Deadly Dreams (Fortuna Sworn) Paperback – 3 Dec. 2020

After having stalled two-thirds of the way through, because it felt as though we really weren't making any headway on the story, I eventually picked this back up and finished reading it. Virtually from the very page I'd left this the plot picked up and I was recaptured by this great series. So much so that I read into the early hours to finish this! Had the entire book been at this level it would have surpassed 5 stars, if more of the book had been at this level I would never have come close to DNF'ing it. I do need to thank Julie of One Book More blog, as she encouraged me to finish this and was 100% correct about that ending!This is a long book a fair amount of which could (and maybe should) have been edited out, with no real impact on the story. There was a whole sub-plot involving Gwen and the Wild Hunt that was far too long winded for very little forward movement. Given the amount of words devoted to this, it should have driven the plot forward much more significantly. It does leave me wondering if the series should have been planned for 4 or 5 books rather than 6.On a positive, we saw Fortuna undergo a great deal of personal growth. There were still some rash decisions, but we saw a lot more forethought, more questioning rather than simply believing, more self-awareness. Despite it being heartbreaking to read, I loved how the author handled the trauma that both Fortuna and Collith had endured. There were some beautiful moments between various characters, some incredibly tender scenes, some moving scenes, some terrifying scenes and some confuzzling ones that will no doubt become clear in future books.I was awestruck by how a throwaway sentence in book #1, by a nameless character, suddenly held great significance. This is a complex story, one where you start unravelling a thread and suddenly have a whole layer seemingly revealed, only for another thread to add a different spin to the story. Relationships and allegiances, that in hindsight should have been obvious, were revealed like a slap to the face. Hints, clues, breadcrumbs and red herrings are scattered throughout and you could drive yourself insane trying to follow and unpick them all.The book spent far to long drifting in aimless circles with little advancement of the plot. So whilst this was not quite as good as the previous two based on the last third I WILL continue the series. I'm fairly certain, at some point, that we will discover that "Laurie" at the end isn't Laurie, but rather is his more evil and conniving brother. I could be wrong though.Sadly this also suffered from that very annoying trope of "let's avoid that simple conversation that would avoid lots of angst, suffering and misconceptions". There were too many interrupted conversations that remained unfinished, despite the opportunity to complete them. And despite the information being really important. In addition I felt there was too much needless keeping of secrets, which smacks of lazy/lacklustre writing.Perhaps I'd been too eager for this book, had built up such great expectations that I was bound to be somewhat disappointed. However this series here , The Messenger Chronicles by Pippa DaCosta, is an example of where each book has it's own story arc, whilst also moving the overarching storyline forward too.

Have torn through this series in the last 4 says and oh my god, what a ride. Love how almost everyone is morally grey, but was not expecting the last quarter of the book, totally surprised by it. Kind of hoping Fortuna sacks all the men off and runs off with Gwen in the next book. Have preordered book 4, roll on December

The journey of this series is such a rollercoaster of emotions for me. Fortuna definitely makes this series for me, her unpredictability is fascinating.

What an incredible book. I loved every part of it This has left me reeling and wanting more!!!

I adore this series with my whole heart. Its super addictive.

Excellent condition and packaged brilliantly

I was excited to dive back into the Fortuna Sworn world especially after how we left things in the previous book.I enjoyed this a whole lot and it managed to easily keep my attention whilst equally frustrating me at the same time.Here we do get a more thoughtful Fortuna at least initially, One who is definitely more willing to listen to others advice than she was previously.Though her knee jerk response will always be emotional as evidenced by her personal reactions this is especially showcased during the closing of this story when she feels herself betrayed sending her into a blind hurtful rage.I actually did feel quite sorry for Colith and how it all went down between them especially as it was quite obvious to me that he’d been trying to relay the same information to Fortuna without success for a while.Man talk about a woman scorned and all I do think she might have gone a wee bit overboard and frankly, she’s far from perfect herself.This really was a story of two half’s for me the first part was quite slow-moving but then the second half took off like a runaway train throwing so many curveballs along the way.I did think that that a bit of communication here would have avoided a whole heap of trouble.Colith and Fortuna are definitely not ones for sharing internalising everything when opening up and being honest would definitely have been the better option.This was again well written with plenty of imagination and the finale was fabulously dramatic and very unexpected.This is again told from Fortuna’s POV and I do wish that at least in this book we got to experience events from Colith’s side as well.I didn’t always get a full sense or understanding of him which really was a shame as then you are only getting Fortuna’s opinion of his struggles rather than his own personal pain and torment.Finally, I do think that this definitely could have been condensed down slightly without losing any of the integral plot.I also should mention that this series does need to be read in order to make sense and this is book three of an ongoing story ending on a cliffhanger.Overall this really is an imaginative series with some great ideas that make it stand out from the crowd and I do recommend it.