The Retribution of Mara Dyer

Title: The Retribution of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer #3)
Author: Michelle Hodkin
Genre: YA Paranormal Fantasy
Pages: 470
Rating: 3.5 Stars
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In this conclusion novel, Mara Dyer wakes up trapped in a research facility. Just as Dr. Kells attempts to kill her, Mara manages to escape with Stella and Jamie. The trio makes their way through the country, searching for answers to their many questions about who they are, and how they got to be in the state that they are. For they aren't just your average mental patients. No. This trio has special powers.

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I personally dislike it when the first two books in a series are actually pretty good, and then you get to the last book and it's all very underwhelming. Don't you? That's how this book was for me. I found a lot of it to be quite far fetched, and the rest simply to be filler stuff that didn't really come back into play the rest of the book. 

I won't spoil the book or anything, but the ending was so disjointed, and everything that went down simply didn't add up. None of it was credible. Plus, there were plenty of loose threads that never get tied up. It just wasn't a very good conclusion.

But the thing is, this book probably could've been a nice conclusion. You'd think with 470 pages the author would be able to wrap everything up and get the point across, but she really didn't. The whole beginning of the book was Mara being rather stupid and robot-like. She wasn't snarky, witty, or anything like the Mara we know and love. Then we get to the end, which is pretty much a series of conveniently easy and rather incredible events. There was a lot of this book that just A.) didn't need to happen or B.) shouldn't have been able to happen at all. 

Anyway, why don't we move onto why I gave this book a 3.5 star rating. For me, three stars means that the book was okay, and that I don't really lean either way with it. Anything lower than a three star means I didn't like it, anything higher than a three star means I at least somewhat enjoyed it. I gave The Retribution of Mara Dyer a 3.5 star rating because the whole trilogy, all and all, was good. When I look back at my experience of reading this trilogy, I look back at it positively. I feel like the final book deserves that half a star more. Plus, I did like Jamie's Harry Potter/ Hunger Games/ Lord of the Rings references. And to be fair, I did appreciate the last two pages of the book, and how they tied in to the very beginning of the first book. 

So would I recommend this book to you? Well, assuming you've actually read the first two books, yes. I would recommend you finish up this series. You've already invested in two books, you might as well see how it ends. Would I recommend this trilogy to you? Yes, I would. It's very unique, very new, and very fascinating. 

Other books in this series: 

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

The Evolution of Mara Dyer