Book Review for Kelley Armstrong’s Rituals (some Spoilers)
I have greatly enjoyed visiting Cainsville this past week. Watching Olivia, Gabriel and Ricky navigate discovering their pasts and the roles they were expected to play was fun and learning along the way with them the paranormal origins and the crazy treatment of those who did not fit into either of the main groups was a crazy ride. And I have looked forward to the conclusion of this story especially given the surprise at the ending of Betrayals when Ricky stepped aside to give Gabriel his shot with Olivia.
Watching the group fight their past incarnations and the meddling of both sides was frustrating. In many ways, the urge to just shake the main characters was high. And yet as each of the succeeding third party scheme and design traps and pitfalls there is a underlying layer of hope–that these three can somehow beat fate. Each of their previous incarnations are bitter and seem determined to make the same mistakes happen again while they advise Olivia, Gabriel and Ricky not to make the same mistakes. It’s frustrating.
All through the story, Gabriel’s continuing social dysfunction takes a large role in the story. And seeing him struggle to be what Olivia needs is painful at times. Having Gabriel’s mother return and Pamela escape from jail is not only unexpected it is shocking. And in this last book, finding that the powers who were so desperately awaiting their Matilda made deals that they didn’t consider the ramifications of was just plain disappointing
This end had the potential to be epic. No matter which decision was made, there could have been closure and healing with the story coming full circle. Instead of secret male pacts determining the future we could have had a reasoned and equal decision. Having a strong heroine with two strong males making well reasoned decisions seemed like what was coming.
Instead, Ricky backed off the field and Olivia was so glad to have the least crumb of attention from Gabriel that despite the fact he continued to misstep, Olivia chose Gabriel and then the three of them decided to do what they were told from the very beginning wasn’t an option. I did not see a happily ever after when this book ended. I saw continued heartbreak for Olivia as Gabriel continues to misstep. I see a friendship between Ricky and Olivia that will always have a sexual undertone and a feeling of lost opportunities. And the relationship between Gabriel and Ricky will always have a petty jealoussness under it.
As sad as the end made me because it took so much of Olivia’s strength and growth and threw it out the window as soon as Gabriel made the least bit of effort, it could have been worse. I am glad that they end up with neither the elders or the hunt winning. But instead it seems that everyone loses.
Fiction
Random House Canada
August 15, 2017
496
The fifth book and the exciting conclusion to bestselling author Kelley Armstrong's "impossible-to-put-down" Cainsville series, in which she mixes hard-hitting crime writing with phenomenal world-building to create a brand of fiction all her own. When Olivia Taylor-Jones found out she was not actually the adopted child of a privileged Chicago family but of a notorious pair of convicted serial killers, her life exploded. Running from the fall-out, she found a refuge in the secluded but oddly welcoming town of Cainsville, Illinois, but she couldn't resist trying to dig out the truth about her birth parents' crimes. She began working with Gabriel Walsh, a fiendishly successful criminal lawyer who also had links to the town; their investigation soon revealed Celtic mysteries at work in Cainsville, and also entangled Olivia in a tense love triangle with the calculating Gabriel and her charming biker boyfriend, Ricky. Worse, troubling visions revealed to Olivia that the three of them were reenacting an ancient drama pitting the elders of Cainsville against the mysterious Huntsmen with Olivia as the prize. In the series' fifth and final novel, not only does Gabriel's drug addict mother, who he thought was dead, make a surprise reappearance, but Kelley Armstrong delivers a final scary and surprising knock-out twist. It turns out a third supernatural force has been at work all along, a dark and malevolent entity that has had its eye on Olivia since she was a baby and wants to win at any cost.