Amanda Hocking, the New York Times bestselling author of The Kanin Chronicles, returns to the magical world of the Trylle Trilogy with The Ever After, the final novel in The Omte Origins arc. Buried memories… Ulla Tulin has lost a month of her life. Her journey to learn who her parents are has brought her to the attention of the Ãlvolk sect–and a man claiming to be her father. But instead … claiming to be her father. But instead of a long lost family reunion, Ulla has forgotten her time there, and fears something terrible happened.
Sacred flower…
The Ãlvolk released Ulla alive for one reason only, to exchange her for a rare flower with mystical properties. Determined to break her amnesia, Ulla risks her life against a dark enchantment capable of killing her to remember the Ãlvolk’s secrets–to use the flower as part of an incantation that will open the bridge to Alfheim, the First City.
Blood prophecy…
But opening the bridge will unleash a menagerie of monstrous creatures upon Earth that will consume everything in their path. Knowing she may lose Pan Soriano, the love of her life, Ulla nevertheless gathers an army of Trylle to stand with her and defend humanity as well as her own kind. And it is Ulla’s very heritage that holds the key to victory.
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The ever after is the last book in The Omte Origins series by Amanda Hocking as well as the conclusion of The Trylle series.
Ulla as lost a whole month while being made captive by the man who claim to be her father and she fear that horrible thing have happens to her. She was release alive for only one reason. In exchange of a very rare flower. Ulla really wants to break her amnesia and to stop whatever evil plan the Älvolk have. She will also get to finaly know who her parents are. An epic battle will follow, and Ulla and her friends gonna need all the help they can get to close the bridge to Alfheim before its to late…
I have really love this book. I have received an arc of it from Netgalley and the publisher.
It’s the conclusion to the Trylle series and final book in the Omte Origins trilogy. Hocking delivered in this final novel with answers to nagging questions and an epic battle of beasts and troll. This series had a solid beginning that lagged a little in the middle for me. However, the character connections and world building were strong throughout and the ending was action packed.
I love how Hocking keeps true to all of the characters she presents throughout the books. Weaving them in and out of the plot as she goes. Building the reader connection with each one. The world building had a unique depth though I do feel I should have read the other series before this one to get a better understanding of some nuances.
Overall, I can tell that this was a branch off of a main series. A revisit to something more. Though I enjoyed my first dive into this world I do feel I would’ve liked it more if I had started with the Trylle series books. I recommend those getting to know Hocking to begin with Trylle and move to Omte.
Lastly, I read the first two books in this trilogy and listened to the final book. Occasionally reading when I couldn’t access the audiobook. I definitely enjoyed listening more than physically reading this time around. Therese Plummer had a beautiful narrative voice that fit Ulla and brought more feeling and excitement to the pages than my imagination was mustering. I’ll be going back to listen to the first two books later in the year and start the original Trylle books. Hopefully, Plummer is the voice for those as well.
Thank you to Wednesday Books, Macmillan audio and Netgalley for the advanced copies in exchange for an honest review. Now to tackle the rest of Hocking’s novels.
True rating 3.5/5, rounded for Bookbub.
This was a very detailed and perfect ending to this trilogy. I also loved how it brought all the different types of trolls from the other series together. One thing that I was really appreciative of was how the author made sure to kind of do a recap as the story went along, in ways that fit in seamlessly instead of like an info dump at the very beginning to refresh what had happened in the books before.
Ulla finally does learn who her true parents are, and we get to see many of the characters and locations from the other books and like I said, it brings it all back together for a final battle where we join with characters we knew from the first two series that go with this one. There are creatures that are so unique, like murder snails, yeah, you read that right. And the spiders, whoa! They make another appearance similar to what Ulla found in one of the earlier books of this trilogy. Towards the end I felt a little bit like the battle was going on for so long, but part of that could be because we started getting very short chapters from people that were the main characters in the other series, Wendy and Bryn, interspersed with Ulla’s chapters.
The title of the second book gets a bit of an exploration with a rhyme/song in this book. And there is a bit of a time conundrum for some of the characters that did have me doing some thinking as I read. Overall a good series, and I think one that would definitely be easy for someone to read now that they could sit down and read all three straight through.
In The Ever After, Ulla, Pan, Dagny, and Elof have returned after being held captive, and none can remember their month of captivity. As Ulla and her friends try to regain their memories, they continue to uncover a plot that involves her parents, a mythical city, a mysterious and dangerous secret society, and mythological children’s stories. Ulla’s journey is long, complex, and dangerous, and the consequences of failing are severe. The Ever After is the most action-packed and exciting of the trilogy, and the unexpected twists left me shocked, devastated, and delighted.
I know I said it in my last review, but Hocking’s skill in creating vivid and immersive worlds bears repeating. The Omte Origins is a complex story with many layers, and Hocking weaves the story together as seamlessly and masterfully as she does the rest of the Trylle world. The characters, mythology, literature, languages, culture, and more are all dynamically developed and fascinating. I continue to be amazed at Hocking’s storytelling ability.
I loved the slow-building romance between Ulla and Pan. Their relationship is strong and deep, built on friendship, respect, trust, and admiration. Plus, they have great chemistry. I loved watching their connection grow throughout the first two books, and Hocking takes it to the next level in this one.
I also adored the protagonist, Ulla. Ulla is not a warrior. She’s not beautiful. She’s a little chubby, and she is the epitome of a hero. She is searching for herself, for a sense of where she came from and what happened to her and her family, but she finds out so much more than that. Ulla discovers things that can shake the foundation of the Trylle world. I love her determination, strength, perseverance, loyalty, and kindness. People gravitate to her because she is a good person and a true friend. She’s also the reason some of my favorite characters from Trylle and Kanin Chronicles (the first and second series in the Trylle world) make an appearance in this series.
You don’t need to read Trylle and Kanin Chronicles, but if you did, it’s fascinating to see how all of the characters and stories connect and merge in this epic conclusion. Wendy, Loki, Finn, Brynne, Tove, and so many other beloved characters return to help Ulla, Pan, and their friends in their quest. It is awesome and heartbreaking, and I didn’t want the story to end.
Thanks so much to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts are my own.
The Ever After by Amanda Hocking concludes the Omte Origins trilogy, and I am not entirely certain how I feel about it.
On one hand, various revelations were finally brought to light, and I was glad to have those things cleared up. On the other hand, I felt that many aspects of the trilogy and the troll universe in general were left undefined, and if this was supposed to be the final of all these books by Hocking, it left a lot to be desired.
Furthermore, the pacing of this book was off for me. I spent probably the first 65-70% waiting and WAITING for something worthwhile to happen, and when the storyline finally picked up, it frankly turned into an avalanche of jumbled action scenes and info dumping. It felt like too much in too little time.
Then the thing that bothered me most: the death of a particular character, whom I won’t mention by name for spoiler reasons. It just seemed completely nonsensical. Seriously. I saw no purpose in having it done, and it was brushed over very quickly and relatively easily, as if it wasn’t really that big of a deal.
I seriously considered rating this as 2 stars, but the writing wasn’t terrible and I did want to finish out the trilogy. I didn’t get the closure I was hoping for though.
***I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advance Reader Copy generously provided by the publisher via NetGalley.***