. I look forward to your next endeavor.
November 3, 2015
This is a satisfying conclusion! However, it is my least favorite of the trilogy and I am conflicted over the ending. I loved the parallels to Frankenstein along with the plot twists.
October 23, 2015
Plot twist after plot twist! This book was truly spectacular. Such an amazing way to end a trilogy!
March 30, 2015
There's always that particular series that just hits me right in the feels; that last installment of a series that lifts this huge weight from my body from all that built up excitement, anxiousness, anger, and sadness I was carrying throughout the novels until the very end and leaves this huge hole of emptiness in its stead--making me wonder what happens next. That dichotomy between the bittersweet ending that leaves me satisfied and the depressing realization that the series is over and I have nothing else to look forward to so I wonder--pathetically--what I am going to do now in life....
You know what I'm talking about (or, at least, I hope you do).
A Cold Legacy was a such a thrilling read and a terribly beautiful conclusion to the trilogy. Each and every one of these characters were so well-rounded, beautifully developed and authentic. The writing flowed like water which plunged me into another world set in a gothic mansion on the Scottish moors.
(Image source)
Honestly, I cannot write a review for this. I'm feeling too many emotions at once.
Just know that I loved this book... a lot. Megan Shepherd has now become one of my favourite authors and I cannot wait to get my hands on her next novel.
You know what I'm talking about (or, at least, I hope you do).
A Cold Legacy was a such a thrilling read and a terribly beautiful conclusion to the trilogy. Each and every one of these characters were so well-rounded, beautifully developed and authentic. The writing flowed like water which plunged me into another world set in a gothic mansion on the Scottish moors.
(Image source)
Honestly, I cannot write a review for this. I'm feeling too many emotions at once.
Just know that I loved this book... a lot. Megan Shepherd has now become one of my favourite authors and I cannot wait to get my hands on her next novel.
April 4, 2016
Ah the end if here! It is a bitterwseet moment for while I am saddened that Juliet's adventures for us are over, I an most pleased with the way Megan Shepherd tied everything together. While many trilogies can leave loose ends we get very few here. And even those we get are of our own making and are not pertinent to Juliet's story. All the plot twists are answered nicely. And let me tell you, there are plenty of plot twists!
This book picks up immediately following Her Dark Curiosity. Our Favorite characters-Juliet, Montgomery, Edward, Balthazar and Lucy) arrive at their destination. The home where the legends of Frankenstein and his monster began! The house is run by a group of girls employed by Elizabeth who take Juliet and company inside. This house has it's own secrets and when Elizabeth arrives more startling truths are revealed. She is much like Juliet herself in some ways.
Edward/the beast are still locked in an internal was while their body fights the poison coursing through it. Through it all Lucy went from being a character I liked to one I was quite mad at in this book. Her expectations of Juliet and her own actions are irrational and selfish! Balthazar and Montgomery are true to character although they do still have a secret they are keeping from Juliet. One that will change her entire outlook on life!
With dark science, being on the run from authorities, a friend at war with himself, a strange boy, a wedding and more secrets than should be under one roof this book is filled with intrigue! everything I felt a plot arc was over, it starts up again or a new one takes it's place, keeping me riveted to the book. With a satisfactory ending I am most pleased with this series! This has earned a place o my shelf for years to come!
*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.*
This book picks up immediately following Her Dark Curiosity. Our Favorite characters-Juliet, Montgomery, Edward, Balthazar and Lucy) arrive at their destination. The home where the legends of Frankenstein and his monster began! The house is run by a group of girls employed by Elizabeth who take Juliet and company inside. This house has it's own secrets and when Elizabeth arrives more startling truths are revealed. She is much like Juliet herself in some ways.
Edward/the beast are still locked in an internal was while their body fights the poison coursing through it. Through it all Lucy went from being a character I liked to one I was quite mad at in this book. Her expectations of Juliet and her own actions are irrational and selfish! Balthazar and Montgomery are true to character although they do still have a secret they are keeping from Juliet. One that will change her entire outlook on life!
With dark science, being on the run from authorities, a friend at war with himself, a strange boy, a wedding and more secrets than should be under one roof this book is filled with intrigue! everything I felt a plot arc was over, it starts up again or a new one takes it's place, keeping me riveted to the book. With a satisfactory ending I am most pleased with this series! This has earned a place o my shelf for years to come!
*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.*
January 27, 2015
(Source: I received a digital copy of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to HarperCollins and Edelweiss.)
“No matter how much Montgomery pushed me to be like my mother, he was wrong. Only my father’s legacy could guide me now. Father had created man out of animal, but he’d never conquered death before. I could.”
This was a really good end to the series, and I loved all the twists!
“Consider this your first lesson: always wear an apron you don’t mind getting dirty. Very dirty.”
I liked Juliet in this book, even if some of her decisions shocked me! Lucy also made some shocking decisions, and I was glad that Montgomery was there at times to keep them from becoming worse that Juliet’s father!
“Maybe the fortune teller was right. Reading the future was nonsense, but there was a grain of truth in how his predictions had made me feel – as though escaping Father was impossible, even in death. Maybe, just maybe, I should stop trying so hard to fight it.”
The storyline in this book was once again back to ‘Frankenstein’, only this time Juliet was the mad doctor! She really did seem to be turning into her father in this book, and she really did seem to be catching the madness that would drive her to start meddling the way her father had.
“Already my fingers were itching to try. Isn’t this what I’d been craving, deep down where I didn’t want to admit it?”
“I pulled a bone saw from my satchel and held it up to the glinting light. “We only need his head.””
I loved how many twists and turns there were in this book though, and Juliet got into so much trouble! Every time things got bad, it wasn’t long before they got even worse! And every time things seemed to be looking up, something else would come along to totally turn things upside down.
“You’re keeping a man secret in the attic,” he said, and blinked solemnly.
There was romance in this book, and even a wedding to plan!
“I reached out to hold his hand. I knew it was untraditional for the bride and groom to touch during the ceremony, but we’d given up formalities a long time ago.”
The ending to this was good, although we did get some unexpected deaths which were a bit sad. I was also left with a couple of questions revolving around the practicality of some things
“Sometimes you remind me so much of your father it’s frightening.”
8.5 out of 10
“No matter how much Montgomery pushed me to be like my mother, he was wrong. Only my father’s legacy could guide me now. Father had created man out of animal, but he’d never conquered death before. I could.”
This was a really good end to the series, and I loved all the twists!
“Consider this your first lesson: always wear an apron you don’t mind getting dirty. Very dirty.”
I liked Juliet in this book, even if some of her decisions shocked me! Lucy also made some shocking decisions, and I was glad that Montgomery was there at times to keep them from becoming worse that Juliet’s father!
“Maybe the fortune teller was right. Reading the future was nonsense, but there was a grain of truth in how his predictions had made me feel – as though escaping Father was impossible, even in death. Maybe, just maybe, I should stop trying so hard to fight it.”
The storyline in this book was once again back to ‘Frankenstein’, only this time Juliet was the mad doctor! She really did seem to be turning into her father in this book, and she really did seem to be catching the madness that would drive her to start meddling the way her father had.
“Already my fingers were itching to try. Isn’t this what I’d been craving, deep down where I didn’t want to admit it?”
“I pulled a bone saw from my satchel and held it up to the glinting light. “We only need his head.””
I loved how many twists and turns there were in this book though, and Juliet got into so much trouble! Every time things got bad, it wasn’t long before they got even worse! And every time things seemed to be looking up, something else would come along to totally turn things upside down.
“You’re keeping a man secret in the attic,” he said, and blinked solemnly.
There was romance in this book, and even a wedding to plan!
“I reached out to hold his hand. I knew it was untraditional for the bride and groom to touch during the ceremony, but we’d given up formalities a long time ago.”
The ending to this was good, although we did get some unexpected deaths which were a bit sad. I was also left with a couple of questions revolving around the practicality of some things
“Sometimes you remind me so much of your father it’s frightening.”
8.5 out of 10
May 23, 2020
Fue el libro que más me gustó de la trilogía, porque se ambientó en un sitio que me encanta, y además retomó elementos y la historia de base de uno de mis clásicos predilectos, la obra de Mary Shelley.
Sin duda estos libros son muy intensos y lo que más se disfruta es la forma en que fueron escritos, sí se siente lo gótico y eso es algo que me encantó.
Juliet es un personaje complejo y que está repleto de cosas horripilantes, vaya que la historia desde el principio es muy oscura y se va intensificando.
Cada tomo es un "retelling" de obras famosas de terror, el primero de la isla del doctor Moreau, el segundo de el Doctor Jenkill and Mr. Hyde y el tercero, es decir este es sobre Frankenstein.
Se siente el frío, la forma tan sanguinaria de los personajes que están alrededor de Juliet, y lo que vas descubriendo a su lado en cada tomo, es cada vez más retorcido y oscuro.
Sin duda estos libros son muy intensos y lo que más se disfruta es la forma en que fueron escritos, sí se siente lo gótico y eso es algo que me encantó.
Juliet es un personaje complejo y que está repleto de cosas horripilantes, vaya que la historia desde el principio es muy oscura y se va intensificando.
Cada tomo es un "retelling" de obras famosas de terror, el primero de la isla del doctor Moreau, el segundo de el Doctor Jenkill and Mr. Hyde y el tercero, es decir este es sobre Frankenstein.
Se siente el frío, la forma tan sanguinaria de los personajes que están alrededor de Juliet, y lo que vas descubriendo a su lado en cada tomo, es cada vez más retorcido y oscuro.
March 31, 2016
An Electronic Advanced Reader Copy was provided by the publisher via Edelweiss for review.
Considering I read the first two books a while ago, and still remember the first book's ending, I knew I had to put this book off for a bit. I just didn't realize I would pick this book up almost a year later. Oops. I just didn't want the trilogy to end. I found the parallels to the different books so well done. It made me want to go and find the original classics and read it myself since I haven't read them yet. All I knew going into this was it would be a retelling of "Frankenstein", and the same plot was there only told in Shepherd's creative way.
I found myself again a little wary and scare of Juliet. Her thoughts were turning her into a mad scientist like her father. I knew that she wouldn't go through with some of the things though. It was too much for her. Battling who she was? I liked that she had the revelation at the end and I was rooting for her to do so. I thought yet again about how adorable Balthazar is. Hensley was the creepy child of the story, and I could easily picture him lurking around in the passageways of the manor. Lucy was distraught and wasn't thinking clearly at one point and I wanted to shake her..
I love that every single one of the characters had an ending or some sort of new journey and adventure to go on. What a great ending to the trilogy! I like the parallels to "Frankenstein" but again Megan Shepherd made it her own and that to me was the most impressive thing (other than her writing).
RATING 4/5
QUOTES
"Just a spoiled girl with her pretty toys, who cares nothing for anything or anyone else."
"I'd like to spend the rest of my life looking at you."
"What's wrong with the darkness? Without darkness, there is no light."
"There is more than one way to lose you."
"I've never had a choice, not really. It's in my blood. I can't fight who I am."
