Review--The Retribution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Mara Dyer wants to believe there's more to the lies she’s been told.
There is.

She doesn’t stop to think about where her quest for the truth might lead.
She should.

She never had to imagine how far she would go for vengeance.
She will now.

Loyalties are betrayed, guilt and innocence tangle, and fate and chance collide in this shocking conclusion to Mara Dyer’s story.

Retribution has arrived. 

The long awaited conclusion to the Mara Dyer trilogy has arrived! Granted, my wait wasn't anywhere near as long as the first fans, but it was still pretty long! Michelle Hodkin brings a conclusion to the trilogy with The Retribution of Mara Dyer. And I can't help but feel like I should've started the series a bit later, so I could binge read it, because let me tell you, I forgot quite a bit! I mean I remembered some details, but there was a lot I couldn't remember. Some detailed details that I really wasn't able to grasp or put together. I still enjoyed this one, but of course, I was still left with a few questions too!

Mara wakes up in Dr. Kells' hands and is under some pretty heavy drugs, so everything is sort of hazy for a chapter or so. The one factor that remains clear to her is that Noah is not with her. Kells says he's dead, but Mara doesn't believe her. She would know, she would feel it, if he were dead. But he is missing...for quite a long time too!

Mara gets some help from an unlikely resource and is able to escape her prison with Jamie and Stella as well. They try to figure out what was done to them, but that's a bigger mystery then they are ready to solve. All Mara wants to do though, is find Noah.

And so begins quite the adventure. There's quite the real life kind of danger going on this one. Enemies that you can't always see clearly. There were some pretty intense and even scary moments in this one! It was quite the thriller! I loved it!

What I struggled with, besides not being able to remember much of the previous books--this is what happens when you constantly read soooo much all the time!--was trying to understand Mara and her friends' powers. They all have abilities and there is some background to them, but I couldn't quite understand it. There are still some chapters from a previous Mara in this one as well and it ties itself into our Mara's story. But there's that "prophecy" we learned of awhile back that concerns Mara and Noah and I think it was that and its origins and the whole where did these powers come from part that confused me. Add in the doctors and their studying everything kind of made it more complicated for me, because I have never been a friend of science! I was able to garner some idea of what happened, but it's vague.

The other part that I didn't quite enjoy, was the lack of Noah. Noah doesn't show up until the last 1/4 of the book. But naturally, once he's there, things were very interesting!

I feel like there was still an issue or two left unsaid. I get the open ending type thing--for the very last lines do tie us back to the beginning and I LOVED that!--but there was one character that I was wondering about...and it was never said what happened to him and it kind of drove me nuts!

This was a very intriguing and intense trilogy though! There's a lot to it and it was incredibly amazing! I loved it! I just wished I thought to binge read it instead of having a gap between books. So if you're looking to start this series then I highly recommend BINGE reading! 


Overall Rating 4/5 stars