Mari’s past and present are not set in stone. Everything keeps changing, and try as she might her future isn’t what it’s meant to be. At least not yet. Logan has not given up hope of winning her over, and Seth refuses to let him win. Mari must make choices and fight for the future she wants, but that is easier said than done. Every time she feels they have made the right choice, another problem arises. Can Mari outlast Logan? Can Mari find a way to make sure her future is the one she wants?
I honestly didn’t care for this book. Chrysocolla is the fourth book in the Chalcedony Chronicles and, in my opinion, the worst in the series. This is a sad statement because this is the last book.
So, to begin, let me air out my issues with the book. First off, Mari has somehow lost all of her intelligence. I’m not sure if it was because the bracelet was sucking out her brain cells, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize Ky’s parentage or even who her own father was. Though I did have it guessed well before this book, her own blatant ignorance and not putting two and two together seemed over done.
The second peeve about the book was how the group figured things out. All of the revelations are made from the Goddess or Ky, people who could have explained everything early on or at least make a better effort at influencing Mari to realize the truth of the matter. This added with the actions done to solve the problems made the book have a deus ex machina.
In case you don’t know what that is, a deus ex machina is a device made in the arts that basically is a quick fix to the story at hand. A prime example is the play Medea. In that play, she killed her sons and is cornered by her husband. She has no escape, however she is supposed to be free at the end of the play. What happens? Her god saves her from her fate. Deus ex Machina means God Machine.
Like Medea, Mari has a very similar experience in Chrysocolla. A God saves her! One that we didn’t know was a God! It was like a literary cheese that needed to be put there because Mari was written into a corner… or pool house. Instances like that are annoying and happen quite a bit in this book that I was left completely disappointed in the end.
I did like the epilogue. It didn’t have Mari in it and it fit with the events that unfolded in the book. As for the book itself, it didn’t fit with the rest of the series. I feel that it could have been better thought out and better executed for the audience. I have read so many time travel books that I was very disappointed in this one.
Casia's Corner 