"When you can never die, do you ever really live?"
Considering I read the first two books a while ago, and still remember the first book's ending, I knew I had to put this book off for a bit. I just didn't realize I would pick this book up almost a year later. Oops. I just didn't want the trilogy to end. I found the parallels to the different books so well done. It made me want to go and find the original classics and read it myself since I haven't read them yet. All I knew going into this was it would be a retelling of "Frankenstein", and the same plot was there only told in Shepherd's creative way.
I found myself again a little wary and scare of Juliet. Her thoughts were turning her into a mad scientist like her father. I knew that she wouldn't go through with some of the things though. It was too much for her. Battling who she was? I liked that she had the revelation at the end and I was rooting for her to do so. I thought yet again about how adorable Balthazar is. Hensley was the creepy child of the story, and I could easily picture him lurking around in the passageways of the manor. Lucy was distraught and wasn't thinking clearly at one point and I wanted to shake her..
I love that every single one of the characters had an ending or some sort of new journey and adventure to go on. What a great ending to the trilogy! I like the parallels to "Frankenstein" but again Megan Shepherd made it her own and that to me was the most impressive thing (other than her writing).
RATING 4/5
QUOTES
"Just a spoiled girl with her pretty toys, who cares nothing for anything or anyone else."
"I'd like to spend the rest of my life looking at you."
"What's wrong with the darkness? Without darkness, there is no light."
"There is more than one way to lose you."
"I've never had a choice, not really. It's in my blood. I can't fight who I am."
"When you can never die, do you ever really live?"
November 14, 2014
Omg it was so perfect and sad and amazing and now I'm depressed because this series is over! it's my favorite Gothic YA series EVER.
December 14, 2014
***Review posted on The Eater of Books! blog***
A Cold Legacy by Megan Shepherd
Book Three of The Madman's Daughter series
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Publication Date: January 27, 2015
Rating: 3 stars
Source: ARC sent by the publisher
***THERE MAY BE SPOILERS, IF YOU HAVE NOT READ BOTH THE MADMAN'S DAUGHTER AND HER DARK CURIOSITY***
Summary (from Goodreads):
After killing the men who tried to steal her father’s research, Juliet—along with Montgomery, Lucy, Balthazar, and a deathly ill Edward—has escaped to a remote estate on the Scottish moors. Owned by the enigmatic Elizabeth von Stein, the mansion is full of mysteries and unexplained oddities: dead bodies in the basement, secret passages, and fortune-tellers who seem to know Juliet’s secrets. Though it appears to be a safe haven, Juliet fears new dangers may be present within the manor’s own walls.
Then Juliet uncovers the truth about the manor’s long history of scientific experimentation—and her own intended role in it—forcing her to determine where the line falls between right and wrong, life and death, magic and science, and promises and secrets. And she must decide if she’ll follow her father’s dark footsteps or her mother’s tragic ones, or whether she’ll make her own.
With inspiration from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, this breathless conclusion to the Madman’s Daughter trilogy is about the things we’ll sacrifice to save those we love—even our own humanity.
What I Liked:
Well, I have read and finished this entire series, in 2014! 2014 was a good year for me, in terms of finishing series (although, this series technically doesn't end until 2015. But, whatever). All three books in this series received the same starred rating for me - three stars across the three novels. I think if I had to pick a favorite, it would probably be this one, but they all got three stars.
Juliet, Lucy, Montgomery, Balthazar, and a dying Edward are fleeing from London in the beginning of the novel. They are heading for Ballentyne - Elizabeth's home. When they reach, they are greeted by a very mysterious staff who seem to have odd secrets of their own. As it would turn out, Elizabeth has been doing scientific experiments of her own. Juliet must chose if she wants to follow her father's path, or have a safe life with Montgomery at Ballentyne.
This book continues the story of Juliet figuring out who she is and what her limits are. Honestly, I liked this and didn't like it. I liked how much attention Shepherd gave this internal conflict, but then, I'm not always Juliet's biggest fan, so I didn't care for the struggle sometimes. The story also focuses a lot on the experiments - hence, Juliet's internal struggle. She wants to be like her father, she doesn't want to be like her father, she doesn't want to be a "monster"...
A lot happens in this book. See my comments in the next section about this. The plot in the story of this book is kind of weird, and I didn't really like it.
Something I did like was the romance. (Spoiler if you haven't read books one and two). FINALLY, just Juliet and Montgomery. They got engaged at the end of book two, if you didn't remember. I'm so sick of love triangles, and book one really that love triangle going. A lot of my dislike towards Juliet comes from her decision-making when it comes to the romance, especially in book one. But in this book? It seems so obvious that she would choose Montgomery - of course she would! I won't say anything about the ending of this book, but I will say that I'm glad that Juliet and Montgomery had the chance to spend time together in this book (finally), without having to worry about Juliet and Edward/"the Beast".
The setting in each book was different, and in this book, it was Ballentyne. I liked this setting the best of the three. I feel the castle was a good place for everything to come to a standstill, for Juliet to make a decision about practicing the unnatural science. I liked how the setting lent itself to the story of this particular book in the series.
Overall, this novel did a decent job of wrapping up things, bringing the series to a close. The final stand was pretty dramatic, and I could buy the resolution. I'm not entirely sure about some things in the long run, but eh, I'm not so invested in the series that I care THAT much.
What I Did Not Like:
This book should be split into several parts, because honestly, sometimes the story felt disconnected and closed. Juliet and crew arrive at Ballentyne. The conflict is no longer about those pursuing them in London, but about what is going on in the Von Stein house. Unnatural things are definitely happening there. Readers are introduced to a slew of new characters, all of whom play very important roles in this book's story.
The something huge happens, affecting Juliet, Montgomery, Lucy, etc. This feels like a new conflict has begun (closing the door on the strangeness going on in the house). Then this conflict is kind of put to bed when Juliet and Montgomery decide to get married at the estate. Then this conflict comes back. Then the conflict of the strangeness of the house comes back. Then the conflict of the people chasing Juliet from London comes back. So, in the end, all of the conflicts are taken care of, but it feels like everything is done separately and neatly, instead of connected.
So I hated how the love triangle was forced into The Madman's Daughter. I hated how Juliet felt so insecure about her feelings towards Montgomery and (supposedly) his feelings towards her in Her Dark Curiosity. In this book, I didn't like Juliet because she is SO STUPID. Oh my gosh, it's like she doesn't have two brain cells to run together. She makes dumb decisions, she goes behind Montgomery's back to do experiments, she lies to him, she throws things in his face (what a b****)... she is basically a terrible person. You can see her thought process behind some of her decisions, and you'll be like, what?! How in the world does she come up with some of the rationalizations?! I can't say anything specific, but gosh, she's stupid.
Lucy, too. It's like all of the females are idiotic in this book. Lucy is such a shallow girl - all she cares about is Edward Edward Edward, and not, like, the greater good. Edward is a CREATION, with a "Beast" as second nature. Think of everyone else before you think of your (potentially broken) heart? She's so incredibly selfish.
There were a lot of things that bothered me in this book, and most of them had to do with Juliet.
Would I Recommend It:
Honestly, I kind of enjoyed this series, but I can't say that I recommend the series. It isn't worth the time if you don't have copies of all three books, or if you weren't actively planning on reading the books. On the other hand, if you've read books one and two, definitely read book three. If you've read book one, meh, you're not missing out.
Rating:
2.5 stars -> rounded up to 3 stars. Maybe I'm feeling generous. I liked the book as I was reading it, but looking back, it wasn't all that great. It was okay. Juliet and I weren't friends.
A Cold Legacy by Megan Shepherd
Book Three of The Madman's Daughter series
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Publication Date: January 27, 2015
Rating: 3 stars
Source: ARC sent by the publisher
***THERE MAY BE SPOILERS, IF YOU HAVE NOT READ BOTH THE MADMAN'S DAUGHTER AND HER DARK CURIOSITY***
Summary (from Goodreads):
After killing the men who tried to steal her father’s research, Juliet—along with Montgomery, Lucy, Balthazar, and a deathly ill Edward—has escaped to a remote estate on the Scottish moors. Owned by the enigmatic Elizabeth von Stein, the mansion is full of mysteries and unexplained oddities: dead bodies in the basement, secret passages, and fortune-tellers who seem to know Juliet’s secrets. Though it appears to be a safe haven, Juliet fears new dangers may be present within the manor’s own walls.
Then Juliet uncovers the truth about the manor’s long history of scientific experimentation—and her own intended role in it—forcing her to determine where the line falls between right and wrong, life and death, magic and science, and promises and secrets. And she must decide if she’ll follow her father’s dark footsteps or her mother’s tragic ones, or whether she’ll make her own.
With inspiration from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, this breathless conclusion to the Madman’s Daughter trilogy is about the things we’ll sacrifice to save those we love—even our own humanity.
What I Liked:
Well, I have read and finished this entire series, in 2014! 2014 was a good year for me, in terms of finishing series (although, this series technically doesn't end until 2015. But, whatever). All three books in this series received the same starred rating for me - three stars across the three novels. I think if I had to pick a favorite, it would probably be this one, but they all got three stars.
Juliet, Lucy, Montgomery, Balthazar, and a dying Edward are fleeing from London in the beginning of the novel. They are heading for Ballentyne - Elizabeth's home. When they reach, they are greeted by a very mysterious staff who seem to have odd secrets of their own. As it would turn out, Elizabeth has been doing scientific experiments of her own. Juliet must chose if she wants to follow her father's path, or have a safe life with Montgomery at Ballentyne.
This book continues the story of Juliet figuring out who she is and what her limits are. Honestly, I liked this and didn't like it. I liked how much attention Shepherd gave this internal conflict, but then, I'm not always Juliet's biggest fan, so I didn't care for the struggle sometimes. The story also focuses a lot on the experiments - hence, Juliet's internal struggle. She wants to be like her father, she doesn't want to be like her father, she doesn't want to be a "monster"...
A lot happens in this book. See my comments in the next section about this. The plot in the story of this book is kind of weird, and I didn't really like it.
Something I did like was the romance. (Spoiler if you haven't read books one and two). FINALLY, just Juliet and Montgomery. They got engaged at the end of book two, if you didn't remember. I'm so sick of love triangles, and book one really that love triangle going. A lot of my dislike towards Juliet comes from her decision-making when it comes to the romance, especially in book one. But in this book? It seems so obvious that she would choose Montgomery - of course she would! I won't say anything about the ending of this book, but I will say that I'm glad that Juliet and Montgomery had the chance to spend time together in this book (finally), without having to worry about Juliet and Edward/"the Beast".
The setting in each book was different, and in this book, it was Ballentyne. I liked this setting the best of the three. I feel the castle was a good place for everything to come to a standstill, for Juliet to make a decision about practicing the unnatural science. I liked how the setting lent itself to the story of this particular book in the series.
Overall, this novel did a decent job of wrapping up things, bringing the series to a close. The final stand was pretty dramatic, and I could buy the resolution. I'm not entirely sure about some things in the long run, but eh, I'm not so invested in the series that I care THAT much.
