The Beauty of Darkness: The Remnant Chronicles, Book Three (The Remnant Chronicles, 3) Paperback – August 1, 2017

*Review originally posted on Goodreads*❝I cry out and fall to my knees,unable to go on,weeping for the dead,weeping for the cruelties,and a whisper calls to me from far away,You are strong,Stronger than your pain,Stronger than your grief,Stronger than them.And I force myself to my feet again.❞I can't believe that this is the end of one of my favorite series of all time. If I could stay in this world forever, I would. I wish it never had to end. This world, these characters, these books have slowly crept their way into my heart and I know without a doubt, that that's where they'll always stay.Going into The Beauty of Darkness, my expectations were through the roof. I had so many plans in my mind of how I wish things would play out in the end. I was a bit wary though because a number of reviews gave me the impression that I would be left dreadfully unhappy with the ending or even the book overall. Fortunately enough, I was fairly satisfied with the way The Remnant Chronicles came to an end. It wasn't what I wanted exactly but it was good enough for me.Even with my feelings and preferences aside, I believe that this book deserves all the stars in the world just by Mary Pearson's writing alone. The Beauty of Darkness was 680 pages of pure stress and frustration but her writing just lures you in and keeps you hooked until the next thing you know, you've already devoured more than half of the book within a few hours! It truly blows my mind how fast I could get lost into this world. Your blood pressure may skyrocket in the meantime but Mary Pearson makes it worth it. XDReading this book wasn't always sunshine and rainbows, let me tell you that. THIS BOOK WILL FRUSTRATE YOU. Oh, yes it will. IT WILL MAKE YOU WANT TO THROW YOUR BOOK ACROSS THE ROOM. Hell yeah freakin right it will! I honestly didn't know who to be pissed at more: Lia for being stubborn. Rafe for holding Lia back. Everyone for being close-minded. Or what. I don't even know. At one point, it felt like they were all acting out of character and it made me want to rip my hair out. Thankfully, everyone got a hold on themselves and we were able to get back to the story.Lia's development in this book was outstanding. I absolutely LOVED her. She was fierce, relentless, and just straight up badass. She went full on WARRIOR PRINCESS on their enemies and suddenly all was right in the world. Lia has came a long way from how she was since the very beginning of The Kiss of Deception and I couldn't be more proud.As for Rafe, I felt like we did see a bit of his ugly side. I did feel at one point that he kept holding Lia back, much to my dismay since Lia and Rafe are my OTP in this series. But we also get to see him for the great ruler that he was and the love he truly has for Lia. His character does take a downturn in certain areas but he makes up for it and more in other ways.I thought that Kaden was sort of pushed a little bit to the side in this book. Although I don't ship him with Lia, I still loved their friendship and teamwork. However, I felt like he was more of an important background character rather than one of the three main characters in this story which was a bit sad since he adds so much depth to the series.In terms of romance, I was happy that Lia and Rafe finally got their happy ending after so many trials and obstacles that got in their way. I know that a lot of people think of their relationship as boring or convienient but I can't help but love them anyways. Sorry not sorry aha! To me, I think falling in love with the Assassin or the person you're not supposed to fall in love with is also played out. I knew from the very beginning that Lia truly loved Rafe and would ultimately choose him in the end but I also appreciated the bond that Lia had with Kaden, that much I'll admit. I actually wanted to see Lia and Rafe live happily ever after but we were only given a tease in the last few pages. I really wanted more since they did go through so much crap, but I'm just happy that my couple ended up together for once.As for Kaden and Pauline's relationship, I was all for it. I was actually hoping that Kaden would end up with Pauline or Gwyneth. But sadly, I felt like their relationship was a bit rushed for the sake of giving Kaden a love interest that wasn't Lia. Pauline despised Kaden and then after a few chapters, we're all of a sudden expected to buy into the potential relationship. I shipped it but I just thought it was rushed and underdeveloped. We really could've gotten a lot out of their relationship but there just weren't enough pages.The battle scene overall wasn't too much of a letdown. I expected sword-fighting and I got it. However, I thought the biggest anticlimactic ending was the "defeat" of the Komizar. Wow. The build-up set us up for such an epic ending but it felt too rushed and too easy. It was really disappointing actually... but the bad guy was defeated. Lives were sacrificed. Battles were lost. Wars were won. Endings were happy. That's all I could really wish for so I can't really complain. I think Mary Pearson could've dragged this story on more just so a lot of things wouldn't have felt so rushed. I honestly wouldn't complain one bit if she added another book to this series because I've already stated so many times that I do not want this series to end haha.The Remnant Chronicles will always be one of my favorite series of all time. I really can't believe that this is the end. After so many late nights binge reading, months of waiting, this is finally it. These characters will always stay with me and I know I'll always look for a piece of them in every book I read and every character I read about. Thank you Mary Pearson for such an amazing series! You've truly carved your mark and will forever be one of my favorite authors. I look forward to many more of your books in the future. Paviamma.

