m ✦ foesandlovers's Reviews > Echoes of Time

2 STARS

I've been sitting on this review for a while, unsure of what I wanted to say or even how to say it. I think the main thing is that I'm sad this final novel did not resonate with me the way it has a lot of other people. That being said, I'm happy for those with whom it did.

This rating is not reflective of the author or her talent, it's simply reflective of my own personal experience reading this book. I do think she has a lot of talent. In fact, Calia Read has written one of my all time favorite novels which happens to be The Surviving Trace, the first book in this series.

Was my experience reading Echoes of Time affected negatively by my overwhelming love for the first novel? It's a possibility, but I don't think it's the whole truth.

Honestly, despite me having enjoyed the second novel, The Reigning and the Rule, I also was not particularly excited with some of the directions this story was being taken into. So, I was quite apprehensive going into this third novel, but obviously, also hopeful things would turn out great and I would love it.

This review will be getting into somewhat spoilery territory from here on out, so beware:

I think my biggest issue with Echoes of Time was Etienne and Serene's selfishness. It's an issue I was already struggling with in book two, with how Serene used Nicholas only for the purpose of making Etienne jealous, completely disregarding the fact Nicholas had feelings for her and she was toying with and using him carelessly. The same could be said for Etienne, who kept up an engagement to Scarlett while also fooling around with Serene, once again, without having much care for his fiancée's feelings (especially since we learned in this third book he never intended to marry Scarlett at all)...

In this book, that selfishness reached a point where I found it really hard to even like our two main characters anymore. The way they treated Old Serene was so unfair and uncalled for. Sure, Old Serene was described as a cold bitch in The Surviving Trace, but I can't say I got that feeling from her POVs in this book. If anything, what I saw in her POVs was a woman whose life had been stolen from her (by Serene. Unintentionally, but still), a woman who had lost herself, who was confused and scared. Imagine the feeling of walking through life not knowing who you are anymore, not knowing your own memories, having people come up to you acting like they know you yet you don't know them. It's horrible, she thought she was going insane. No one deserves that.

The last scene in which the two Serenes come face to face showed some really ugly colors in Serene. Old Serene dies ultimately because Serene stole her life, fell in love and now wishes to stay in Old Serene's life. Old Serene is basically discarded to the side as a commodity, some issue you'd rather sweep under the rug and forget about. The last thing, if I remember correctly, that Serene sees in Old Serene's eyes as she's dying is fright and confusion. Old Serene—who wasn't even worth an explanation as to what the heck happened and why her life doesn't feel like her own anymore—died scared and confused. What a way to go... What takes the cake is that what Serene towards old Serene's death is not remorse—it's relief. She's relieved Old Serene is gone so now she can fully immerse herself into the other woman's life.

I think my issue here is choice. What makes Etienne and Serene seem so super selfish is that they gave Old Serene no choice nor the decency of an explanation. In my opinion, this whole final scene would have had so much more emotional impact if the two Serenes had met, and if Serene had explained what happened with the time travelling and why it happened and that she fell in love and now carries her lovers child. If Old Serene would have CHOSEN to make the ultimate sacrifice and die because she sees the love between Serene and Etienne and acknowledges that where she has nothing to lose—they have everything to lose/fight for. That, to me, would've been such a great way to tie everything up, it would've given this ending so much more depth of emotion and honestly—it would've made more sense.

Instead what we got was Scarlett suddenly turning crazy—even though she never showed any signs previously to this scene of being somewhat deranged and/or of having a vengeful personality. In fact, in book two, she was pretty even-tempered in my opinion. Anyway, so she kills Old Serene who dies without knowing what the hell is even happening and Serene and Etienne now live happily ever after without feeling any remorse for all the hurt they've brought on those around them for the sake of their "love". Again, maybe I'm too emotionally attached to this series and looking at it too closely, but that selfishness was my point of no return with this book.

Other things bothered me as well, like the fact most of the book is spent in present day and it feels like nothing's really happening till the end other than Etienne learning about technology which, after two books with such high stakes like The Surviving Trace and The Reigning and the Rule, the lack of intensity in this one (a finale, especially) was really quite noticeable. Etienne discovering how to use a remote or a laptop is funny like once, but when the whole book is more or less made up of scenes like that... it's a lot harder to stay interested, for me anyway.

I think this series might've worked better as two longer books instead of three. The lack of intensity in this book or even the MCs not being very active in their own story here made me question whether a third novel was truly needed? I also feel like the lack of presence from any of the characters introduced in book two as well as the lack of impact that whole storyline has had on this third novel makes book two feel almost like it doesn't belong? Sort of like, what was the point of the Emmeline character and spending so much time with her in book two if in the end her story has had zero impact on Etienne and Serene's arc? It's little things like this that make me think the pacing of this series as a whole was perhaps not the best, which I guess bodes well for the spin-off series since I believe those novels will all be standalones. I could be wrong about that though, so don't take my word for it.

That being said, I did enjoy Nathalie's storyline in this one, her chapter POVs were definitely a big part of what kept be reading this book. I'm very curious to see where she ends up in her own novel. I feel it will most likely be super angsty which I'm always here for! Her and Asa together are just UGH, YAS! I WANT IT SO BAD.

Again, this long review serves more as a way for me to write all my feelings down so I can let them go. The point is really not to undermine this author's talent. I do think, or rather, I know for a fact she can write a damn good, extremely solid and tightly written novel. This just wasn't that novel for me. Oh well, onward!

I was given an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.