Book Review: The Storm of Echoes (The Mirror Visitor #4)

 

The Storm of Echoes

Christelle Dabos

Overall: 4/5

Plot and themes: 4/5

Characters: 5/5

Writing style: 4/5

Attention-grabbing: 4/5

The Storm of Echoes is the fourth and final book in the Mirror Visitor series. It's been a long wait for the translated works to be released, and a big shout out to NetGalley for getting me an ARC so that I could enjoy it prior to its release date. Ophelia and Thorn have been through a lot during the course of their tumultuous relationship, their ultimate challenge being to basically decode the meaning and fundamental creation of the world as they know it. This book is a series of convoluted twists and turns, and if you're anything like me it'll take you twice as long to read because you'll constantly have to flip back to reread section that have transcended your level of comprehension. 

When I went to write this review, I noticed that the average score is somewhat low. I understand that from a non-biased perspective there are a lot of things happening and the paragraphs are dense and hard to follow. I think that the plot kind of got away from me at points and I had to go back and make sure I was following. If I hadn't done nearly a complete reread in the past couple of months, I don't know if I would have been able to follow the characters that kept popping up from all over the chronology of the series. 

But I think that it's supposed to feel like a fever dream. Ophelia and Thorn want to understand the basis of their universe but they really have no idea. It's like if you tried to jump down a rabbit hole of theoretical psychology and philosophy. I don't completely understand it and I'll definitely need a reread to have a more solid grasp on it, but I think that the ultimate message of the whole series was definitely closed out nicely. 

I'm still recommending this series despite the lack of fulfillment which I derived from the ending. I'm not saying it was disappointing to the integrity of the universe, but disappointing to what I'm always looking for and striving to get as a reader. I won't spoil anything with that, I still appreciate the way it ended, but I really hope that someday down the line we see more of them. Ophelia holds up as one of my all-time favorite protagonists and it's really bittersweet to think that this is the end of her story. 

Thank you again to NetGalley and Europa Editions for giving me the ARC, hoping to see more great things by Christelle Dabos in the future!