Gorgeous photo by @thecrazyreader!
Hey friends!
Ok fairies, final section, let’s go, are you ready to find out how Violet Made of Thorns ends? (I am not)
Today we’re reading from Chapter 22 to the end of the book.
Please be warned, the following section will include spoilers for Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen, from chapter 22 to the end of the book. Please only read on if you’ve finished Violet Made of Thorns!
-!SPOILERS!-
It’s time for the wedding, and word has gotten around to Auvery’s gossip that there’s a lil something something between Violet and Cyrus. Violet brushes it off but it doesn’t seem good that she’s been approached about their relationship at his wedding.
Anyway, to make matters worse, when it’s time for Raya to meet Cyrus at the altar, two of them show up. Perfect! One is Not-Raya (Nadiya) and the other, is the witch, claiming to be the real Nadiya.
Cyrus clearly doesn’t trust Violet yet, because he makes note of the fact that she was the only one who confirmed Not-Raya’s identity by reading her threads and accuses her of lying. It gets worse, the witch drops the bomb that Violet has seduced Cyrus. The seducing was definitely mutual, if not more on Cyrus’s part, but everyone believes it. He has her locked up. Oh, Cyrus. How wrong you are.
He visits her in her comfy prison, but so does the King. She’s ordered to retire and told they’ll be bringing in another Seer from Verdant. Before he leaves, the King tells them of more betrayal. Dante is a spy. Surely not?
In her anger, Violet decides she’ll kill Cyrus and fulfil the prophecy after all. That’s a bit drastic is it not, Violet? He tells her the worst mistake he ever made was sneaking out into the Moon District that day, not because he met her, but because he fell in love. She stabs him.
…He’s not dying though? The Witch of Nightmares appears just as the wound has closed up. She’s been invading Violet’s head, claims they’re sisters??? What?
Anyway, the thorn did not kill him, but cursed him. He’s part beast now. The witch tells Violet if he doesn’t feed, he’ll turn into a full beast. They fight the witch off together, but she vows before she disappears that Violet will see her again, either in the flesh or in a dream. It’s not over then…
Violet cuts herself and offers the blood to Cyrus, to keep him as human as she can, and they head back into the palace. The witch has killed off the Captain of the Guard and turned his men into beasts, forcing others to kill them. Everything gets worse when they find the King, with company. Dante. He is a spy. He’s holding a blade to the King’s neck. He slits his throat, apologises to Cyrus, and then he’s gone. So much betrayal! I can’t cope!
Cyrus got what he wanted. He’s the King now, but at what cost? He’s part beast and his father’s dead, his best friend betrayed him (kind of? Even though Dante thought he was doing him a favour) and god only knows where his fiance’s gotten to. What a day he’s had!
They have to burn Violet’s tower, the rot inflicted upon it is not healing. She decides she’s leaving. Cyrus’s horns have returned and it’s time for him to drink from Violet once more. He tells her she can’t leave and I honestly don’t know if it’s because he loves her or because her blood keeps him partially human?
He offers to make her Queen if she stays, she thinks about it, and comes up with a plan.
In the very last chapter, we see what I assume is the plan Violet spun in her head. A plan where she is the saviour, where the witch ordered her to kill Cyrus and she could not and the witch inflicted a curse upon him. A curse where the disgraced Seer kissed him and turned him human in front of the people, and they accepted her as Queen.
But we know war is coming… and the witch isn’t done yet!
What an epic fairytale ending to an epic book!
What did you all think? I need to know your thoughts!
As always, thank you so much for joining us on this readalong. I hope you loved readalong and enjoyed the book. I’ll see you very soon for our next FairyLoot readalong!
Love,
Shannon
Honestly I started liking the book less and less as it went on until I truly disliked Violet and Cyrus’s characters. Their relationship was a little too toxic for me. It didn’t feel like love, but some kind of twisted toxic lust.
When Cyrus betrays her at the end I stopped trying to like their relationship and then Violet stabbed him and I honestly don’t think these two should be together in my opinion.
I completely agree! I never felt any chemistry between them and at the end it just felt wrong both logically and emotionally. It didn’t even feel like lust, just spite or something.
I don’t think I’ll bother reading the sequel. I think it’ll only disappoint even more ://
I really agree with this to be honest. Violet stabbing him was a bit too much really.
The ending was….a lot. Cyrus is a vampire! Dante is a spy! Violet hates Cyrus enough to stab him but then changes her mind! All of the pieces didn’t fit together super well to me, but it was a wild ride and I keep wanting more, but the book is done! I hope there will be another book, it feels like there’s a lot of story left.
And that’s a wrap!
Overall I’m slightly disappointed with this book. I enjoyed more the first half of the book than the second half. The plot was interesting as well as the characters. My only issue throughout was Violet and Cyrus’ relationship. Reading the book with for the readalong was really fun as always. I found the ending quite entertaining and it sets the ground for the second book. And although all my questions weren’t answered, I’m not sure I’ll be continuing the series.
I am starting to agree with everyone their relationship is just weird as much as I wanted them together it now lost its romantic charm for me I dont know they are just toxic together.
So she has a sister interesting I hope we get to find out more about that in the second book and that does explain why Violet was so cynical all the time about everybody.
The book is a really nice and easy read I liked the plots but the ending maybe isn’t as good as the book was before and the book is confusing a lot of times but I am interested in what happens in the next book hopefully all will be revieled
I totally agreed with Niki here, I loved the begining of the book but hated the development and the ending… Cyrus is a hypocrite from head to toe and Violet really ended up being betrayed by everyone leading to her decision to kill princey (which let’s be honest IS radical but I’m not suprised, she reached the limits of what she could endure and did something she would of course come to regreat…). I had the tiny hope that she would leave the city and see the world away from the cage in which she was stuck but who convinces her to stay ? Cyrus…
The only bright spot for me is the revelation about Dante : it made total sense and I repeat that his character would be so interesting to dive into.
