Sara Shepard

In Rosewood, Pennsylvania, reporters are lined up outside the historic courthouse, typing furiously at their iPhones with freshly manicured nails. Because the trial of the century is happening right here in Rosewood: the four pretty little liars have been accused of killing Alison DiLaurentis. Only Aria, Spencer, Hanna, and Emily know that they’ve been framed. Ali is still out there, laughing as she watches the girls go down for her murder. But when your nickname includes the word “liar,” no one believes you’re telling the truth. . . . Aria tries to run away from it all but finds that life on the lam is even harder than life as a liar. Spencer gets in touch with someone who can help her disappear—but when a guy from her past reemerges, Spencer no longer knows what she wants. Hanna decides that she’ll hear wedding bells chime before she serves time. And in the face of prison, Emily does something truly drastic—something that will change her friends’ lives forever. As the trial goes on and the outcome looks grim, the girls are in their darkest hour yet. But maybe they can finally figure out how to beat Ali at her own game. Because once upon a time, she was just a pretty little liar too.

Pretty Little Liars #16: Vicious

Geoffrey Froggatt

** spoiler alert **
           This is the sixteenth book in the Pretty Little Liars book series, and the fourth and final book in the fourth story arc. Content warning for a storyline involving suicide. Aria tries to run away from it all but finds that life on the lam is even harder than life as a liar. Spencer gets in touch with someone who can help her disappear, but when a guy from her past reemerges, Spencer no longer knows what she wants. Hanna decides that she’ll hear wedding bells chime before she serves time. And in the face of prison, Emily does something truly drastic, something that will change her friends’ lives forever. I told myself that I wouldn’t read the second half of the series as the original eight books were the best arcs and stories out of the entire Pretty Little Liars franchise, but after reading the prequel book and seeing how it hinted at a story beyond the first two story arcs, I chose to continue on. And I am glad that I did. Despite feeling like the books in the third arc weren’t executed as well as they could have been, I had a fun time reading books nine through sixteen. I originally felt like these newer books were churned out to capitalize off of the television show’s success, and I do still believe that they were, but the fourth story arc proved that even cash grab books can be a fun time. I still consider the first eight books (and the prequel) the best books in the series. One thing that I like about the books in the fourth arc is that they were all exciting and each book told a singular story that was executed better than the stories in the third arc. Out of all the books in the second half of the series, the ones in the fourth story arc are my favorite. 

I like how this book brought the girls to their absolute lowest. I like how Spencer became deflated and basically admitted defeat. Seeing Spencer contact someone who has spent time in prison to take notes on how to survive behind bars was sad but very in-character for the book version of Spencer. I loved seeing Spencer consider disappearing, going on the run and changing her identity. I was so surprised that Aria was the one who actually bit the bullet and fled the country, but Noel won me over when he managed to track her down before Interpol did. I loved seeing Aria meet an Alison supporter in prison, and how we learn that Alison has many supporters and fans behind bars. I liked seeing Hanna realize that her contacts in the entertainment industry weren’t loyal when things got complicated. I liked seeing Hanna and Mike get married and I was so proud of Hanna for calling up her dad just to let him know that he isn’t invited. Emily’s character in the television show got the short end of the stick characterization wise, so I loved that Emily had such a huge role to play in the second half of the book series. I love the author’s decision to explore Emily’s suicidal thoughts previously in order to set up the storyline in this book where Emily faked her death. Throughout the book series (and even the show) Emily was always the quiet one, the meek one, the innocently naive one, so I loved seeing her become such a badass in the fourth arc. I loved Emily getting revenge on Alison for causing Jordan’s death and for terrorizing the girls for years. Seeing how far Alison had fallen at the end was so satisfying, especially with Emily being the one to beat her at her own game. 