I won’t be able to go into much detail in this review, as I decided to keep it entirely spoiler-free. That doesn’t leave me much room to describe it, yet I thought it best. That way, people who haven’t started the trilogy can read this review as well -and maybe I can convince them to start it.The Beauty of Darkness is the last book in the Remnant Chronicles, which means it’s time for Lia’s story to come to an end. I was both excited and hesitant to start this book. I was excited because I adored the previous two books. Yet I was hesitant too: what if I wouldn’t like the way it ended?If you don’t know what the trilogy is about, let me tell you about the synopsis of the first book. In The Kiss of Deception, Lia’s story starts. She’s the First Daughter and Princess of Morrighan, who is getting ready for her wedding. Her parents have signed a document stating she will marry the Prince of Dalbreck, a neighboring kingdom. Lia doesn’t want to get married, or to be shipped of to a different country. So she plans her escape: together with her best friend/servant Pauline, she flees the capital and rides to a small town Pauline knew. She wants to live a normal life, and starts working as a serving girl to pay her rent. Yet the kingdoms aren’t so pleased with her decision to flee. So 2 people are sent after her: 1 is the crown prince she was supposed to marry, and the other an assassin sent to kill her. While you’re reading the first book, you have no idea who’s who. You meet 2 guys: Rafe and Kaden. Yet for about 70% of the book, you have no clue which of them is the assassin or the prince.PLOTI was afraid this book would cut corners in the story line. Lia still had such a long way to go, too long it seemed for one book. Yet I feel like Mary E. Pearson did such a good job of incorporating all the plot and character development into one book. I do think this book is longer than the previous ones?If I were to judge/rate based on the story line alone, I would give this book 5 stars. I was captivated the entire time, and couldn’t wait to see all the threads connect and the schemes revealed. A lot of sidelines of the main plot came together here, to tell one story. And I couldn’t be happier about it. I think the ending of the story in itself, was great. It’s still realistic (you know, for a fantasy novel) and satisfying.CHARACTERSI don’t want to say too much about the male main characters, because what I’ll say in the next part about the romance may spoil you. I will say that both went through a lot, and they grew tremendously. One had to learn to deal with his past, and stop letting it rule him. The other had to take on so much responsibility suddenly, and learn to juggle all of it.As for Lia, I couldn’t be more proud. She faced her fears so she could root out the truth. She faced her destiny, even though she may be prophesied to die because of it. She’s a great friend and fierce protector. There was one moment where I felt like she was losing herself to another person, letting him decide far too much for her. Yet she knew where to draw the line, and fought for her opinions and freedom.ROMANCEYet I can’t help but feel disappointed with a part of this book. Which part, you ask? The romance. This trilogy has a love triangle, that’s no secret. It didn’t really bother me all that much. I’m not just disappoint from the standpoint of “oh no, she didn’t pick who I wanted her to pick”. I’m sad because I feel like Mary E. Pearson tried to have a satisfying romantic conclusion for all the main characters, and it just didn’t work for me. You know that Lia will choose one person over the other. That’s always the case. So a new romance was suddenly introduced at like the 70% mark, so the non-chosen-one could have a romantic happy ending too. It just didn’t work. It came out of nowhere, there was no chemistry and above all: it didn’t make any sense to me! That kind of made me take my rating down, because it really affected my reading experience.If you haven’t read this series, I urge you to pick it up. Of course, if you don’t like romance in your (fantasy) novels, this one won’t be for you. Otherwise, it’s a great YA fantasy trilogy! It’s got magic/prophecies, kings and queens, strong women, kingdoms at war, armies marching and an evil lord with his own assassins-crew.