Anyway, this was my first readalong and even though I was not able to connect with the main couple, the atmosphere of the story was spot on and I had a blast reading my fellow readers’ thoughts 🙂 I can’t wait for the next readalong !
Well Cyrus is a vampire now ?
I was a little disappointed by the relationship between Cyrus and Violet. I don’t think Violet developed enough from ‘I hate Cyrus and he hates me’ with every one of their interactions started off with Violet making some snarky comment about how Cyrus liking her is a trick, he’s just using her, etc etc. The turn around for her to suddenly accept his proposal was too quick.
Overall I enjoyed this book, but it definitely left a few things to be desired.
I don’t have much to say except: that ending!! I absolutely cannot wait for the sequel after that, especially after Violet’s perfect fairytale lie. Ugh!! It was perfect! Curious about what we’ll see if both Dante and the witch in the sequel though.
Of** my god, I really should get better at proofreading these
I read an ARC of the book last month, but jfc forgot to participate in the readalong till last day. ?
I really liked the ending. How Violet took their situation and spun it into a familiar fairytale, making it that much more palatable to the members of the kingdom.
I feel like this book was marketed as something it really wasn’t. Violet and Cyrus didn’t strike me as enemies to lovers. They seemed more like typical teens vying for snark master at the local high school. This book at least seems to fit the YA dynamic in regards to how the characters acted. The plot didn’t seem to go anywhere and it had more holes than the holes my dogs leave in the yard. I thought it was pretty meh overall, but I’ll give the second book a chance. Chen is a debut author and I really should temper my expectations.
Aghhhh just finished this! I have to agree with Niki up there – their relationship just seemed toxic. I don’t see it as love in any way..
It sounds like there will be a second book, as war is still coming.
Oh, Dante’s betrayal! I didn’t expect it until the end, but in a way, it was definitely one way to get rid of the King. In a way, he was the smartest most sensible character in the book.Definitely not Violet or Cyrus. Camilla seems a bit smarter but she seems to mostly enjoy being a princess who got whatever she wanted, with little struggle not character development. Hmm, well, King was power hungry and sensible in his politics to make his goals met, but I didn’t like them, but I have to admit he knew how to play things to work it his way. So besides the king himself and Dante, nobody else seemed to make the right moves.
I guess I do have to say that the ending matched the overall tone of the book, an ending based on deception of what really happened. That made sense as they made it like a fairy tale. I liked how the ending was spun out like a fairy tale!
I was really loving the book until this last section, it went from a 5 star to a 4 star for me. I think too much happened in a short period of time and then the book abruptly ended. I wanted to see more of what happened versus being told about it in the last chapter. I think I’ll still pick up the sequel but it felt like the characters did a whole 180 at the end of the book
There was a lot to unpack at the end. The betrayal I feared came in the end.
Although I didn’t buy that Cyrus didn’t trust Violet when he said they only had her word about what happened to Raya. I had a feeling he was trying to do something and said all those things in front of everybody so that he could get Violet out of there for some reason? I would have wanted to get his point of view to understand the ending better. The witch got what she wanted in the end. She managed to manipulate Violet so that she would stab Cyrus. At least they overcame their differences and managed to team up to confront the witch. I didn’t expect that Dante would kill the king just like that. I can’t say I’m very sorry or would miss the king, but there is so much going on morally great that it’s a bit difficult to know what to think. I do think Cyrus was trying to convince Violet to stay because he still loves her, and he proposed that he would make her queen as part of a bargain, but I think secretly that is what he really wanted all along. That’s why he said the prophecy fitted Violet. It was a love his father would not approve.
I loved the end, how Violet spun a fairy tale to explain what happened to them.
I hope there is a sequel, because I think the story has only started and there is much more I need to know!
A nice change from all the very similar YA fantasy novels out there. The book was full of (often nasty) surprises. The Unexpected kept happening and both Violet and Cyrus continued to be morally grey right to the end. Interested to see what happens in book two.
I don’t know how to feel about the ending. I thinks everything happened so fast, especially the final battle. We still don’t know what happened to Nadiya, if she’s dead o alive after the witch attack. I think I would have liked better if Violet ended up leaving the city because I felt meh when Cyrus was the one who stops her. I hope there’s a sequel because that ending didn’t solve a lot of things.
I found it realistic for their characters that even though Violet has feelings for Cyrus, she’s unsure, and she doesn’t get altruistic all of a sudden, but due to her upbringing, she has worries and doubts and needs some kind of reassurance if she’s to defy the king.
It was evident from miles away that the wedding wouldn’t go as planned, yet I was here for all the drama that would unfold…however when Cyrus humiliated Violet in front of everyone (on top of everything, he lied!) I wanted to throw the book across the room. I restrained myself, though, because it’s a beautiful edition, so I ended up mentally slapping him across the face… I believe Violet would approve.
I’m intrigued to learn more about the extent of Violet’s powers and how the insight we got into the Sighteds’ past will play out in the next book.
Lastly, in terms of how their relationship can evolve, I can see them being together, but, firstly, they have to work some things out.
I’ve finally gathered my thoughts after finishing this book and tbh I just didn’t like it! Had I not been trying to do the readathon I think I would dnf. Those two together is the most toxic relationship I’ve ever seen. This barely falls into enemies to lovers. It’s just enemies listing after each other. I feel like neither character developed at all throughout the book. The ending clashed and was so rushed. There’s no way this is a standalone, but I can’t fathom continuing. It’s a nope for me, friends. I’m so sad because I really wanted to love it!