One thing that I hated about this book is Wren’s return. I wasn’t a huge fan of his character, and I felt like if one character had to return to Spencer’s life, it should have been Chase. One problem with the second half of the book series is that the secondary cast wasn’t used as effectively as the secondary cast from the first half. Chase had an amazing introduction in Crushed and then was weakly written out of the story in the following book, Deadly. His reason for leaving Spencer was completely out of character and was just a way for the author to leave Spencer alone in order to raise the stakes. I would have forgiven this misstep in storytelling had Chase returned to help Spencer in this book, but sadly that never happened. I never really rooted for or cared for many couples in this series, but I wanted Chase and Spencer to end up together. Despite that one major disappointment, I liked this book and this ending. I liked that Alison essentially ended up right back where she started, and I liked that the girls had trouble letting their guard down but eventually moved forward with their lives. I liked that everything was wrapped up in a satisfying way but there were also small threads left hanging in case the author chooses to continue this series. At the time of writing this review the author Sara Shepard is releasing an Audible original (audio only) story called The Liars, which will focus on the girls as adults. I’m cautiously optimistic for this upcoming story and I’m curious to see where the author chooses to take the story and characters, and I’m excited to see if Alison or a new A will make an appearance or if this story will feature something entirely different. Overall, I’m glad that I continued with this series until the end, and I would actually be okay if the author chose to write even more books after The Liars with these characters set in college and/or as adults. I think that incorporating Alison’s supporters into the story was clever because the author could easily pick up where this book left off with a new A team of Alison’s supporters, and I like the little hint that the girls will always have a part of themselves wondering if everyone they meet is an Alison loyalist. I recommend books nine through sixteen for fans of the original eight books in the series only if they want more stories from these characters, and I truly believe that fans of the original eight books can choose to believe that this series ended with Wanted if they want to. I’m surprised to say that I would gladly read eight more books in this series if the author chose to write them. I had fun with this series, regardless of how ridiculous it got in certain parts.

Jamieson

I CAN'T BELIEVE AFTER 16 BOOKS PRETTY LITTLE LIARS IS OVER

It feels so, so wrong to say goodbye to this series. PLL is an institution! But no matter, the story had well and truly ran it's course and it's nice to see it end positively. 

I felt like this book was kind of disappointing because I was expecting so much more from it. The whole book centres around the trial of Hanna, Aria, Spencer and Emily - who've been charged with the murder of Alison DiLaurentis

The extra events that occur made it more interesting, but even so I wish this book had followed more closely the style of the last few - the girls trying to find Ali and bring her to justice was much more interesting. 

Even though I would have preferred that, what I got was still interesting, good, and GREAT in parts. It just felt like it felt flat - like the whole story was just anti-climatic. It was like this book was the anti-climax from the last few even though it should have been THE climax. I loved the storylines - Aria's and Hanna's especially. I liked the ending and how things wrapped up for the girls, liked that Ali's still at it no matter what. I felt maybe things ended up a little too nicely, but then this is pretty little liars and that happens. 


As a politics and law student, I also couldn't help noticing the small things that just would never happen in a real court I don't know why these unrealistic things annoyed me when this series is so incredibly unrealistic in general, but they did. 

But overrall, I did enjoy this. I'm happy to let this series go, it truly was cming to it's end. While many people give this series a hella lot of shit, I enjoy it. They're quick, entertaining reads and I freakin care about Hanna and Mike (BLESS THEIR MARRIAGE BTW) and I just, I'm happy. I am at peace with this. 



So long, pretty little liars. It was a good time. (jks there will be like 12 seasons of the show im convinced I can still get my drama if I need it)

Zara Doulton

A very exciting end to a gripping series!

laura

** spoiler alert **
           Such an AMAzzing ending to this long series! It could have not have ended better! I loved all this twists and turns! Allie finally got what was coming to here and all the girls got a happy ending! 
Such a fast and quick read!

Zoe Smolen

I would have given this 3.5 stars if I could. I thought it was a great ending to the series, but I thought some of the writing was a little sloppy. I really did love it. And I'm a little sad the series has come to the end, but I'm glad I still have the TV show to watch!

Pretty Little Liars #16: Vicious

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