Collide by Melissa West {Review}

Collide by Melissa West
(The Taking, #3)
Release Date: February 9, 2015
Publisher: Entangled Teen; 320 pages
Rating:

Military legacy Ari Alexander has survived alien spies, WWIV, and a changing world order. But when the new leader of Earth uses Jackson—the only boy she's ever let herself care about—to get to her, Ari has no choice but to surrender.

To free Jackson, she agrees to travel to the national bases to train others to fight. What she discovers is a land riddled with dying people. Ari has the power to heal by turning the fighters into aliens—half-breeds like her. If she succeeds, together, they have a chance at overthrowing the alien leader, Zeus. But if she fails, everyone she holds dear will be wiped away forever.

Once again, everything Ari’s come to believe is thrown into question. In a world of uncertainty, loyalties are tested, lies are uncovered, and no one can be trusted. If Ari and Jackson have any hope at survival and at preserving a life for the future, they must fight the final war with their eyes wide open.

If you have NOT read Gravity & Hover please read with caution. There are some spoilers that were unavoidable. Proceed with caution . . .

I wish I could say I loved this and it was a fantastic way to conclude the trilogy. While half of this statement is true, the other half is not. It was a great conclusion . . . well, maybe not great but satisfying. It went the way I expected it to and I'm happy with that. However, the overall feel of the book was lacking. I felt it was rather cheesy throughout the book and I don't remember ever feeling that way for the first two books. I had a really hard time finishing it. I actually put it down, started a new book and came back to this one once I finished the other. It pains me to say this because I adore Melissa and I really liked this series prior to this book. I'm not saying this book was awful and I wished I never read it but I just wish it were better. I feel like it wasn't up to par with Gravity and Hover.

The characters were fantastic, as always. There were heartbreaking moments, there were moments that made me smile. But there were a lot of scenes that had me scratching my head. Or just . . . emotionless. Harsh, I know but it's how I feel.

I also feel like the climax of this book was lacking. The final fight scene with Zeus was . . . underwhelming, to say the least. I was expecting more . . . I was hoping for more & that's all I got. Granted, there was a ton of death leading up to the climax and I really didn't want to see anyone else die but I just felt there should've been more. Actually, in the death's of two bad people, I was expecting more. They just seemed to easy?

I loved Jackson & Ari. Any moment they had together, I loved it. Definitely the highlights of the book, for sure. As much as I've always liked Law (and I still do), I love these two together. Don't worry, there was no love triangle you missed. Law was Ari's best friend and guy she was set up to marry for a bright future. They were great best friends but they would've been rotten lovers. Jackson & Ari were made for one another.

I guess, I'm happy with the end result, I just wasn't happy how it got there. A very disappointing book, in my opinion. And again, that makes me terribly sad to say because I adore Melissa but I just couldn't adore this book.

Thank you so much to Entangled for allowing me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.