Destined by Aprilynne Pike

Summary:
Tamani looked at her gravely, and reached up to tuck her hair behind her ear.

He hesitated for an instant, then his hands found the sides of her face, pulling her to him. He didn't kiss her, just held her face close to his, their foreheads resting together, their noses almost touching.

She hated how much it felt like good-bye.

Laurel now knows the truth: Yuki is a rare Winter faerie, the most powerful—and deadly—of all, and Klea plans to use her to help conquer and destroy Avalon. But Klea's reach extends far beyond one wild Winter faerie. With Tamani, David, and Chelsea by her side, Laurel prepares to face what may be Avalon's final days, in the stunning conclusion to the Wings series.

My rating: ***

Finally! An end to Aprilynne's Wings series! I have sort of a love/hate thing going on with this series. I love the fantasy and all the fairy stuff. I love the whole world she's created. I'm not such a big fan of the execution. In general, the focus has been on romance (especially the love triangle), when I've wanted to see more of Laurel's powers and more magic. I've plodded through, hoping for that magic and also partially because I hate stringing along a love triangle. I have to see what happens.

This final book is my least favorite of the four. It takes place in a short period of time, just 24 hours and is so action-drive it's nauseating. The action scenes are constant, pausing for breath only just long enough for Laurel to make out with either David or Tamani for a little while. I'd say it's about 200 pages too long and that somehow there had to have been a way to combine the third and fourth books into one. Good news is, the book got a lot better by the time I was 3/4 of the way through. Laurel FINALLY uses her powers in a cool way. Pretty soon even that wretched triangle was resolved! (And in a way I highly approved of.) There were some pretty cool scenes involving a certain sword called Excalibur and mythology-wise, some beautiful, magical things happened. Finally. But not soon enough for me to rave about this series.

So, if you love fairies, you may enjoy the Wings series, but in general I'd say there are much better books to spend your time reading.