Name: Maggie Gordon's review of Rituals by Kelley Armstrong
Item: Rituals
Rating: 3
Author: Maggie Gordon

Kelley Armstrong

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.

Rituals

Cindy

Maggie Gordon

The Cainsville series has been frustrating. It started strong with a great sense of mystery, but almost immediately was bogged down with romantic melodrama. Despite the fact that a love triangle was part of the nitty gritty of the plot, the middle books felt bloated, with tension that, in the end, felt unnecessary and boring. Now that we have reached the last book, part of that triangle is concluded (in theory) and Armstrong ramps up the fae mysteries... but is it too late?

Honestly, Rituals is an average novel with a pretty meh ending for the series. There is an interesting reveal about a party that's been behind all of the trials plaguing the series' characters since the start, and lots of action. But in the end, was the resolution compelling? Nope. It was predictable. However, that wasn't the worst part. It simply happened and the implications were left unexplored. Liz made her choice, it was a fairly large cop-out, and... well, there was no and. There was no resolution. Sure, a big bad is off the table, but... what about everything else? Readers still know so very little about the world, and while our lovebirds got together, it felt oddly unearned. Four books of will-they, won't they, and then suddenly almost all their issues are solved and they are together in a reasonably not disastrous manner? I didn't buy it. 

I enjoyed the action in Ritual. There were some fun scenes, though the abandoned building trend is getting old. The mythology was the best it's been since book 1. But as a final book it's not great. The series feels unfinished and I'm so bitter because I thought the first book had such potential.

Becky

This is both a perfect ending and one which leaves me wanting more. Cainsville has been one of my favourite series (although I think that about all her books I think) by Armstrong so I'm sad to see it end but that was really the most satisfying of endings as well.

I need to mull over my thoughts because I have a few but seeing the finale and getting the resolution was brilliant. I am left with wanting more but it ended in a good way. I'm pleased.

Judy Hudgins

Chantale

I have read all previous books as soon as they came out and yes I read this one as soon as I received my copy.

I love this series and this book so much but I am sad that this is the last book. 
This series is one of my favourites and will be one I will read again in the future.

Rhiannon Mansfield

Carlee Edwards 

danielle bush

Justine Travis

Kb james

Winona

"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"--Publisher marketing.

Cindy &
Rituals by Kelley Armstrong

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Cindy &Rituals by Kelley Armstrong

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Cindy &
Rituals by Kelley Armstrong