The one word I find that comes to mind to describe this book is, unsatisfying. I've loved the Acorna books since the very beginning, but I've found that the last few were disappointing, and Acorna's Triumph was no exception.
The story was light, and missing the detail and emotion that I'd grown to expect from the Acorna series. The storyline itself was so flighty, jumping around from one time to another with no purpose, but rather with the randomness of a bad dream. The ability to move from time to time so easily cheapened all of the struggles that the characters had gone through before.
And was it just me, or were there some strange gaps in the story?
Okay, here I'm going to mention a few things that may spoil the story for those who haven't read it yet. Sorry, but I feel I must.
The fact that characters such as Aari's brother, and Acorna's parents even! were brought back in with such casual disregard for how their deaths had shaped the story up to that point was shocking to me. That, and other events that had no point but bringing in a few seemingly random characters to be used for one transparent purpose or another, made it feel like the Authors were trying up loose ends, and neatening everything up for a fairy-tale happy ending. And the reason that was so disappointing to me was that the Acorna series had never been a run-of-the-mill fairy tale, where everything is always perfect.
And now, the thing that bothered me the most. Throughout the whole series, Acorna has always been in charge of her own destiny. But suddenly, there is an unseen manipulater behind the scenes, making everything just the way he wants it.
It just seems to me that maybe the series was simply running out of steam, to use so many obvious shortcuts to bring things to a happy conclusion.
But you'll notice at the top, I gave it three stars. And that's because, in spite of everything, I still love Acorna, her people, and her world.
Plus, I have to admit, sometimes I'm a sucker for a happy ending. Even if it's missing some of the trials and triumph that I'd enjoyed, and respected, in the books preceading it, there's still something about Acorna' Triumph that makes you smile.