Mother. Fucking. Dustlands. 
 Every book I finish of this series, I snap shut with the same reaction. 
 I...I have very mixed feelings on this series' end. 
 Why is it I walk away from these books with nothing but positive recommendations, yet as I read, I skim, drag, and look ahead, every sign of a bad book? I am not in the moment during these books. I am anxiously waiting for them to get better. 
 These books have been an emotional struggle for me. I love them in theory, and sometimes in practice. Jack and Saba have enough potential to last for several seasons of television for me, I could never get enough of them, and there never was enough. Ever. Every book had a painful lack of Jack and Saba. The tone is dark, gritty, and so readable when it's done well. The side characters have such a strong presence. The world building is so cool. And don;t get me started on the motherfucking Free Hawks. Best. Idea. Ever. I want a Free Hawks spin-off. 
 Yet I have to force my way through the plot of every book, painfully so. Young has always been unsentimental, killing characters before their time, lingering on plot instead of people, which I'd rather have time to care about these people, and to see them live past twenty. (Maev, what the fuck Moira?). 
 Notice how the Free Hawks are gone after book 1? It's Like Moira Young hates what makes her readers happy. 
 Here's what I hate, plot, side characters (there are too fucking many to keep track of and many lump together to serve the same purpose), Lugh, Red Herrings, "dramatic" reveals. 
 Here are the dramatic reveals: 
 1. Lugh (view spoiler)[ sells out his sister to DeMalo to kill Jack and have a life with her and Emmi. There's a really weird underlying theme of their connection, that may supposed to be played as familial love but does not come across that way at all. It's incestuous longing not even disguised as a healthy relationship. Tommo is a red herring, since the epilogue of Rebel Heart, because the poor deaf kid can't take rejection. It's pretty obvious because every time it's hinted Tommo is the unnamed second narrator, he is using information Lugh was also present to know about. (hide spoiler)] 
 2. DeMalo (view spoiler)[ Is Tommo's father, with which is forced enough, and then when you thing about it, Saba fucked a guy old enough to have a fifteen year old son. That's, if generous, at least thirty. Yes Jack had a kid, but his daughter wasn't a teenager. Also DeMalo is a liar and not magic and a dick, but when you name a character "Of Evil", it kinda goes with the territory. (hide spoiler)] 
 3. Molly (view spoiler)[ fucks Lugh, even though it's red herringed to be Tommo, and is pregnant with his baby. We don't get to find out if it survives infancy this time, my headcanon is no. (hide spoiler)] 
 4. Saba (view spoiler)[ miscarries DeMalo's baby. The one she didn't know she was having. After losing both siblings. It's like a cherry on top of a grief sundae, and honestly, motherhood is such a heavy and hammered in theme (and the pregnancy is so clunkily handled, it's hinted at constantly and supposed to be a surprise), it was obvious there was going to be a baby, dead or otherwise. While I'm glad Saba isn't saddled with an unplanned baby, is this at all what I wanted to see? Saba barely even reacts to it either, so more time had to be spent reflecting on it or it just should have been cut. I know we had to get Mercy wedged in there somewhere, but really? That's how you do it? By knocking Saba down once again? (hide spoiler)] 
 5. Emmi (view spoiler)[ is a shaman. Who dies at the end. Before she does anything Saba wasn't already going to accomplish. (hide spoiler)] 
 6. Big Bad Ending (view spoiler)[ Lugh and Emmi bite it. Why is it every book I want a sibling to just shut up and die, and this book, just when I don't want it anymore, it happens? Holy shit. It's such a Mockingjay twist, the people Saba fought for the entire time end up dying anyway, and for what? What have we accomplished? (hide spoiler)] 
 I just...too much was lost for the ending to feel rewarding. Saba had too many demons. There was no triumph, and for a character put through so many trials, riding off into the sunset with a love interest, with no finite reward, isn't enough. Saba loses everything except one guy. One fucking guy. I...maybe I'll be able to formulate new opinions once the shock fades, but honestly, I read ahead for all these books just to motivate myself to the "happy ending" and this one was no exception. So I was numb to the twists, trails, and pains. It was predictable and unsentimental, I didn't feel the author cared about the characters so neither did I.