I absolutely hate disliking books. It honestly causes me physical pain because I love stories and I want to love each story I come to. But every so often I pick up a book that is just too painful, frustrating, or disappointing to like — and I’m so very sad that this has been the case with The Golden Enclaves. Especially because I absolutely adored the first two books and had every expectation that I would love this one. 
Unfortunately, there are a many number of things, characters, story elements, and plot choices that I found underwhelming but what really disappointed me the most was that all of the character development we saw in El over the course of the first two books was completely undone in the first half of this one, and then not adequately built back up again by the end. This left me feeling like I didn’t know her, which is not how you want to feel at the conclusion of a series. So many of the things I had come to love about her (such as her resilience, her discipline, her strong foundation of morals, and her journey of personal growth that allowed her to let people in) either faded into the background or completely flipped. She lost her voice, her passion, her ferocity, her community, her drive. And that just wasn’t realistic, interesting, or relatable for me. Not only that, but it made me really really sad. 
The wrap up regarding the creation of enclaves and how that is tied to malia was interesting — but the conflict with Ophelia, the revelation of the prophecy, and the resolution weren’t enough to make up for the other ways I was really disappointed. 
Finally, I love Orion. And I truly believe he deserved better. Not just from the other characters, but from the author. 
Honestly, really heartbroken with this one, guys.

The book was OK. I felt it a really slow read, often feeling I was slogging through the story. I also found, like the other two books in the series, there was a lot of repetition which didn't add to the story but added to the slog to get through the book. This booked picked up exactly where the second one finished and as much as the second one ended on a bit of a cliff hanger I think it could have benefited from just finishing at that point. I did like the one big revelation but felt that could have been built into earlier books and didn't need a whole book dedicated to it.

I loved this book. I found the conclusion satisfying, and the way that the characters behave is well-explained based on who they are as people in a way that I find good and important.

I had anticipated that somehow Orion would return, to the point where I wasn’t super shocked by the ending twist of book 2. I think the reveals about what makes enclaves was really interesting. I think Orion being a maw-mouth in juman form was interesting and well-foreshadowed, to the point where I had thought “oh, like a maw mouth kinda” without actually thinking that had happened. Admittedly, I am easy to fool in that I don’t often see twists coming.

It's been a while since I read book 2 in the series and I contemplated re-reading before picking this volume up because when I initially tried to read it I was overwhelmed.  Book 2 leaves on a cliffhanger and book 3 starts right after and so you see the immediate events and it was a little difficult to jump right it.

I thought that the series was quite solid.  Book 3 really tied it all together and bits that were resolved were introduced in book 1 so it was quite good closure to see actions that have consequences and a resolution all together.

Some of the reveals were also top notch, since there's (in hindsight) a lot of foreshadowing but to be able to put it all together wasn't something I managed.  I don't know if it was because of the gap between the books and it would have been obvious if I read them in closer succession but I was satisfied with how it came together.

A great finale to the series! I honestly think it would’ve been more beneficial had the book been longer as it kind of felt like the author was bored by the end and rushed through the big parts but good none the less! 

A great finale to a great series. I loved the book. It was a satisfying conclusion that matched the tone of the series. I could write a million words on how amazing this was without fully getting it across. Suffice it to say this is a series I will happily revisit and find new things each time. Mind the trigger warnings but I highly recommend it.