So Silver Bright
Author: Lisa Mantchev
Series: Theatre Illuminata (#3)
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
How Received: publisher ARC
My review of Eyes Like Stars.
My review of Perchance to Dream.
All Beatrice Shakespeare Smith has ever wanted is a true family of her own. And she’s close to reuniting her parents when her father disappears. Now Bertie must deal with a vengeful sea goddess and a mysterious queen as she tries to keep her family – and the Theatre Illuminata – from crumbling. To complicate it all, Bertie is torn between her two loves, Ariel and Nate.
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When I finish a really good book, I'm left with an utterly soul crushing bittersweet feeling. I feel great because, you know, it was a great book! Brilliant character development and an awesome plot and amazing characters and everything that makes me happy. But then I realize that the stories of the characters are over, and that I won't be able to read about them anymore - well, anything new about them - and I get sad.
This is how I felt at the end of So Silver Bright.
I read the first book in the series in 2009, back where my reviews were barely a paragraph long and I had no idea what I was doing. I've become so much picker since then about what I read, and yet this series is still utterly fantastic. The characters are stellar, the plot keeps me hanging on the edge of my seat, and I'd give anything to live in a world where word-magic is real.
I could go about a lot of things in this book. I'd ramble about the plot, but I want you to discover the twists and turns for yourself. I'd rave about the world, but I've already given you a tidbit about word-magic, so I'll leave the rest of the wonders of the world up to you, the reader, who has yet to discover it.
But I will give you some reasons I love the characters.
Let's start with one important thing: this series has a love triangle, and I love it. (Well, I love Ariel, and Nate's cool, I guess.) It's handled so bloody brilliantly, and the ending to it is so perfectly poignant and sweet and - just - gah. I don't want to spoil it for you, but I was both really happy and mildly depressed. Kind of like how Bertie felt, I imagine.
And Bertie! Oh, Bertie, who loves two men equally; Bertie, who within the first ten pages of the book, reiterates how much she hates the stereotypical damsel-in-distress and refuses to be coddled and protected from every little thing just because the men love her. Bertie, who kicks ass and takes titlesnames. Bertie, who protects her friends with everything she has in her.
And her friends! I could go on about all of them for paragraphs, but I'll stick to the fairies, and I'll just say this: they give me food lust. ALL the food lust.
Overall Rating & Final Comments: 10/10. A fantasmagorical world with amazing characters and a brilliant plot; I highly recommend it.
Cover Comments: I ADORE these covers. I want them as wall art. Not only are they pretty, but they also tie in directly to the book!
Have you read this series? Do you love it as much as I do?