Review: The Offering (The Pledge #3) by Kimberly Derting

The Queen finally gets her Queendom

Title: The Offering
Series: The Pledge
Author: Kimberly Derting
Publisher: Allison and Busby, UK
My ratings: 3 out of 5 stars
Released: January, 2014
I had high expectations of The Offering. After the enjoyable The Pledge(read my review here) and The Essence (read my review here), I was hoping for an epic conclusion to The Pledge Trilogy. Kimberly Derting had found success with the Body Finder Series so I had hopes that after The Essence (which I assumed suffered from the middle book syndrome) she will be able to conclude the series with a bang but I was disappointed.

The Offering begins with Charlie still struggling with Sabara’s essence within her and still trying to revive her country. So after Niko’s betrayal, Charlie decided to take things in her hand and decides to end this by herself.

The Offering starts with a promise to deliver but somehow on the way, it sort of lost itself. It was slow and the shifting POV’s made reading jarring a times. All the things I loved in the Pledge where somewhat lost in The Offering Max was hardly present and the secrets and danger of knowing of understanding different language was not given enough importance. Instead we are still shown how the country suffered under Sabara’a reign. Honestly, I already know how evil she was and how Charlie is better than her. Show me some action instead.

The middle portion was slow too but it picks up towards the end. The ending was appropriate and ticked all the boxes but the slow approach and the pacing were its downfall. Charlie was acting like a victim in most of the story but Brooklyn saved the story for becoming a complete self-pity fest. I would have enjoyed if there was more exploration of the different relationships I enjoyed in the previous books but I got none of that. Even Niko, who I thought would bring excitement and drama, just became another hapless and foolish character.

Overall, The Offering concluded The Pledge series with a pretty little bow but I wish the last leg of the journey had more. Everything I loved about the series felt somewhat missing even if every element which can make a book truly epic was present. It was not a bad book but not something what I expected at this point in this series or by the author.

There was romance, adventure, suspense, betrayal, sacrifice and friendship. I’d recommend it to fans of dystopia, queendom and gleeful hand rubbing villains.

Review based on the copy sent by the publisher, Allison and Busby