What I Did Not Like:
This book should be split into several parts, because honestly, sometimes the story felt disconnected and closed. Juliet and crew arrive at Ballentyne. The conflict is no longer about those pursuing them in London, but about what is going on in the Von Stein house. Unnatural things are definitely happening there. Readers are introduced to a slew of new characters, all of whom play very important roles in this book's story.
The something huge happens, affecting Juliet, Montgomery, Lucy, etc. This feels like a new conflict has begun (closing the door on the strangeness going on in the house). Then this conflict is kind of put to bed when Juliet and Montgomery decide to get married at the estate. Then this conflict comes back. Then the conflict of the strangeness of the house comes back. Then the conflict of the people chasing Juliet from London comes back. So, in the end, all of the conflicts are taken care of, but it feels like everything is done separately and neatly, instead of connected.
So I hated how the love triangle was forced into The Madman's Daughter. I hated how Juliet felt so insecure about her feelings towards Montgomery and (supposedly) his feelings towards her in Her Dark Curiosity. In this book, I didn't like Juliet because she is SO STUPID. Oh my gosh, it's like she doesn't have two brain cells to run together. She makes dumb decisions, she goes behind Montgomery's back to do experiments, she lies to him, she throws things in his face (what a b****)... she is basically a terrible person. You can see her thought process behind some of her decisions, and you'll be like, what?! How in the world does she come up with some of the rationalizations?! I can't say anything specific, but gosh, she's stupid.
Lucy, too. It's like all of the females are idiotic in this book. Lucy is such a shallow girl - all she cares about is Edward Edward Edward, and not, like, the greater good. Edward is a CREATION, with a "Beast" as second nature. Think of everyone else before you think of your (potentially broken) heart? She's so incredibly selfish.
There were a lot of things that bothered me in this book, and most of them had to do with Juliet.
Would I Recommend It:
Honestly, I kind of enjoyed this series, but I can't say that I recommend the series. It isn't worth the time if you don't have copies of all three books, or if you weren't actively planning on reading the books. On the other hand, if you've read books one and two, definitely read book three. If you've read book one, meh, you're not missing out.
Rating:
2.5 stars -> rounded up to 3 stars. Maybe I'm feeling generous. I liked the book as I was reading it, but looking back, it wasn't all that great. It was okay. Juliet and I weren't friends.
December 27, 2014
3.5 stars
I have no idea how it happened, but somewhere along the way, The Madman's Daughter became one of my favorite series, which is particularly weird because my feelings for this novel are erratic, inconsistent and undeniably bipolar. And yet, in spite of all the flaws, the groans of frustration, the irritated eyerolls and the many times I yelled at the book "Juliet! What the hell is wrong with you?! You seriously can't be that stupid!", I still love this series dearly and I am a lot sadder than I ever thought I would be about saying goodbye now.
A Cold Legacy suffered from some of the same flaws as its predecessors, The Madman's Daughter and Her Dark Curiosity, from the forced romance to the slightly repetitive narration, from Juliet's relentless monologues about the darkness in her inherited by her father to a rather loose structure in the plot, and yet, like the other two, A Cold Legacy just hit me right somehow. There were several scenes I wished hadn't been in there, some turns I thought ridiculous and some others that seemed downright unnecessary, all of them things that usually turn me off from most books, and yet I still really liked this book and thought it a good ending to the series. I don't know how Shepherd does it. I don't know if it's the writing, the thematic, the atmosphere, the unique way she chose to reinterpret all these timeless classics, or an explosive combination of all of the above, but there's probably nothing this series could do that could make me stop loving it, and trust me, it tried very hard.
As usual, Juliet continues to be the dumbest smart person I've ever read about. I don't doubt for a second that this girl is brilliant, for she shows it clearly time and time again, and yet, like in the other two installments in the trilogy, Juliet's prone to making the worst decisions ever and unleash hell upon herself and those around her.
Of course, we wouldn't have much of a plot if Juliet didn't screw up once in a while, but it felt forced at times, for she would impulsively do something she was very well aware was stupid, and then wonder what went wrong or try to reason away her responsibility. Seriously, three books through Juliet's eyes come down to basically this:
And yet, I liked this girl so much. She felt so authentic, so brave and brilliant. Sure, she went off in innumerable tangents in the narration that all basically came down to her thinking about how dark her soul was, how prone to evil she was, how she should just let go and be like she was supposed to be, like her father, and all that was admittedly tiring after a while, but I genuinely believed Juliet's moral ambiguity, her internal moral struggle. Juliet might've been a flawed character that made a lot more mistakes than she should've, but I still thought she was a competent lead and I could always count on her to redeem herself in some way and genuinely try to take responsibility and fix the situation.
What did bother me a lot about her in this novel, almost unforgivably so, is that she pretty much deleted from her mind that she had ever loved Edward in her own way in the first and second installments in the series, and that they had become so much more in Her Cold Curiosity. She put up this charade about them just being very good friends, like someone who refuses to look at someone in the other corner of the room and pretends they don't even exist, as if not acknowledging that person is tantamount to them, and their history together, being deleted away from existence. That's what it was like every single time Juliet began to talk about how she wanted Edward to get better because they were just such dear friends and so that he could resume his romance with Lucy.
It took over 200 pages for Juliet to finally acknowledge that, yes, there had been something between her and Edward, but she dismissed it quickly, saying it had been nothing but need and that both of them now understood that it had never been love and that they worked better as friends. In one fell swoop, a layer of tension in the novel and the romance, which the story had basically shoved down our throats for two books, magically went away with very little effort, and that's something that really bothered me. I was all for the forced love triangle's swift death, but certainly not like this. I think the connection that Edward and Juliet had deserved better. On the other hand, Montgomery continued to do absolutely nothing for me, except give me mild irritation with his rampant hypocrisy a time or two.
Shepherd gave the original Frankenstein a very original twist in this novel. I was genuinely impressed. When it was revealed that this was the classic A Cold Legacy would tackle, I was admittedly concerned. I had no idea how she was going to make it work, but Shepherd managed it commendably and actually honored the original novel by infusing it with a lot of its symbolism, its themes and ideas, and working into the threads of the novel the essence of Shelley's original and combining them almost flawlessly with the ones from previous novels, like the darkness of the human mind, the dueling morality within every person and the curiosity that moves us all.
The main plot of the novel unfolded a bit slowly, but like with the other two, I was never bored because there were many things happening at the same time. Unlike the others, though, there was a tension missing from the novel, which had been the very aspect that had effectively disguised how slow the plot in the previous two had been. In this installment, some of the events felt disjointed, and I often felt like the novel was limping its way to the end rather than being carried aloft by the tension, atmosphere and mystery of the novel like in the previous two books in the series.
I also struggled with just how much foreshadowing there was in the novel. It was almost funny how some character would say something to reassure someone else and you could almost hear the tension music swelling in the background of their innocent and naive believe in safety that didn't exist. And it felt like the novel was constantly looking pointedly at me and going like this:
The ending was definitely exciting and it rescued the novel for me somewhat, but I still really, really, really don't like how it unfolded. I think the antagonist in this novel was ridiculous, that the entire subplot concerning him and his nefarious intentions felt tagged on in the novel simply because the story needed a conclusion and some excitement towards the end. I also didn't like the big reveal concerning Juliet's parents, the way they attempted to put her mother on the same level as her father for the most infuriatingly sexist reason ever - - and the twist concerning Dr. Moreau. And I particularly didn't like how Juliet finally got an epiphany and realized that there are some aspects of science better left untouched, which resulted in a choice that felt forced, unbelievable, and quite frankly, extremely hypocritical of her.
And yet... crap. I like this novel. I love this series. I like this messy, inconsistent, strange series and the idea of not reading another installment the next year hurts a lot more than I care to admit. Was it a satisfying conclusion? Not exactly. Was the series flawed? Absolutely. Does it matter to me? Not at all. I think what Shepherd did with this series was fascinating. She reinvented old classics in unbelievably original ways, she breathed new life into old, tired tropes, and she gave us a final product that's unlike anything else in the genre. Yes, there's a love triangle, gorgeous love interests, incessant and self-centered whining, and daddy issues, but I'll be dammed if I don't love this series all the more for making me so angry and annoying me so much and still managing to push its way into my heart.
I have no idea how it happened, but somewhere along the way, The Madman's Daughter became one of my favorite series, which is particularly weird because my feelings for this novel are erratic, inconsistent and undeniably bipolar. And yet, in spite of all the flaws, the groans of frustration, the irritated eyerolls and the many times I yelled at the book "Juliet! What the hell is wrong with you?! You seriously can't be that stupid!", I still love this series dearly and I am a lot sadder than I ever thought I would be about saying goodbye now.
A Cold Legacy suffered from some of the same flaws as its predecessors, The Madman's Daughter and Her Dark Curiosity, from the forced romance to the slightly repetitive narration, from Juliet's relentless monologues about the darkness in her inherited by her father to a rather loose structure in the plot, and yet, like the other two, A Cold Legacy just hit me right somehow. There were several scenes I wished hadn't been in there, some turns I thought ridiculous and some others that seemed downright unnecessary, all of them things that usually turn me off from most books, and yet I still really liked this book and thought it a good ending to the series. I don't know how Shepherd does it. I don't know if it's the writing, the thematic, the atmosphere, the unique way she chose to reinterpret all these timeless classics, or an explosive combination of all of the above, but there's probably nothing this series could do that could make me stop loving it, and trust me, it tried very hard.
As usual, Juliet continues to be the dumbest smart person I've ever read about. I don't doubt for a second that this girl is brilliant, for she shows it clearly time and time again, and yet, like in the other two installments in the trilogy, Juliet's prone to making the worst decisions ever and unleash hell upon herself and those around her.
Of course, we wouldn't have much of a plot if Juliet didn't screw up once in a while, but it felt forced at times, for she would impulsively do something she was very well aware was stupid, and then wonder what went wrong or try to reason away her responsibility. Seriously, three books through Juliet's eyes come down to basically this:
And yet, I liked this girl so much. She felt so authentic, so brave and brilliant. Sure, she went off in innumerable tangents in the narration that all basically came down to her thinking about how dark her soul was, how prone to evil she was, how she should just let go and be like she was supposed to be, like her father, and all that was admittedly tiring after a while, but I genuinely believed Juliet's moral ambiguity, her internal moral struggle. Juliet might've been a flawed character that made a lot more mistakes than she should've, but I still thought she was a competent lead and I could always count on her to redeem herself in some way and genuinely try to take responsibility and fix the situation.
What did bother me a lot about her in this novel, almost unforgivably so, is that she pretty much deleted from her mind that she had ever loved Edward in her own way in the first and second installments in the series, and that they had become so much more in Her Cold Curiosity. She put up this charade about them just being very good friends, like someone who refuses to look at someone in the other corner of the room and pretends they don't even exist, as if not acknowledging that person is tantamount to them, and their history together, being deleted away from existence. That's what it was like every single time Juliet began to talk about how she wanted Edward to get better because they were just such dear friends and so that he could resume his romance with Lucy.
