Hello! Welcome to another review. This one is a really big deal because it's from one of my favorite series ever. A Crystal of Time is the fifth installment of The School for Good and Evil series for those of you who haven't read or heard of the series.
Although the wait for this book was ridiculously long (18 months feels like an eternity), I'm very excited to say that it was worth every second. I haven't felt this excited about a book in such a long time, and it was so refreshing to have a book that not only lived up to, but surpassed my expectations. After Book 4, Quests for Glory, I was a little bit nervous about this one, especially because Quests for Glory left a lot of things hanging, and...let's just say it was not my favorite...
I think the characterization in the last book was kind of weird, but in this one all the characters really grew and developed, especially Sophie and Tedros. I'm usually not a fan of the former, but I have to say her POVs were some of my favorites, and she really shined without overshadowing others. It also had a lot of funny moments, which made this a really fun read, but most importantly, it answered my main questions that Book 4 left me, which is why waiting for this felt so long. A Crystal of Time also made me feel like Soman's writing it's so focused on worldbuilding and descriptions and I honestly finally appreciated it. My favorite aspect overall was how he misled you into thinking something, and you would buy into it, only to be proven wrong. (If you read this, you probably know what I mean). Finally, before I get into a spoiler discussion, I was usually disappointed with how Soman writes his antagonists, but Rhian totally proved me wrong and stole the show in the second part of the book, and in the best way possible, not like in Quests for Glory...
(And this is definitely my favorite cover of the series....)
SPOILER DISCUSSION: If you have not read and plan on doing so, do NOT read this section.
Look, there's that one thing that I really need to talk about because it still hasn't full sank in. I really bought into Gremlaine being Rhian and Japeth's mother. But Soman came in full-force and made Evelyn Sader the mother. I still can't really process that, and while it is a great plot twsit, it does feel like it came out of nowhere. Although I love Evelyn and reading about her is never an issue for me, it is a little bit unexpected, and I definitely need more about it. Rhian eventually admitting he loved Sophie? You could have knocked me down with a feather right then....I'm really angry about him being killed off like he was, but I guess I understand....I still hate Japeth though. The Wrong TWin was killed off...
Also, the scene with Tedros and Arthur was so sweet it had me crying more than when Lady Lesso was killed off in Book 3....
SPOILERS OVER!!!
I think A Crystal of Time is a strong contender for my favorite in this series, so I think I might reread all of them to see how I feel about it. Meanwhile, I think it's like a 4.5/5 stars, and I wasn't expecting for it to be so enticing.
Let me know what you think in the comments!
--Sofia