Dark Harmony

I finished The Bargainer series, and while I loved it, the last book is my least favorite. I felt like this one was mostly filler, and the events that unfolded were a little lackluster. The sleeping soldiers, who were such a prominent and scary unknown for two full books, were disappointing when they finally woke up. Callie handled them in a short amount of time, and then they weren't seen again until half the book had passed, and even then they were just used as the Thief's messengers. Once the original threat was taken care of, the Thief did nothing for most of the bill except toy with Callie in her sleep. What was he waiting for? I know he took Des as bait once Des made a deal with him, but this man is a god; if he really wanted Callie like he always said, he could have came for her whenever he wanted. He did not need bait or anything else to draw her in, he could have simply taken her. If he did that towards the beginning of the book, Callie would have had no shot since she hadn't fully embraced her powers yet. Also, Des wouldn't be able to kill him either, especially with the shadows working against him.

We saw that the casket children were reveling in the carnage and feasting on soldiers during the first battle, but then nothing else happened with them. Are they free now of the Thief's weird hive-mind mind control now that he's dead, or are they like this forever; cursed, half-children that will never live normal lives? We saw that the previously sleeping soldiers were apparently released from their mind control, but there was no word on what happens to the children of fae and a god.

I didn't love the ending and thought everything wrapped up a little too nicely. I never got the impression the water did anything to Callie's powers. As much as it was said that the ocean calls to her and stuff, it always felt like it was just something she really liked, rather than something integral to her power. So the fact that it was made a big deal that she went back to her siren roots to drown a man in water felt a little like a cop out. I also really don't like how Des faked his own death, made Callie see him like that and in pain, and didn't apologize for it until she made him. He should be devastated that he put her through that, but instead he's immediately making snarky comments and thinking about sex. Which, whatever, that's who he is, but he still loves Callie and doesn't want her to suffer, and right after she went through one of the strongest moments of devastation in her life, it seemed like he didn't care. Also, speaking of sex, I felt like there were a lot more sex scenes in this book than any of the other three and none of them added anything to the story, which is why it felt a lot like filler to me. I don't mind the sex scenes at all, but in this book, a lot of them felt unnecessary.

Overall, I really enjoyed the series and can see myself reading it again in the future. I wish the ending was a little stronger but I appreciate everything it accomplished.

Out of the 3 novels it wasn't my favorite, I would of loved a better epilogue.

Deze finale van The Bargainer-serie heb ik echt heel graag gelezen. Het was een goed uitgewerkte, bevredigende afsluiting van de serie.

De overkoepelende fantasy plot had interessante, unieke elementen. De onthulling en conclusie waren afdoend, doch een beetje te gemakkelijk opgelost.
Net als in de vorige boeken waren er soms momenten dat het verloop van het verhaal wat onsamenhangend was, doordat bepaalde ontdekkingen en openbaringen meermaals werden gemaakt of omdat de personages niet altijd 100% consistent waren.
Echt storend vond ik één nevenpersonage dat zo overduidelijk cliché was (ik durf bijna zeggen een racistisch stereotype), maar gelukkig kwam zij niet vaak aan bod.

Naast het fantasy-plot bevatte het boek weerom heel wat romantische scènes, maar deze wist de auteur goed te balanceren met de rest van het verhaal. Enkel wanneer het plot begon te ontrafelen, vond ik het wat te veel en ongepast worden, vooral wanneer de dreiging heel reëel en dichtbij kwam.
Zelf merk ik ook wel dat ik in romantiek de aanloop naar een relatie veel leuker lezen vind, dan de eigenlijke gevestigde relatie, en in dit opzicht deed de auteur goed werk om mijn aandacht blijvend vast te houden, zonder dat het te zeemzoeterig werd naar mijn goesting.

De serie als een geheel zou ik ook afklokken op 3,5 à 4 sterren. Het was ontspannend, las heel vlot ondanks enkele inconsistenties en over het algemeen gewoon eigenlijk leuk.

Yass!!!! I absolutely loved this series. So GOOD

Thoroughly enjoyed this series. I was loving this book as well, until the confrontation with the villain... it just didn't make sense to me? I don't quite understand what happened. That won't keep me from recommending this series to people though and I suspect sometime in the future I will re-read this amazing series.

Pretty solid third book in the series. There was a lot of action, too much sex, and interesting world building. My main issue is that Callie hasn't really grown as a character even though her life has done a complete 180 and she still has petty thoughts and weird self-doubt. I think Thalassa was trying to write in a sort of PTSD sub-plot from the events of book 2 but it just came up as Callie being a whiny baby one moment and then a Strong Female Character the next and the two just don't mash up realistically. There's still a strong Twilight-vibe in that you have no idea why Desmond would be interested in this woman, even if she is half-siren, because of the maturity and just years lived difference - which is probably why the author threw in the “soul mate” trope in the last book.
A fun romp in a unique world, but not one you can think too much about before ruining your enjoyment.