It took over 200 pages for Juliet to finally acknowledge that, yes, there had been something between her and Edward, but she dismissed it quickly, saying it had been nothing but need and that both of them now understood that it had never been love and that they worked better as friends. In one fell swoop, a layer of tension in the novel and the romance, which the story had basically shoved down our throats for two books, magically went away with very little effort, and that's something that really bothered me. I was all for the forced love triangle's swift death, but certainly not like this. I think the connection that Edward and Juliet had deserved better. On the other hand, Montgomery continued to do absolutely nothing for me, except give me mild irritation with his rampant hypocrisy a time or two.
Shepherd gave the original Frankenstein a very original twist in this novel. I was genuinely impressed. When it was revealed that this was the classic A Cold Legacy would tackle, I was admittedly concerned. I had no idea how she was going to make it work, but Shepherd managed it commendably and actually honored the original novel by infusing it with a lot of its symbolism, its themes and ideas, and working into the threads of the novel the essence of Shelley's original and combining them almost flawlessly with the ones from previous novels, like the darkness of the human mind, the dueling morality within every person and the curiosity that moves us all.
The main plot of the novel unfolded a bit slowly, but like with the other two, I was never bored because there were many things happening at the same time. Unlike the others, though, there was a tension missing from the novel, which had been the very aspect that had effectively disguised how slow the plot in the previous two had been. In this installment, some of the events felt disjointed, and I often felt like the novel was limping its way to the end rather than being carried aloft by the tension, atmosphere and mystery of the novel like in the previous two books in the series.
I also struggled with just how much foreshadowing there was in the novel. It was almost funny how some character would say something to reassure someone else and you could almost hear the tension music swelling in the background of their innocent and naive believe in safety that didn't exist. And it felt like the novel was constantly looking pointedly at me and going like this:
The ending was definitely exciting and it rescued the novel for me somewhat, but I still really, really, really don't like how it unfolded. I think the antagonist in this novel was ridiculous, that the entire subplot concerning him and his nefarious intentions felt tagged on in the novel simply because the story needed a conclusion and some excitement towards the end. I also didn't like the big reveal concerning Juliet's parents, the way they attempted to put her mother on the same level as her father for the most infuriatingly sexist reason ever - - and the twist concerning Dr. Moreau. And I particularly didn't like how Juliet finally got an epiphany and realized that there are some aspects of science better left untouched, which resulted in a choice that felt forced, unbelievable, and quite frankly, extremely hypocritical of her.
And yet... crap. I like this novel. I love this series. I like this messy, inconsistent, strange series and the idea of not reading another installment the next year hurts a lot more than I care to admit. Was it a satisfying conclusion? Not exactly. Was the series flawed? Absolutely. Does it matter to me? Not at all. I think what Shepherd did with this series was fascinating. She reinvented old classics in unbelievably original ways, she breathed new life into old, tired tropes, and she gave us a final product that's unlike anything else in the genre. Yes, there's a love triangle, gorgeous love interests, incessant and self-centered whining, and daddy issues, but I'll be dammed if I don't love this series all the more for making me so angry and annoying me so much and still managing to push its way into my heart.
October 31, 2016
After the 2nd book in this series being on my list of least favorite books of last year, I KNEW I wasn't going to like this. I should have just stayed away but I was hoping it would surprise me with an awesome Frankenstein retelling. Frankentein is one of the few classics I actually enjoyed studying so I was totally down for a YA retelling. I really felt like that's not what I got though. It was more like a very loose sequel to Frankenstein set years after that story, with Juliet discovering his methods.
For most of this book I found myself just hoping it would be over already. I considered DNFing it a couple of times but then it would tease that a "creature" was about to come into the story so I would stick around. But it ended up not being done in a way that created any sort of attachment for me.
As for the writing, I felt like many statements were cheater narration. The story is told in first person from Juliet's POV. I listened to the audiobook so I couldn't mark the exact passages, but there were things such as: "The rain and darkness made it hard to see. I could just barely make out a dark figure in the distance. It was Lucy, afraid and running to alert Edward." If she can barely see, how does she know who it is? And much less, what they are doing and why? Sure, Juliet could be making an assumption in that moment, but instances like this happened frequently and we're supposed to take them as absolute truths. The narration basically made Juliet omniscient to get around the limitations of first person POV.
The characters were just as shallow as ever. I'm still entirely unconvinced of the relationship. Both of the characters do nothing but lie to each other.
I had to ask myself 'did I like anything at all about this?' The one thing I did like was the gothic, atmospheric setting. But a setting is just a backdrop. The characters, plot, and writing were just unimpressive to me. I just didn't care about anything happening. I mean, at least it didn't make me ragey, so there's that going for it?
For most of this book I found myself just hoping it would be over already. I considered DNFing it a couple of times but then it would tease that a "creature" was about to come into the story so I would stick around. But it ended up not being done in a way that created any sort of attachment for me.
As for the writing, I felt like many statements were cheater narration. The story is told in first person from Juliet's POV. I listened to the audiobook so I couldn't mark the exact passages, but there were things such as: "The rain and darkness made it hard to see. I could just barely make out a dark figure in the distance. It was Lucy, afraid and running to alert Edward." If she can barely see, how does she know who it is? And much less, what they are doing and why? Sure, Juliet could be making an assumption in that moment, but instances like this happened frequently and we're supposed to take them as absolute truths. The narration basically made Juliet omniscient to get around the limitations of first person POV.
The characters were just as shallow as ever. I'm still entirely unconvinced of the relationship. Both of the characters do nothing but lie to each other.
I had to ask myself 'did I like anything at all about this?' The one thing I did like was the gothic, atmospheric setting. But a setting is just a backdrop. The characters, plot, and writing were just unimpressive to me. I just didn't care about anything happening. I mean, at least it didn't make me ragey, so there's that going for it?
Read
July 23, 2015Wh-what is this?
A third book? Let me guess:
There will be a love triangle
Julielkt will wrestle with
a. her past
b. her nature
c. her feelings
Someone thought to be dead will reappear
To this I say:
That's so been-there-read-that of the first two books. And
So, in summation:
and
A third book? Let me guess:
There will be a love triangle
Julie
a. her past
b. her nature
c. her feelings
Someone thought to be dead will reappear
To this I say:
That's so been-there-read-that of the first two books. And
So, in summation:
and
May 23, 2015
Great ending to a great trilogy!
October 15, 2018
3.25/5
May 30, 2015
For this review and more, go to my blog Lizzie the Sarcastic Blonde
Me Starting this Book:
I decided that for me to be able to successfully get out all my thoughts and feelings for this book, I should add all of my status updates:
10/24 marked as: to-read
04/26 marked as: currently-reading
04/26 page 67
17.0% "Shut up, Lucy. He doesn't love you."
04/27 page 108
27.0% "Don't let a stupid boy tell you what to do, Juliet! Just do you!"
04/28 page 199
51.0% "NO! NO! NO! That can't happen! That breaks my heart! That's not what I wanted to happen! It's only halfway through so things can change and be fixed! PLEASE!!!"
04/29 page 266
68.0% "There's still time for it to be cancelled, right? I don't want THAT to happen because of my ship! I will go down with it if its the last thing I do!"
04/30 page 310
79.0% "Goddammit, Lucy! You ruin everything!"
04/30 page 344
88.0% "Well that was a plot twist."
04/30 marked as: read
As you can see, I do not like Lucy. During the entire book, all I wanted to do was to slap Lucy. She just kept getting in the way and being super annoying. She would guilt Juliet into doing things that she didn't want to do and Juliet did it because she felt bad. That's not what friends do, Lucy!
And then there's Montgomery. He's so fucking overbearing that I felt like I was being choked by his controlling attitude whenever he was talking. He just acted like he knew best when he really knew nothing.
I'll discuss the other characters later.
Anyway, Juliet and Co. are on their way to Elizabeth von Stein's Scottish manor to find safety while Lucy's father is trying to track them down. At her manor, things are pretty creepy. As in a basement full of dead people, weird servants, and creepy little kid that wanders through hidden passageways. Needless to say, there are a lot of secrets. All of them Juliet wants to uncover.
During her time at Elizabeth's manor, Juliet finds out that both of them are similar. All of Elizabeth's servants have come to her for help of the surgical nature, showing Juliet that it's possible for her to use her talents to help. Elizabeth also teaches Juliet how to reanimate someone who has died, which will be handy later on.
If you read the second book in the trilogy, Her Dark Curiosity, then you'd know that Montgomery proposed to Juliet.
Because of this, planning the wedding and shit comes up a lot in the story. And I'm not happy. As discussed before, I can't stand Montgomery. I don't want to think about him anymore.
Poor Edward is still deathly ill, but the Beast still comes out while Edward is unconscious. The Beast tells Juliet what's wrong with him, and what she needs to do to help him. Still Team Edward. All the way. Forever. And then Lucy is always sitting at his bedside holding his hand and telling him that she loves him. Lucy, you are just so dumb. Juliet and Edward are meant to be, not YOU and Edward. Goddammit you idiot girl.
I just don't understand how Juliet can agree to marry Montgomery. HE didn't come to her after HE pushed her off the island all alone on a boat left to fend for herself. Edward came back to England to find her. And Montgomery babied her and didn't think she could handle anything. EDWARD believed in her!
And then Lucy fucked up everything. She's the reason a bunch of bad shit happens at the end. Oh well. She had it coming for being stupid.
About the last 25% of the book had a ton of surprises that I didn't see coming. A few I was fine with, others I didn't like. I could go on and on with how I didn't like the ending, but then it would give away a bunch of spoilers. Sigh. I hate it when I don't like the ending of a series that I love.
Juliet
For such a smart girl, she made a really bad decision. She was pressured so much during the book and no one seemed to care about how she felt.
Montgomery
So annoying. I just wanted to slap him and tell him to stop being so controlling. Not an attractive trait, honey.
Lucy
As stated before, I couldn't stand her. One of my least favorite, probably my least favorite, best friend characters.
Edward
My poor, sweet Edward. I just wanted him to get better.
Balthazar
I didn't discuss him earlier, but he's still super sweet and innocent.
Elizabeth
She was fascinating. She had so many secrets and I feel like she was a big sister-figure to Juliet. I wish we got more of her.
Overall, despite the fact that I was quite unhappy with the ending, I just can't give this book anything other than 5 stars. It was still really good. I'm so sad that this series is over. I feel like I would have a little bit more closure if I liked the ending, but it was still an amazing book that kept me reading!
Me Starting this Book:
I decided that for me to be able to successfully get out all my thoughts and feelings for this book, I should add all of my status updates:
10/24 marked as: to-read
04/26 marked as: currently-reading
04/26 page 67
17.0% "Shut up, Lucy. He doesn't love you."
04/27 page 108
27.0% "Don't let a stupid boy tell you what to do, Juliet! Just do you!"
04/28 page 199
51.0% "NO! NO! NO! That can't happen! That breaks my heart! That's not what I wanted to happen! It's only halfway through so things can change and be fixed! PLEASE!!!"
