Review--Destroy the Day by Brigid Kemmerer

 

Left for dead, but desperate to survive . . . they have one last chance to save their kingdom.

Prince Corrick is out of options. Held captive by the vicious Oren Crane, he’s desperate to reunite with Tessa, but will need to ally with the rebel leader Lochlan, who until now wished him dead. An unlikely but deadly pair, Corrick and Lochlan must plot their next moves carefully.

An island away, Tessa Cade is heartbroken and angry. Grieving Corrick, and unsure how to find a way back to Kandala, she doesn’t know who to trust. Until Rian—the man she trusts least—makes an offer: aid in a plot to finally oust Oren Crane and see what the future holds . . .

Meanwhile in Kandala, Harristan is dethroned and on the run. He’s struggling to unite the rebels in his fractured kingdom, but he finds support—and maybe more—in unexpected places.

Can Harristan be the king his people need? Can Corrick and Tessa find their way back to each other? As outside threats loom and the fires of revolution burn from within, time is running out to save their kingdom.

In the thrilling conclusion to the Defy the Night series, Brigid Kemmerer crafts heartrending twists and devastating turns that will keep readers breathless to the very end.

 

After a dreadful icy rain and a painful wait of a day later I finally got Brigid Kemmerer’s Destroy the Day in my hand to devour at my leisure! Which obviously wasn’t too long considering I read every chance I got during the work week! This is the grand finale, the epic conclusion to the Defy the Night trilogy and it was beyond epic!

I was eager to dive into this book after the loss and turmoil that we ended Defend the Dawn left us with! I was quite happy with whose point of view we got first too! Needless to say, this was relieving, but also expected, because come on, we can’t end the series without him! Corrick and Lochlan are prisoners of Oren Crane, the enemy of Rian who just happens to be the king of Ostriary. Oren is mad as heck that Rian kidnapped his daughter and will do whatever it takes to get her back and destroy Rian’s kingdom while he’s at it.

I quite enjoyed seeing Corrick and Lochlan working together. The animosity that ran rampant between these two at the beginning of the series made you wonder if they’d kill each other before their enemy got the chance. But having common ground over a new person to hate together really brought these two closer together!

Then we have Tessa and Rocco who are at Rian’s mercy, but Tessa is grieving deeply, for she believes Corrick is dead having been flung from the ship during the attacks. Rocco mourns Corrick as well and for what they will have to eventually tell Harristan when they return home. But since Rian is reluctant to let them leave, Tessa decides to make the best of a bad situation and take up healing people once again in Fairde.

We also continued to get Harristan’s point of view as well who is dealing with the consuls taking over his kingdom. Panic has ensued and now everyone seems to be out to get Harristan for Allisander Sallister has been spreading lies that Harristan was poisoning his own people and profiting from it. Which obviously was the biggest lie of them all, but could it be steeped in some kind of truth? Harristan will uncover some deeply hidden family secrets that will change everything he thought he knew about his parents.

This book was truly epic! I was worried that the 500+ page count might make things move at a slightly slower pace, and while things weren’t as action packed as I previously saw, it was still an intriguing development. We still got multiple points of view, but this time they were more of a bulk spread. We would have five or more chapters at a time with a character which I thought was a bit different. I am used to the route of constantly changing the point of view every chapter and that we get left with a bit of a cliffhanger with one person’s point of view. Not to say that I expected this necessarily of Kemmerer based on the previous books as those chapters didn’t necessarily end in mini cliffhangers. But there was more of a changeup per chapter that wasn’t readily present here.

After we get through the bulk of each character’s chapter sections we switch to more of a rotation. I honestly preferred this just so we could get that back and forth notion. All the characters are separated, quite literally this time by great distances. So I was eager to know how things were going with so and so after I spent a few chapters with another character. Maybe if I read faster it wouldn’t have been so problematic and this is just more of a me problem!

I was a bit sad that Tessa and Corrick were separated for the majority of the novel. I was just healing from their reconciliation over the fight they were having in book 2 and then this separation happens. I was thrilled to know what each of them was doing at the time and knowing they were more or less okay, but mourning the other one as neither knew what became of the other. I found a new loathing for Rian though. I wasn’t too sure of his character in the second book when he walked onto the page, and I feel like I was right to be hesitant about him after all was said and done!

I did find a wee bit lacking in some of the explanation areas. There was one thing that got explained away lickety-split but I was left wondering whether it was an accurate statement to make or not. Since nothing was ever expunged upon this “tidbit” I guess I have to take the speculations at face value. I guess if some hardcore evidence could’ve been presented at the time of the “write off,” I would’ve been more satisfied. But alas, nothing was ever said in concrete so I was left wondering nearly the whole book whether the information was true or not. And even though it was a little thing, I decided to be vague about it anyway!

I’m sad to say a little bit of the ending felt rushed too! We had many things happening, so I was expecting epic fights and battles and hardships to be won, and while we did get that in part, I felt like another part of it was just glossed over. Again, without getting too deep into spoiler territory I see why things were done in the way they were done, I guess I was just expecting a bit more. But when the end page count is over 500 I guess some things had to be shortened. I mean, I would’ve happily read another 30+ pages or so if it could make a smoother all around conclusion, but I’m nit-picking a bit too.

I did make a few speculations about the ending in its details and I have to say that Kemmerer still surprised me! I won’t say more than that! Destroy the Day was without a doubt the grand finale I was hoping for! I did wish a few things could have been different. Perhaps a few more kisses between Corrick and Tessa since they were apart so long, but I have to say the bickering between Corrick and Lochlan made up for that in part! This was such a fun fantasy series! It was far different from what I had expected but an enjoyable journey all the same, even without magic! This was a heart-racing trilogy nonetheless and I highly recommend it to all who are looking for a fantasy read filled with action, secrets, deception and lies, and stolen kisses!

 

 

Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars