ARC Review: "Destined" by Aprilynne Pike

Release Date: May 1, 2012
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 320

From Goodreads: "Laurel now knows the truth: Yuki is a rare Winter faerie, the most powerful—and deadly—of all, and she is working with Klea to conquer and destroy Avalon. With Tamani, David, and Chelsea by her side, Laurel prepares for a fight she never thought she would have to face.

Filled with heart-pounding action, sweeping romance, and higher stakes at every turn, Destined is the series conclusion that readers have been clamoring for—with a twist that will leave them breathless."

As I am sure some of you have come to realize over the course of my blogging I love Aprilynne Pike's "Wings" series. Like A LOT. In fact, not too long ago "Destined" graced my Top 10 Most Highly Anticipated Books of 2012 list and last fall I even made a WoW post (one of my most popular posts to this day) where I detailed everything that I hoped would happen in this book, the final book in the series. However, I must admit that after having finished I am not entirely satisfied with it and I can't quite put my finger on why and it is a fairly irrational feeling as the large majority of what I was hoping to happen in this book did. I'm not sure if just feels like something is missing, that I have outgrown the characters (after all, I am a whole year older than them than I was while I read "Illusions'), or something along those lines.

I think I got it, I think that it is a combination that I am having a difficult time relating to the 17 or so year old characters and that this book didn't have any moments that took my breath away, unlike in the previous books where there were countless instances that that happened. Like in "Illusions" when Tamani told Laurel that he couldn't be nicer to her boyfriend, David, because, "I just don't want to cozy up to the guy whose girl I have every intention of stealing"... I really wanted to be swept off of my feet by this book Tamani and while there were times that I came close to being pushed off of the edge of the swoon-worthy ledge, I never completely made it off said ledge. Or, or, perhaps it is that David played a HUGE role in this book, arguably the largest role he has played in any other book and seeing as I have never been a David fan, well... That might explain it. Or, or, because Laurel was so defenseless in the first half of this book- I mean, she didn't even get a knife or sword! Yeah, I'm just going to stop now because I am obviously not any closer to figuring out what about this book irked me.

That being said, the remainder of the book was quite good. The vast majority of it took me by surprise- I never expected there to be so much action and adventure in this book as there was. Also, I enjoyed that each of the faerie fractions got their own individual chance in the spotlight, it allowed us to develop a deeper understanding and awareness of them and the abilities that they possess (for instance the Summer faeries during a moment of action).

All in all, while I was obviously a bit disappointed by this installment of the series, I would still highly recommend it to readers of all ages (the earlier books especially)! This is by far my most favourite faerie-related book series I have ever read before and one that I will come back to time and time again.

Rating: 8/10

I received this book from the publisher/ Edelweiss to read and honestly review. I was not compensated in any way for said review.