04/29 page 266
68.0% "There's still time for it to be cancelled, right? I don't want THAT to happen because of my ship! I will go down with it if its the last thing I do!"
04/30 page 310
79.0% "Goddammit, Lucy! You ruin everything!"
04/30 page 344
88.0% "Well that was a plot twist."
04/30 marked as: read
As you can see, I do not like Lucy. During the entire book, all I wanted to do was to slap Lucy. She just kept getting in the way and being super annoying. She would guilt Juliet into doing things that she didn't want to do and Juliet did it because she felt bad. That's not what friends do, Lucy!
And then there's Montgomery. He's so fucking overbearing that I felt like I was being choked by his controlling attitude whenever he was talking. He just acted like he knew best when he really knew nothing.
I'll discuss the other characters later.
Anyway, Juliet and Co. are on their way to Elizabeth von Stein's Scottish manor to find safety while Lucy's father is trying to track them down. At her manor, things are pretty creepy. As in a basement full of dead people, weird servants, and creepy little kid that wanders through hidden passageways. Needless to say, there are a lot of secrets. All of them Juliet wants to uncover.
During her time at Elizabeth's manor, Juliet finds out that both of them are similar. All of Elizabeth's servants have come to her for help of the surgical nature, showing Juliet that it's possible for her to use her talents to help. Elizabeth also teaches Juliet how to reanimate someone who has died, which will be handy later on.
If you read the second book in the trilogy, Her Dark Curiosity, then you'd know that Montgomery proposed to Juliet.
Because of this, planning the wedding and shit comes up a lot in the story. And I'm not happy. As discussed before, I can't stand Montgomery. I don't want to think about him anymore.
Poor Edward is still deathly ill, but the Beast still comes out while Edward is unconscious. The Beast tells Juliet what's wrong with him, and what she needs to do to help him. Still Team Edward. All the way. Forever. And then Lucy is always sitting at his bedside holding his hand and telling him that she loves him. Lucy, you are just so dumb. Juliet and Edward are meant to be, not YOU and Edward. Goddammit you idiot girl.
I just don't understand how Juliet can agree to marry Montgomery. HE didn't come to her after HE pushed her off the island all alone on a boat left to fend for herself. Edward came back to England to find her. And Montgomery babied her and didn't think she could handle anything. EDWARD believed in her!
And then Lucy fucked up everything. She's the reason a bunch of bad shit happens at the end. Oh well. She had it coming for being stupid.
About the last 25% of the book had a ton of surprises that I didn't see coming. A few I was fine with, others I didn't like. I could go on and on with how I didn't like the ending, but then it would give away a bunch of spoilers. Sigh. I hate it when I don't like the ending of a series that I love.
Juliet
For such a smart girl, she made a really bad decision. She was pressured so much during the book and no one seemed to care about how she felt.
Montgomery
So annoying. I just wanted to slap him and tell him to stop being so controlling. Not an attractive trait, honey.
Lucy
As stated before, I couldn't stand her. One of my least favorite, probably my least favorite, best friend characters.
Edward
My poor, sweet Edward. I just wanted him to get better.
Balthazar
I didn't discuss him earlier, but he's still super sweet and innocent.
Elizabeth
She was fascinating. She had so many secrets and I feel like she was a big sister-figure to Juliet. I wish we got more of her.
Overall, despite the fact that I was quite unhappy with the ending, I just can't give this book anything other than 5 stars. It was still really good. I'm so sad that this series is over. I feel like I would have a little bit more closure if I liked the ending, but it was still an amazing book that kept me reading!
April 7, 2020
Bence serinin en güzel kitabı 2.ci kitaptı hatta seri iki kitapla bitebilirdi bu biraz zorla uzatma olmuş bazı yerlerde saçmalamış ama yinede okumak güzeldi okurken 19.departmani anımsattı bana seri,kendi türünde başarılıydı bence 🤷♀️
January 21, 2015
This book made me want to roll around on the floor. Not because it gave me and good feelings but because this book was so bad. And I hate that it was bad. This was my first review of 2015, my first read, and the end to a wonderfully morbid trilogy I fell in love with. I wanted to love this. But this sucked.
This is an emotional review, you're warned now.
I will say that the travesties that happened to Edward (there were so many) were one of my major reasons for disliking this novel. He deserved better character development without the Beast and more time to finish his story arc! Also. Science doesn't work that way. I know nothing about science, surgery, and only the basics of medicine, but I know that you cannot No, no. This is not how science works! No time or effort was spent to even try to make it sound even slightly plausible as was done in the earlier books. I can suspend belief if there is a good, thought-out, a crazy yet planned-out reason to believe that blah blah is happening and this is why it will work. The prior two did this, but there was no explanation or even details to absorb.
The plot was weak. I read Frankenstein and disused it in detail in college and considering that this book was supposed to be inspired by it I was utterly heartbroken that there was practically no introspection with Juliet. The first was inspired by The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells, and I thought it was such a compliment to the classic tale. The second was inspired by The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and it was very interesting by including the inner battle between man and beast. But this... I doubt the author even read Frankenstein. By the look of things, she just barely included the Hollywood basics, and missed the entire soul and miraculous points of Frankenstein.
Lucy became the most irritating and stupid female character that I've read in a looong time. She and Edward became an old, worn out cliche. It could have been done much better. I expected better.
Overall, my dislike stems from two reasons.
The first: the fact that it was painfully predictable. I knew every twist and turn (even the BIG secret Montgomery was concealing that Juliet never bothered to ask him abut for 300+pages). Instead of surprises, we are told what is going to happen over the next few pages, and without fail, does. I didn't want to believe it was happening at the beginning, I hoped it was an editing coincidence they didn't pick up. Sadly, it continued throughout the entirety of A Cold Legacy.This, my friends, is lazy writing.
The second: Juliet has gone through so much and changed and evolved into a strong young woman who knows who she is and what she wants. In the first book, on the island, she sees what evil science can do. In the second, she sees what obsession can do. As she advanced and grew, she makes no apologies for knowing herself in the previous books. But then suddenly, in this one, she devolves into a passive character who seemed to loose her brain along with her guts. Juliet wasn't enough to hold my interest 90% of the time.
Reading this, I felt that the author was done with this trilogy before she even began writing the end. It was so jostling as a reader, I'm unsure of whether I want to continue with her next trilogy The Cage. Maybe I'll give her Stand-Alone novels a try in the future. All of the characters became other people in this final book. People they weren't. People who had no real depth, who had no deep emotions, who were just there to end the bloody tale. It ended up being a disappointing end to an otherwise good trilogy.
Overall: a predictable and lazy flop.
I may reread this at some point in order to see if I do still hate it. It may be better tolerated if you marathon the trilogy.
This is an emotional review, you're warned now.
I will say that the travesties that happened to Edward (there were so many) were one of my major reasons for disliking this novel. He deserved better character development without the Beast and more time to finish his story arc! Also. Science doesn't work that way. I know nothing about science, surgery, and only the basics of medicine, but I know that you cannot No, no. This is not how science works! No time or effort was spent to even try to make it sound even slightly plausible as was done in the earlier books. I can suspend belief if there is a good, thought-out, a crazy yet planned-out reason to believe that blah blah is happening and this is why it will work. The prior two did this, but there was no explanation or even details to absorb.
The plot was weak. I read Frankenstein and disused it in detail in college and considering that this book was supposed to be inspired by it I was utterly heartbroken that there was practically no introspection with Juliet. The first was inspired by The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells, and I thought it was such a compliment to the classic tale. The second was inspired by The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and it was very interesting by including the inner battle between man and beast. But this... I doubt the author even read Frankenstein. By the look of things, she just barely included the Hollywood basics, and missed the entire soul and miraculous points of Frankenstein.
Lucy became the most irritating and stupid female character that I've read in a looong time. She and Edward became an old, worn out cliche. It could have been done much better. I expected better.
Overall, my dislike stems from two reasons.
The first: the fact that it was painfully predictable. I knew every twist and turn (even the BIG secret Montgomery was concealing that Juliet never bothered to ask him abut for 300+pages). Instead of surprises, we are told what is going to happen over the next few pages, and without fail, does. I didn't want to believe it was happening at the beginning, I hoped it was an editing coincidence they didn't pick up. Sadly, it continued throughout the entirety of A Cold Legacy.
The second: Juliet has gone through so much and changed and evolved into a strong young woman who knows who she is and what she wants. In the first book, on the island, she sees what evil science can do. In the second, she sees what obsession can do. As she advanced and grew, she makes no apologies for knowing herself in the previous books. But then suddenly, in this one, she devolves into a passive character who seemed to loose her brain along with her guts. Juliet wasn't enough to hold my interest 90% of the time.
Reading this, I felt that the author was done with this trilogy before she even began writing the end. It was so jostling as a reader, I'm unsure of whether I want to continue with her next trilogy The Cage. Maybe I'll give her Stand-Alone novels a try in the future. All of the characters became other people in this final book. People they weren't. People who had no real depth, who had no deep emotions, who were just there to end the bloody tale. It ended up being a disappointing end to an otherwise good trilogy.
Overall: a predictable and lazy flop.
I may reread this at some point in order to see if I do still hate it. It may be better tolerated if you marathon the trilogy.
February 24, 2017
Perfect.
I've come to think of this series as one of those hidden gems. Which may be kind of odd because the first book did get a decent amount of ratings, but let's face it. This was nowhere near the level of those other very well known books.
And it's not everyone's cup of tea either. There are faults within these books, flaws that sometimes you can't overlook. But you really do have to respect this series. How often do you read a trilogy that twists and ties the classics, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Frankenstein together? I've never read those books before--though I do plan to, frankly because of this series--and nor have I ever seen quite a retelling such as The Madman's Daughter trilogy.
Sure, there are a lot of authors that retell classics or fairy tales, but this seemed to be unique in various ways.
I'm not expert on Victorian-Era London, but I imagine it can't be pretty, especially for a girl like Juliet. She starts off as a curious 16-year-old girl with a passion for science. And she has grown so much throughout the second and last books, it's amazing. Juliet had always been a strong heroine. At times, she did make stupid mistakes, but instead of waving them off, or worse, doing them again, she acknowledges her behaviour. She stands up for her actions. She says "fuck you" to her society and stands up for herself, fights back, does what she loves despite the obstacles in her way--both a mental and physical fight.
I really loved Juliet and her character development. I never thought her as a damsel in distress; I felt that she could get things done. She does what she thinks is right, even if it means going behind the backs of the people she loves--for the people she loves. She's lost more than she gained, in the end. She didn't break down or back up; she kept at it.
I feel like I'm ranting, but I really can't help it. This last book comes out in three weeks and I'm so excited for everyone to read it because I simply loved it. And while I kept going on and on about the main character, secondary characters play just as an important role.
For example, Lucy. How many times was the best friend tossed to the sides, never to be heard from? I hate when that happens. I love a good female relationship as much as a good romance, but it often gets neglected, from what I've read. Lucy plays a bigger role in this finale and I've gotta say, I really liked her. Juliet had been ready for her downfall from the beginning--this was all new to Lucy. She didn't mope around trying to get back to her old life; she stuck it through and worked side-by-side with Juliet.
