weave my words into worlds

PRE-READ: I don't know how Brandon Mull will fit everything into this book that he needs to. Of course, he's done it before, so I know he can.

As for these parallel quests, the oracle split my favorite characters up! I hope I get to see a bit more of them at the Temple of Mianamon before everything goes haywire.

Predictions:
- Jason and Rachel will end up together, not Jason and Corinne. Of course, Jason and Rachel are pretty young, so I don't think they'll even be in an official relationship.
- The Oracle said that many who were present during the prophecy would perish. I'll lose it if anyone from the delegation dies. Erm, I have a feeling that Io or Nia will die in the third book, because they only live for two years anyway. Galloran and Drake strike me as likely candidates. Maybe Tark? Ugh, I don't know. So help me if Ferrin dies I will throw the book at my wall and spend the next six months holed up in my room mourning the loss of his amazingness.
- "The servant will betray the master." This line kills me because it can apply to so many people. It could be any of these or more: Ferrin betraying Galloran, Ferrin betraying Maldor (again), Nedwin betraying Galloran, Dorsio* betraying Galloran, Tark betraying Jason. I can't imagine Nedwin doing this. For the sake of my emotions, I hope it means that Ferrin will continue to prove that he has betrayed Maldor.
- Maldor will send out all of his torivors to fight in battle.
- Corinne ought to play a big role, because Rachel says the Oracle spends a long time talking to her. We'd better see this girl doing some swordfighting!
- The man on the cover... I almost want to say Galloran because there's something about those eyes. I don't remember anyone in the book being described as bald, so it's either someone we've met who has changed their appearance or a new character. I like the idea suggested in one of the comments that it's Aram. But, if I'm being realistic, I probably won't be able to guess the person on this cover like I did in Fablehaven.
- I have no idea if Rachel and Jason will end up going home. Truth be told, I don't want them to. I'd like to think that, by the end of the novel, Rachel's Edomic skills will have grown to the point where she could make a more accessible portal between Lyrian and the Beyond, but she has no one to learn from anymore and the effort might kill her. Maybe the book will end before the four years are up and the time between the worlds is aligned.

* Scratch that. I forgot that this impossible because Dorsio is dead. *sigh*

POST-READ:
Can't decide on 4 or 5 stars. Probably in between somewhere.
You know what, I'm too emotionally traumatized to give a proper review.

Anyway. This book made me sob--and I mean sob--three separate times out of either relating to characters very strongly or grieving their deaths. No book has made me do that before, so I feel like that alone deserves a five-star rating.

There were a few things I didn't like:
- The Celestine Library, or at least I didn't like it at first. It seemed so different from the rest of Lyrian that I just felt a bit taken back.
- Rachel's creepy outfit. I wish she had just stuck with her acolyte robe.
- I would have liked to see a little more fighting from Galloran. After the intensity we saw from him in Seeds of Rebellion, it felt so strange to see him become more of a political figure than anything. I understand why it had to happen; I only wish we could have seen more of his heroic side.

This book just tore me apart. I don't know how to review it. (I was so sad to see it end, so part of me doesn't want to give it five stars, but I've already stated my reasoning for that.) Four of my top five characters died (although one of them was Jasher, so that doesn't completely count). I'm somewhat at peace with Drake and Nedwin's deaths, but that didn't keep me from crying for a full fifteen minutes when Drake sacrificed his life to defeat a torivor. And then... Ferrin's death still has me in tears every now and then. I saw so many happy futures for him and now none of them are there. He was my favorite from start to finish. People keep speculating that there will be a sequel series, which I doubt, and I worry that I would have a hard time reading a sequel series without Ferrin in it. It also doesn't help that my two main ships didn't become canon.

I loved the way Ferrin bonded more with Rachel, and how we got to see more sibling rivalry between Drake and Farfalee, and the husband-wife bond between Farfalee and Jasher. "I would give all my lives for her" oh goodness my creys I've gone back to the first and second books and realized how early some of the foreshadowing for Chasing the Prophecy began. And I'm glad that some aspects of the other books that seemed random became more relevant in this installment.

Man, I really shouldn't be reviewing this yet. I'm still so emotional. Forgive my incoherent babbling and maybe I'll fix this up later when I'm truly fit to discuss this book.