I was lucky enough to receive an eARC of Bright Raven Skies recently, and upon finding out that Tracy from Cornerfolds was a huge fan of the series, I asked her to buddy read with me and write a guest review! You can find her amazing blog here. This is her review:

Tracy’s Rating: 3.5 Stars

Sweet Black Waves and Wild Savage Stars are two of my favorite YA fantasy books of all time. Both were incredible reads for me, full of magic, romance, and heartbreak. I was very impatient to read Bright Raven Skies so I could find out the ending to Branwen’s story and was SO grateful when I had the chance to read it early!

Bright Raven Skies picks up immediately after Wild Savage Stars, with Eseult and Tristan missing, and Branwen angry at them both. Despite her part in their betrayal, Branwen is unable to forgive. Still, she owes it to her aunt to keep Eseult and the alliance between the kingdoms in tact and, as usual, puts others above herself. Usually I get fed up with characters who constantly self-sacrifice, but my love for Branwen is undying. Her love for her family and country is hard not to root for and I read this wanting nothing more than a happy ending for her after so much heartbreak.

There was a lot to wrap up in this trilogy and I think Bright Raven Skies did a good job of it, although there were things I would have liked to end differently. Knowing the original tale of Tristan and Eseult, I knew some of what to expect, but this still managed to fall a little short. My main issue was that a lot of the book was overly drawn out. The political aspects of the story overtook the relationships and the plot went to several places I didn’t care much about. There was an entire side plot that seemed to come out of nowhere and took up a huge chunk of the story.

Despite all that, I still enjoyed this finale! I loved the relationship between Branwen and Eseult and even found myself loving Tristan again by the end. There was so much done right about this trilogy, I just wish the final installment had packed a bit more punch. If you like tragic love stories and want a YA fantasy that’s a little different, I still definitely recommend giving this series a try!

JUST as good as the other two books! I really really enjoyed this. Damn, it was so good. All the drama, these books are some of my faves so damn. All I can say is damn haha

“They loved while they burned, and they burned while they loved.”

Third and final book in the Sweet Black Waves series by Kristina Perez, Bright Raven Skies is the perfect conclusion to a series that I’ve absolutely loved. This retelling of the classic legend, Tristan and Iseult focuses primarily on Tristan, Iseult, and Branwen. Their shared struggles with sacrifice and loss to create peace within a Kingdom.

“Possibility is everything, said Tristan”

There’s a lot going on in Bright Raven Skies, Branwen’s powers are twisting into something dark and unknowable and the two people she loves most are missing after an epic siege. The world-building remains a thing of beauty, easily transporting me into the complexities of the story. The characters, old and new, are wonderfully three dimensional, tragically flawed and captivating. The plot was a little slower in the beginning then the first two books in the series but I’m ok with this because the slow burn was so worth the wait. This series broke my heart, gave me hope and then sort of dashed it all while building it up again! Bright Raven Skies has everything I look for in a high fantasy: a dramatic love story, political intrigue, treachery and magic, all in a beautifully written setting with characters I’ve grown to love.

A big thank you to Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, Kristina Perez and Storygram Tours for providing me with a DRC in exchange for my honest review.

BRIGHT RAVEN SKIES ultimately delivers a satisfying conclusion. Unlike other Tristan and Isolde retellings, Perez deftly sidesteps prior tropes to craft an ending that feels true to her characters. Branwen's inner turmoil over her deal with Dhusnos and its far-reaching effects was just as compelling as the political mire she struggled to navigate. Perez overlaps familiar characters, events, and settings from the Arthurian legends while making them utterly organic to the world she's created. What struck me most was the message that it is always possible to start over, and that growth and change are unending processes. Perez may not have delivered the ending most readers wanted, but it is exactly the ending her characters needed. Absolutely wonderful.

Bright Raven Skies, the epic conclusion to Kristina Perez's Sweet Black Waves series, does not disappoint! Carefully constructed narratives braid beautifully with raw emotion in a world that is complex, imperfect and unapologetically hopeful. Perez lays bare the wants and intentions of her characters and expertly weaves Branwen and company's stories into a rich tapestry. Bright Raven Skies is a not-to-miss finale!

Readers are immediately transported into Branwen's tangled web of lies, tenuous relationships and mistakes. After the siege on King Marc's kingdom, Eseult and Tristan are found to be missing and Branwen fears the worst -- that the two loves have fled -- and begins the search to find and protect her cousin and her true love. However, finding the queen and her champion will be the least of Branwen's problems -- her powers are turning dark and she soon realizes the price for peace is even greater than she first expected.

#BrightRavenSkies
#SeriesFinale
In the last installment of this series, book three continues with the beautiful writing and keeps with it's sweeping feeling that reader's have experienced throughout the series.

I have been a big fan of this series since Sweet Black Waves destroyed me. Needless to say, when I found that I was approved for Bright Raven Skies, the final book in the trilogy, I freaked out.

Bright Raven Skies picks up immediately where Wild Savage Stars ended (not giving any spoilers here). What the first two books had---tense and stressful drama full of betrayal and tragedy--is definitely lacking in this final book. I found myself bored for most of my reading of this book. There was way too much talking. It was as if the first two books needed all this drama and action and fast-pacedness, and in this book the author was like-- oh crap I need to setup the next action sequence with a lot of talking and backstory.

The ending was disappointing for me. It wasn't exactly a happy ending, but it felt like it was too good of an ending given all of the things that had happened over the entirety of the book. This book was my least favorite out of the trilogy, and most disappointing.

This book was received as an ARC from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group - Imprint in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

i could not get enough of this book. Everything from the names, the plot, the drama and the powerful love story that is filled with a powerful message that pertains to any life-changing situation. First off you don;t hear the names Branwen, Tristan and Eseult too often especially in the protagonist roles but in this case, tow of them are missing and Branwen sacrificed her life to create peace within her kingdom but in order to do the right thing, she must tell the Champion and the Queen and find them for good. As we all know, doing what's right isn't always the easiest choice and a lot of past darkness and past enemies resurface. All is worth it to Branwen to find the people she loves most and restore the peace she worked so hard to create for the kingdom. I know a lot of our teen readers will jump to the chance to read this book and see the magic it has in store.

We will consider adding this title to our YA collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. My opinion was not affected by the free copy.

I have enjoyed this series so much more than I expected, but I'm sorry to say that the final installment has fallen a little short for me. The two things that I have loved the most in this series are the tragic elements and the atmosphere. The first forty percent or so of this book is just talking to the point where I was getting bored. I like court politics and intrigue, but I can't tell if this was just dull or I'd already checked out by the time stuff actually started happening.

Also, maybe it's because I've been seeing this as an ode to tragic plays, but I think I was hoping for a lot more rash decision-making and human errors making things so much worse. Something like that does happen, but the fall-out was really disappointing. I don't want to explain what I mean for spoiler reasons, but I just feel like certain things that were built up over the last two novels didn't get the right kind of pay-off.

The ending was bittersweet for me. While I do like that it wasn't a happy ending-- again, making it feel more like a tragedy-- it still felt more happy than I would've liked. To be fair, I did skip a lot because I was so bored and disconnected, but for me the ending still felt a little nicer than one would expect after all that happened before.

On the whole, I did still like all three books. This one felt like it was a little weaker because so much of the first section was just talking, with a dash of tragedy. I missed the atmosphere, and the pay-off for certain elements wasn't satisfying for me. I would still recommend it, though, because it's so different and much more dramatically tragic than most YA out there.