I don't really have a problem with the romance in this book. Yes, there was a love triangle in the first two I never really cared much for either of the guys here, not because they weren't interesting, but because there was just a bigger picture most times. It was well written, in my opinion, but I didn't think it was the central point.
Overall, this series has come a long way. I'm glad I read on because I completely fell in love with this finale.
—
Edit II
Points for cover continuity. It's so pretty oh my god I love it.
—
Edit
Oooooh, a title! I like it.
—
Probably going to have to reread the first two books by the time this comes out, but oh well.
I've come to think of this series as one of those hidden gems. Which may be kind of odd because the first book did get a decent amount of ratings, but let's face it. This was nowhere near the level of those other very well known books.
And it's not everyone's cup of tea either. There are faults within these books, flaws that sometimes you can't overlook. But you really do have to respect this series. How often do you read a trilogy that twists and ties the classics, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Frankenstein together? I've never read those books before--though I do plan to, frankly because of this series--and nor have I ever seen quite a retelling such as The Madman's Daughter trilogy.
Sure, there are a lot of authors that retell classics or fairy tales, but this seemed to be unique in various ways.
I'm not expert on Victorian-Era London, but I imagine it can't be pretty, especially for a girl like Juliet. She starts off as a curious 16-year-old girl with a passion for science. And she has grown so much throughout the second and last books, it's amazing. Juliet had always been a strong heroine. At times, she did make stupid mistakes, but instead of waving them off, or worse, doing them again, she acknowledges her behaviour. She stands up for her actions. She says "fuck you" to her society and stands up for herself, fights back, does what she loves despite the obstacles in her way--both a mental and physical fight.
I really loved Juliet and her character development. I never thought her as a damsel in distress; I felt that she could get things done. She does what she thinks is right, even if it means going behind the backs of the people she loves--for the people she loves. She's lost more than she gained, in the end. She didn't break down or back up; she kept at it.
I feel like I'm ranting, but I really can't help it. This last book comes out in three weeks and I'm so excited for everyone to read it because I simply loved it. And while I kept going on and on about the main character, secondary characters play just as an important role.
For example, Lucy. How many times was the best friend tossed to the sides, never to be heard from? I hate when that happens. I love a good female relationship as much as a good romance, but it often gets neglected, from what I've read. Lucy plays a bigger role in this finale and I've gotta say, I really liked her. Juliet had been ready for her downfall from the beginning--this was all new to Lucy. She didn't mope around trying to get back to her old life; she stuck it through and worked side-by-side with Juliet.
I don't really have a problem with the romance in this book. Yes, there was a love triangle in the first two I never really cared much for either of the guys here, not because they weren't interesting, but because there was just a bigger picture most times. It was well written, in my opinion, but I didn't think it was the central point.
Overall, this series has come a long way. I'm glad I read on because I completely fell in love with this finale.
—
Edit II
Points for cover continuity. It's so pretty oh my god I love it.
—
Edit
Oooooh, a title! I like it.
—
Probably going to have to reread the first two books by the time this comes out, but oh well.
March 24, 2015
3.5 stars
So this wasn't the worst book, but I guess I just wasn't in the best reading mood.
So A Cold Legacy has some great chilling moments, which I really enjoyed. This one has a lot of with the coming-back-but-not-the-same thing.
I personally didn't like that storyline too much. Especially with But I did like the little kid, who I unfortunately forgot the name of.
There were also many plot holes. And something that bothered me was how Juliet and Montgomery didn't really have what I would call a relationship with love. Montgomery has issues with Juliet's morals, but they don't really talk about it.
And Lucy was also pretty annoying, because of how desperate she was.
But the plot moved fast and had some twists that I didn't see coming. The characters were also great overall.
And I guess that there was a good ending overall. I wished that there was an explanation for some of the things that happened, but I still enjoyed the series.
So this wasn't the worst book, but I guess I just wasn't in the best reading mood.
So A Cold Legacy has some great chilling moments, which I really enjoyed. This one has a lot of with the coming-back-but-not-the-same thing.
I personally didn't like that storyline too much. Especially with But I did like the little kid, who I unfortunately forgot the name of.
There were also many plot holes. And something that bothered me was how Juliet and Montgomery didn't really have what I would call a relationship with love. Montgomery has issues with Juliet's morals, but they don't really talk about it.
And Lucy was also pretty annoying, because of how desperate she was.
But the plot moved fast and had some twists that I didn't see coming. The characters were also great overall.
And I guess that there was a good ending overall. I wished that there was an explanation for some of the things that happened, but I still enjoyed the series.
January 31, 2015
I thought this was an amazing conclusion to the trilogy. However maybe because I was having a reading slump I did not enjoy reading this book as much as I want, in a certain point I just started hating everyone Lucy in particular I find her devastatingly annoying. As for the plot, there were parts that I did not expect coming but I definitely was not extremely surprised by it.
December 3, 2016
Plot - 17/20
Characters - 15/20
Creativity - 19/20
Writing - 18/20
Pace - 9/10
Ending - 8/10
87/100 =
B+
4.5/5 stars
I love this series so much! I'm so happy I decided to pick it up. The story and charaters are all unquie. The writing is creepy keeping the suspense real as well as your pulse racing, but not to bad! The reason it got knocked off a 1/5 a star was there were a lot of times I wanted to yell at Juliette. She made a lot of stupid choices that I could obviously see were wrong and stupid. Beside that frustration with her for her stupidity on the last half of this book I loved it! Would definatly recommend, esipecally during Halloween!
Characters - 15/20
Creativity - 19/20
Writing - 18/20
Pace - 9/10
Ending - 8/10
87/100 =
B+
4.5/5 stars
I love this series so much! I'm so happy I decided to pick it up. The story and charaters are all unquie. The writing is creepy keeping the suspense real as well as your pulse racing, but not to bad! The reason it got knocked off a 1/5 a star was there were a lot of times I wanted to yell at Juliette. She made a lot of stupid choices that I could obviously see were wrong and stupid. Beside that frustration with her for her stupidity on the last half of this book I loved it! Would definatly recommend, esipecally during Halloween!
January 12, 2015
What darkness began, only madness can end.
Filled with chilling suspense, dark science, and a highly atmospheric setting, A Cold Legacy is the finale book in author Megan Shepherd's trilogy The Madman's Daughter - a conclusion that I have been breathlessly waiting on with high anticipation.
Dark Science, Frankenstein and "Perpetual Anatomy."
Inspired by the classic Frankenstein, author Megan Shepherd once again gives her readers a story that incorporates unique elements from a Gothic classic. This time around there's plenty of unexplained oddities with a mix of chilling and horror filled experiments to keep us on edge. A touch of the macabre wrapped-up in Victorian sensibility.
Dead bodies in the basement, secret passages and rogue gypsies.
Each book in this series has a fantastic, highly atmospheric setting that transports us into a dark world where science, romance and Gothic horror collide. Set upon the remote Scottish moors, Ballentyne manor holds some bizarre secrets. Its owner Professor Elizabeth von Stein is a descendant from the legendary Victory Frankenstein, and has brought her own form of science to the highlands and its people.
Juliet, dual nature, forbidden experiments, and the chance to finally be free.
The theme of dual nature is again present in this story, with Juliet still grappling with her fascination and horror over her fathers experiments. Strong, beautiful, resilient, and fallible. Juliet continues to be a favorite heroine of mine for the very fact she represents such struggle to do right, yet is often caught-up in impossible situations, leading to imperfect choices. This time around, just as she settles old fears with her fathers science and her dual nature, the hidden world of Ballentyne manor holds forbidden temptations and dangers to Juliet and all those she loves.
Endearing Romance and Friendship
The romance is finally on course in this final conclusion, but there are many obstacles set in Juliet and the one she loves way before they can truly be together. Edward's life still hangs in the balance, and a growing friendship between him and Lucy was very interesting to see develop. So much happened in this fast plot that I actually missed some of the drama and dark romance of the two previous books, but I loved where each character ended in this story and gave me the HEA that I wanted for them.
In the end of it all.
A wonderful conclusion to one of my favorite series, one fans should not miss. A Cold Legacy left me happily satisfied, yet sad to see some of the most dramatic characters I've come across and grown to love, end.
My Rating: 4.5 Stars. I really liked it!
PLEASE NOTE: A copy of this book was provided by Balzer+Bray/HarperCollins in exchange for my fair and honest review. Thank you Balzer+Bray/HarperCollins for the review opportunity!
August 30, 2014
"What darkness began,
only madness can end..."
This is one of my most favorite series ever. When I began the first book in the series, The Madman's Daughter, I was immediately drawn into the dark, creepy world of Juliet Moreau. Her story fascinated and scared me at the same time. I am a huge fan of Young Adult and Horror and this series is a perfect mix of those two genres.
The cover of A Cold Legacy is by far my most favorite in the series. The dark color scheme is the perfect blend of colors and matches the synopsis of the book perfectly. I love how Juliet looks so gorgeous set against the backdrop of the dark, brooding mansion.
This epic, stunning, and phenomenal book starts out with Juliet, Montgomery, Lucy, and Balthazar running from Lucy's father and his men. Elizabeth has given them directions to a remote mansion in the Scottish moors that her family has kept through several generations. The mansion is well-hidden and is a perfect hide-out for Juliet and Montgomery.
Once the group reaches the mansion they encounter the staff that lives and takes care of the mansion. Some of the staff are "mostly" normal while others seem to be very different. Juliet immediately feels as though something is not right and is determined to unravel the mysteries of this mansion and its tenants.
"I hope for your sake--if you truly are the mistress's ward--you have as strong a constitution as she does, Miss Moreau..."
There are several new characters that enter the story at this part in the book and Megan Shepherd really knows how to write in a character where they grab you and dont let go. I found myself completely absorbed in the story and each of their lives.
Balthazar is a character that just grabs my heart and won't let go. Each scene that he is in is just incredible and I usually find myself smiling. I love that he is so tender and yet so strong at the same time. He is so loyal and protective and by far one of my favorite characters in the book.
"I gave him a smile, trying to look brave, but something about Balthazar always crumbled the walls around my heart. I leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek."
A Cold Legacy is the perfect conclusion to an epic series of books. There are so many twists that you never see coming and I dont want to spoil it for those who have not started the series but let me tell you that if you want to be taken on an amazing, creepy, and surprise-filled journey then you need to pick up this series NOW!!!!! This series is one of those that will stay with me forever. Megan Shepherd created a entirely new YA Genre that is full of horror, suspense, and a breath-taking romance. The Madman's Daughter series is in a league of its own....Yes it is THAT good....
only madness can end..."
This is one of my most favorite series ever. When I began the first book in the series, The Madman's Daughter, I was immediately drawn into the dark, creepy world of Juliet Moreau. Her story fascinated and scared me at the same time. I am a huge fan of Young Adult and Horror and this series is a perfect mix of those two genres.
