In The Spotlight

I feel like I am just expressing what everyone else is saying, but I will reiterate it. The first 3 books were magical, and the extra chapters book sent me over the edge with excitement, but 4 and 5? They were less than impressive. I see many people saying that The Heir was fine, but really the problem was just Eadlyn’s story as a whole. She’s unlikable, like to a scary extent. Half the time I didn’t know if I should have rooted for her, because she was genuinely written as a villain. She was spoiled, unfeeling, and just nasty to anyone ever. I get that she was also like a strong female lead and whatever, and not that I have anything against that, I just feel like that whole character trait was just cranked up to the highest of levels, ever. Instead of coming off as independent and strong (which is what I would have enjoyed from Eadlyn so much more) it just came off as spoiled, and sometimes she would just be a tad bit sexist. Like she’s 18 and there was this whole paragraph in the Heir about how terrible any guy ever was. It was written as if she was a 5 year old girl talking about how boys had cooties. And her opinion changes, but it really seems it only changes for the guys she keeps in the selection. And then Kiera (you are usually an amazing writer, and these are the only books I happen to dislike of yours) puts in all these moment of characters going “oh Eady your life is so hard wow you are such a great person” and it’s like everyone is saying it, but it’s just not true. It’s like she has to have the characters convince you Eadlyn is the strong female lead instead of a spoiled brat, even though she is written like the ladder option. And then her whole loving Eikko plot twist felt so forced, Kiles love story was written so much better. Getting with Eikko after it’s written that Eadlyn kissed Kile all the time for comfort sends me such a weird vibe, like she was just using Kile, and for a while she actually was, before she fell in love with him. This surprise romance took away any support I had left for Eadlyn and her choices. Her being with Kile, and those little moment when Maxon and America would flirt is literally the only things I enjoyed in this book. Overall, I rate this two stars (I added the extra star for Kile)