The cover of A Cold Legacy is by far my most favorite in the series. The dark color scheme is the perfect blend of colors and matches the synopsis of the book perfectly. I love how Juliet looks so gorgeous set against the backdrop of the dark, brooding mansion.
This epic, stunning, and phenomenal book starts out with Juliet, Montgomery, Lucy, and Balthazar running from Lucy's father and his men. Elizabeth has given them directions to a remote mansion in the Scottish moors that her family has kept through several generations. The mansion is well-hidden and is a perfect hide-out for Juliet and Montgomery.
Once the group reaches the mansion they encounter the staff that lives and takes care of the mansion. Some of the staff are "mostly" normal while others seem to be very different. Juliet immediately feels as though something is not right and is determined to unravel the mysteries of this mansion and its tenants.
"I hope for your sake--if you truly are the mistress's ward--you have as strong a constitution as she does, Miss Moreau..."
There are several new characters that enter the story at this part in the book and Megan Shepherd really knows how to write in a character where they grab you and dont let go. I found myself completely absorbed in the story and each of their lives.
Balthazar is a character that just grabs my heart and won't let go. Each scene that he is in is just incredible and I usually find myself smiling. I love that he is so tender and yet so strong at the same time. He is so loyal and protective and by far one of my favorite characters in the book.
"I gave him a smile, trying to look brave, but something about Balthazar always crumbled the walls around my heart. I leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek."
A Cold Legacy is the perfect conclusion to an epic series of books. There are so many twists that you never see coming and I dont want to spoil it for those who have not started the series but let me tell you that if you want to be taken on an amazing, creepy, and surprise-filled journey then you need to pick up this series NOW!!!!! This series is one of those that will stay with me forever. Megan Shepherd created a entirely new YA Genre that is full of horror, suspense, and a breath-taking romance. The Madman's Daughter series is in a league of its own....Yes it is THAT good....
February 7, 2015
I don’t know if you remember the move 10 Things I Hate About You but it asked a seriously tough question “I know you can be overwhelmed, and you can be underwhelmed, but can you ever be just whelmed?” Whelmed is exactly how I felt about A Cold Legacy.
I had ridiculously high expectations for this book. It follows one of my favorite stories, Frankenstein, and after Megan Shepherd thoroughly creeped me out in the previous two novels I expected the same with this installment. Instead, the story was slow to start and the mystery was bland. I was just whelmed.
I think I would have been okay with the slow start if the mystery had been a bit more involved. After the ending of Her Dark Curiosity, what with the beasts they’re trying to bring back to life, the deaths of the scientists and the police chase. I expected this story to feed off that plot but this novel begins a new chapter that has more to do with Frankenstein then anything that came before it. Juliet does often think about her father and what happened on the island and in London but there wasn’t a lot of carry over and I found myself missing the creepiness that pervaded the other two novels.
My favorite thing about this book was the character development we got to see from Lucy, Juliet’s friend. Looking back on the flippant girl she was in The Madman’s Daughter you would hardly recognized her! I loved her independent spirit and the fact that she was willing to do anything for those she loved.
Overall, A Cold Legacy left me feeling whelmed. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t amazing either. I wanted to be stunned and creeped out by the final book in this series and instead it just felt like an end. I do have high hopes though for Megan’s next book The Cage, coming in May!
I had ridiculously high expectations for this book. It follows one of my favorite stories, Frankenstein, and after Megan Shepherd thoroughly creeped me out in the previous two novels I expected the same with this installment. Instead, the story was slow to start and the mystery was bland. I was just whelmed.
I think I would have been okay with the slow start if the mystery had been a bit more involved. After the ending of Her Dark Curiosity, what with the beasts they’re trying to bring back to life, the deaths of the scientists and the police chase. I expected this story to feed off that plot but this novel begins a new chapter that has more to do with Frankenstein then anything that came before it. Juliet does often think about her father and what happened on the island and in London but there wasn’t a lot of carry over and I found myself missing the creepiness that pervaded the other two novels.
My favorite thing about this book was the character development we got to see from Lucy, Juliet’s friend. Looking back on the flippant girl she was in The Madman’s Daughter you would hardly recognized her! I loved her independent spirit and the fact that she was willing to do anything for those she loved.
Overall, A Cold Legacy left me feeling whelmed. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t amazing either. I wanted to be stunned and creeped out by the final book in this series and instead it just felt like an end. I do have high hopes though for Megan’s next book The Cage, coming in May!
May 28, 2015
I was so bored by the first 3/4 of this book. I loved the first book. The sequel was only kind of meh, but this one was very bleh until closer to the end. I almost put it back on the shelf several times, but I honestly just wanted to see the series done so it didn't niggle at me the way the rest of them do. ;)
Plus, it's been awhile since I read the other books in the series, so I didn't remember key details, especially from the sequel. Maybe if I'd read them all back-to-back, things would have been different. I guess I'll never know...
Plus, it's been awhile since I read the other books in the series, so I didn't remember key details, especially from the sequel. Maybe if I'd read them all back-to-back, things would have been different. I guess I'll never know...
August 24, 2015
3.5 stars
November 8, 2014
I was given a digital ARC of this book from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review
1. Here we go. I really hope you’ve read the first two, and if you haven’t, go read them now and come back to this review when you’ve finished, okay?
I absolutely love this series, for many many reasons. The first book – if you haven’t read it – is based on The Island of Dr. Moreau – while weaved into this fantastic tale of Juliet Moreau. The second book is based on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and both of these books are amazing. This final book in the trilogy is no different. This one is based on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and I couldn’t have been more happy. Have you ever read a series and been so disappointed in the last book that you end up just loathing the entire series? It’s happened to me too much. However, not here. This kept me enthralled through all 400 of its pages. Now that we’re past this lengthy introduction, I’m going to get into the meat of it.
2. The themes of fate and one’s own wickedness and morality are still highly at play here – which is one of the reasons I adore Juliet as our heroine.
So, Juliet Moreau constantly struggles with the memory of her father. Her father’s blood runs in her veins, but so does his intelligence live in her brain. She struggles throughout the trilogy because she doesn’t want to end up like her father. However, his ghost and the ghost of his work follows her always. Will she decide her own path, or will she end up a madwoman as her father was a madman? Will she be able to overcome her ghosts and fears in order to become her own person? I can’t tell you that; the book will tell you all of these things. This is one of the many reasons why I love Juliet. She is so flawed and so haunted that she is so realistic. Don’t we all struggle with our own demons? She definitely does, and she does it in a corset.
3. I hate love triangles. There is a love triangle through the series, but it is shattered in this third book.
So, when we left Juliet and Montgomery, they were engaged, riding in a carriage with a chained up Edward (who has just swallowed an insane amount of arsenic in order to get rid of the Beast), and a distraught Lucy – who we’re pretty sure is in love with Edward. Enter the discovery of Elizabeth’s “von Stein” roots being those of Victor Frankenstein and owning a manor in the north of Scotland, and you’ve got yourself one crazy story. So we know Juliet totally banged Edward out of loneliness, longing, and need. But, we also know that she LOVES Montgomery (and honestly, who doesn’t?) and she would do anything for him. At the end of the second book we’re kind of left wondering what will happen between Juliet, Edward, Montgomery, and Lucy. But here in the third book, there are clearly lines drawn. Of course, we have to see the reappearance of the Beast, but Edward is still Edward and Lucy continuously takes care of him while he is chained and ill. I fear I may give away some spoilers, so just know, Edward and Lucy are totally together and Montgomery and Juliet are totally together. No more love triangle. Boom.
4. So there’s this super creepy kid named Hensley…
Hensley is the weirdest, creepiest character in this entire series in my humble opinion. I really can’t say more than that, even though I really, really want to! I get freaked out about creepy kids in movies and books. I hate zombie children, vampire children, or any mix of those undead things and children. Even kid ghosts. *shudder* All I’ll tell you is that he has one milky white eye and he creeps through hidden passages in the walls. That already sounds creepy, even as I’m just typing it. Just know, Hensley is a creep.
5. All secrets are revealed and we even see some faces from the past.
I HATE SECRETS IN REAL LIFE AND I HATE THEM EVEN MORE IN BOOKS. Everything is tied up so well. However, I will warn you, there is no epilogue. I was hoping and praying to the book gods for a epilogue because I desperately want to live in Juliet’s world and I want to be her best friend. Anyway, I digress. There is no epilogue, but it actually ends up being okay because we find out everything. Everything the Beast alludes to, everything Montgomery alludes to, and everything that happens in the past is tied up so beautifully. I loved how this ended. When I finished, I was in tears, but I won’t tell you whether my tears were happy tears or sad tears. You’ll have to have your own tears to figure it out.
6. The research done for this book is absolutely extensive and I have to pay mad respect to Megan Shepherd.
So, not only does Shepherd write this amazing book, but she OBVIOUSLY had to do a ton of research in order to write this and the preceding two. She had to research source material (I wonder how many times she read the source work, because it is blatantly present, which is impressive) but she had to do research on scientific experiments, surgery, and human anatomy. The science stuff is so over my head – it always has been, there’s a reason I’m an English teacher and not a science teacher – so I really can’t tell you whether or not it’s 100% accurate, but it sounded good to me! There is a particular scene with an inflamed gland and a bone saw that had my stomach churning, but I couldn’t stop reading. It was both realistic and tense, and it was AMAZING. Way to go Shepherd, you may have taught me some science.
OVERALL: FIVE STARS!!! I feel like I’ve been giving out a lot of five star reviews lately, but I’ve just been on one of those kicks where I’ve just been reading a ton of amazing books. So please don’t see this as I’m a bad reviewer. I’ll try to find a bad book soon, I promise. Anyway, you will not be disappointed in A Cold Legacy, especially if you adored the first two books as much as I did. As a teacher, I’m adapting The Madman’s Daughter into a unit to (hopefully) teach my high school students next year. The research done in these books is amazing, and I need my kids to experience this awesomeness. This book comes out on January 27, 2015. Click the link to pre-order. Believe me, you’ll want to start this on release day.
1. Here we go. I really hope you’ve read the first two, and if you haven’t, go read them now and come back to this review when you’ve finished, okay?
I absolutely love this series, for many many reasons. The first book – if you haven’t read it – is based on The Island of Dr. Moreau – while weaved into this fantastic tale of Juliet Moreau. The second book is based on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and both of these books are amazing. This final book in the trilogy is no different. This one is based on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and I couldn’t have been more happy. Have you ever read a series and been so disappointed in the last book that you end up just loathing the entire series? It’s happened to me too much. However, not here. This kept me enthralled through all 400 of its pages. Now that we’re past this lengthy introduction, I’m going to get into the meat of it.
2. The themes of fate and one’s own wickedness and morality are still highly at play here – which is one of the reasons I adore Juliet as our heroine.
So, Juliet Moreau constantly struggles with the memory of her father. Her father’s blood runs in her veins, but so does his intelligence live in her brain. She struggles throughout the trilogy because she doesn’t want to end up like her father. However, his ghost and the ghost of his work follows her always. Will she decide her own path, or will she end up a madwoman as her father was a madman? Will she be able to overcome her ghosts and fears in order to become her own person? I can’t tell you that; the book will tell you all of these things. This is one of the many reasons why I love Juliet. She is so flawed and so haunted that she is so realistic. Don’t we all struggle with our own demons? She definitely does, and she does it in a corset.
3. I hate love triangles. There is a love triangle through the series, but it is shattered in this third book.
So, when we left Juliet and Montgomery, they were engaged, riding in a carriage with a chained up Edward (who has just swallowed an insane amount of arsenic in order to get rid of the Beast), and a distraught Lucy – who we’re pretty sure is in love with Edward. Enter the discovery of Elizabeth’s “von Stein” roots being those of Victor Frankenstein and owning a manor in the north of Scotland, and you’ve got yourself one crazy story. So we know Juliet totally banged Edward out of loneliness, longing, and need. But, we also know that she LOVES Montgomery (and honestly, who doesn’t?) and she would do anything for him. At the end of the second book we’re kind of left wondering what will happen between Juliet, Edward, Montgomery, and Lucy. But here in the third book, there are clearly lines drawn. Of course, we have to see the reappearance of the Beast, but Edward is still Edward and Lucy continuously takes care of him while he is chained and ill. I fear I may give away some spoilers, so just know, Edward and Lucy are totally together and Montgomery and Juliet are totally together. No more love triangle. Boom.
4. So there’s this super creepy kid named Hensley…
Hensley is the weirdest, creepiest character in this entire series in my humble opinion. I really can’t say more than that, even though I really, really want to! I get freaked out about creepy kids in movies and books. I hate zombie children, vampire children, or any mix of those undead things and children. Even kid ghosts. *shudder* All I’ll tell you is that he has one milky white eye and he creeps through hidden passages in the walls. That already sounds creepy, even as I’m just typing it. Just know, Hensley is a creep.
5. All secrets are revealed and we even see some faces from the past.
I HATE SECRETS IN REAL LIFE AND I HATE THEM EVEN MORE IN BOOKS. Everything is tied up so well. However, I will warn you, there is no epilogue. I was hoping and praying to the book gods for a epilogue because I desperately want to live in Juliet’s world and I want to be her best friend. Anyway, I digress. There is no epilogue, but it actually ends up being okay because we find out everything. Everything the Beast alludes to, everything Montgomery alludes to, and everything that happens in the past is tied up so beautifully. I loved how this ended. When I finished, I was in tears, but I won’t tell you whether my tears were happy tears or sad tears. You’ll have to have your own tears to figure it out.
6. The research done for this book is absolutely extensive and I have to pay mad respect to Megan Shepherd.
So, not only does Shepherd write this amazing book, but she OBVIOUSLY had to do a ton of research in order to write this and the preceding two. She had to research source material (I wonder how many times she read the source work, because it is blatantly present, which is impressive) but she had to do research on scientific experiments, surgery, and human anatomy. The science stuff is so over my head – it always has been, there’s a reason I’m an English teacher and not a science teacher – so I really can’t tell you whether or not it’s 100% accurate, but it sounded good to me! There is a particular scene with an inflamed gland and a bone saw that had my stomach churning, but I couldn’t stop reading. It was both realistic and tense, and it was AMAZING. Way to go Shepherd, you may have taught me some science.
OVERALL: FIVE STARS!!! I feel like I’ve been giving out a lot of five star reviews lately, but I’ve just been on one of those kicks where I’ve just been reading a ton of amazing books. So please don’t see this as I’m a bad reviewer. I’ll try to find a bad book soon, I promise. Anyway, you will not be disappointed in A Cold Legacy, especially if you adored the first two books as much as I did. As a teacher, I’m adapting The Madman’s Daughter into a unit to (hopefully) teach my high school students next year. The research done in these books is amazing, and I need my kids to experience this awesomeness. This book comes out on January 27, 2015. Click the link to pre-order. Believe me, you’ll want to start this on release day.
February 29, 2020
Kendisini okutturuyor ama serinin en kötüsüydü...hakkıyla 3 bu defa(ilk ıkisinde karakterin aptalligindan kırmıştım, bununla kıyaslarsak 5likti onlar,en azından 4luktu)...
June 5, 2015
I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.
“When you can never die, do you ever really live?” -loc 4184
WOW. *cues applause* This book was amazing. Everything I needed/wanted/begged for in the final book of the magnificent trilogy. Shepherd enchanted me (and a lot of you reading this) with the first novel The Madman’s Daughter. I have to admit, the sequel didn’t thrill me. I had some problems with it—mostly just “meh” feelings during some of the scenes and a slow start. This book was just like the first though as far as pacing went and quality and just sheer….feeeeels.
I have to say that this is perhaps the best ya retelling I have ever read of Frankenstein and The Island of Dr. Moreau. It was brilliant. If you’re going to retell these wonderful gothic classics, especially if they’re among my favorites, you have a lot to prove and accomplish to get my respect and Megan Shepherd did all that was necessary to gain not only my love, but my awe because, seriously she retold some of the best gothic classics ever! Not to mention, she kept what I love most about these stories: the sick, twisted gore and psychological terror.
Let me sum up my feelings about the series prior to reading this book. The first book I read because I won an ebook copy and I absolutely adored it. I finally got around to reading my eARC of the sequel last year and was not impressed. It lagged. Big time. I wasn't alone either, but was it just second book syndrome?
Yes, yes it was.
So if you're putting off reading this one because you didn't particularly love the second book, I feel you. But, you're wrong. (ha!) No but seriously, you need to read this book. It's just as good as the first and maybe even better because we know the characters and there is SO much that goes on.
I loved all the ethical dilemmas. Life and death and the dilemma of what to do with the kind of power than you have…well, it was deliciously played. I really felt the struggle and I enjoyed that the debate wasn't pushed to the side to make way for the romances. The creepy parts were elongated. The book takes place in Elizabeth's huge estate in the middle of the moors. It's absolutely creepy the way the house is filled with girls who seem to be a bit off and hiding something. Elizabeth has a few secrets too, and we are introduced to some more horror in this novel.
Someone is after them but it's unclear why. I loved the Frankenstein retelling that this book focused on. The ending was bittersweet, but fitting. I felt sad that this series is over but really happy that I got to read it. I really hope this author has more in store for us in the future. She is great with retellings! I know that I usually count on Bethany Griffin for my Edgar Allen Poe retellings,but I'd love to see Shepherd try her hand at it. I feel like it would be well done.
I can't recommend this book enough toy ou guys! If you haven't read the series, you need to. I don't often rate 5 stars, so that in and of itself should tell you how much I believe in this book. It's amazing. It has smart independent female characters who are not dependent on men, they're smarter than men. The young men (especially Edward) are caring intelligent, and multi-dimensional.
One last thing before I wrap up this review. I loved the quotes in this book. I found myself highlighting in my kindle all the great little sayings from different characters and had a good time going back and reading them at the end. A lot of it was just deep. You don't find that all the time, but you do find it in a great novel and that is why I will always love this series. It resonates on so many levels.
“Far scarier to know we carry the ghosts of our parents within us. Ever decision we make, every mistake we make, is them working through us. One’s father is like the stream, from which comes the river. The river cannot set its own path. The stream runs downhill and so the river does, too. They both end in the same place—the ocean.” -loc 1035
Juliet's father still haunts her but she does find freedom in some ways. Juliet changes a lot in this book, and we see different sides of her. I think that her overall character development has been so interesting and realistic it's hard to believe she isn't a real person that existed years ago in England.
I recommend this book to lovers of gothic literature and those who wish to be chilled to the bone with good old fashioned horror and fantastic storytelling.
“When you can never die, do you ever really live?” -loc 4184
WOW. *cues applause* This book was amazing. Everything I needed/wanted/begged for in the final book of the magnificent trilogy. Shepherd enchanted me (and a lot of you reading this) with the first novel The Madman’s Daughter. I have to admit, the sequel didn’t thrill me. I had some problems with it—mostly just “meh” feelings during some of the scenes and a slow start. This book was just like the first though as far as pacing went and quality and just sheer….feeeeels.
I have to say that this is perhaps the best ya retelling I have ever read of Frankenstein and The Island of Dr. Moreau. It was brilliant. If you’re going to retell these wonderful gothic classics, especially if they’re among my favorites, you have a lot to prove and accomplish to get my respect and Megan Shepherd did all that was necessary to gain not only my love, but my awe because, seriously she retold some of the best gothic classics ever! Not to mention, she kept what I love most about these stories: the sick, twisted gore and psychological terror.
Let me sum up my feelings about the series prior to reading this book. The first book I read because I won an ebook copy and I absolutely adored it. I finally got around to reading my eARC of the sequel last year and was not impressed. It lagged. Big time. I wasn't alone either, but was it just second book syndrome?
Yes, yes it was.
So if you're putting off reading this one because you didn't particularly love the second book, I feel you. But, you're wrong. (ha!) No but seriously, you need to read this book. It's just as good as the first and maybe even better because we know the characters and there is SO much that goes on.
I loved all the ethical dilemmas. Life and death and the dilemma of what to do with the kind of power than you have…well, it was deliciously played. I really felt the struggle and I enjoyed that the debate wasn't pushed to the side to make way for the romances. The creepy parts were elongated. The book takes place in Elizabeth's huge estate in the middle of the moors. It's absolutely creepy the way the house is filled with girls who seem to be a bit off and hiding something. Elizabeth has a few secrets too, and we are introduced to some more horror in this novel.
Someone is after them but it's unclear why. I loved the Frankenstein retelling that this book focused on. The ending was bittersweet, but fitting. I felt sad that this series is over but really happy that I got to read it. I really hope this author has more in store for us in the future. She is great with retellings! I know that I usually count on Bethany Griffin for my Edgar Allen Poe retellings,but I'd love to see Shepherd try her hand at it. I feel like it would be well done.
I can't recommend this book enough toy ou guys! If you haven't read the series, you need to. I don't often rate 5 stars, so that in and of itself should tell you how much I believe in this book. It's amazing. It has smart independent female characters who are not dependent on men, they're smarter than men. The young men (especially Edward) are caring intelligent, and multi-dimensional.
One last thing before I wrap up this review. I loved the quotes in this book. I found myself highlighting in my kindle all the great little sayings from different characters and had a good time going back and reading them at the end. A lot of it was just deep. You don't find that all the time, but you do find it in a great novel and that is why I will always love this series. It resonates on so many levels.
“Far scarier to know we carry the ghosts of our parents within us. Ever decision we make, every mistake we make, is them working through us. One’s father is like the stream, from which comes the river. The river cannot set its own path. The stream runs downhill and so the river does, too. They both end in the same place—the ocean.” -loc 1035
Juliet's father still haunts her but she does find freedom in some ways. Juliet changes a lot in this book, and we see different sides of her. I think that her overall character development has been so interesting and realistic it's hard to believe she isn't a real person that existed years ago in England.
I recommend this book to lovers of gothic literature and those who wish to be chilled to the bone with good old fashioned horror and fantastic storytelling.
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