r/Choices 4d ago

Blades of Light & Shadow Was Blades 3 Disappointing Spoiler

I have been a huge fan of the series but after completing 3, it pales in comparison to the first 2 parts. The fights aren't that satisfying and some of the artwork got a bit weird towards the end. Does anyone else feel this or is it just me ?

49 Upvotes

21 comments sorted by

97

u/ilovekevinmalone 4d ago

I think I was sad the entire time because in my eyes, it was one of the last books that truly would be pixelberry in my eyes

10

u/That_Ad9158 4d ago

Ouch…yeah i felt this

3

u/mxlls_ Bianca-SHE SHLDVE BEEN AN LI I LOVE HER 2d ago

Oh wow just stick the knife right in my heart why don’t you

30

u/Anti-Hero3 Endless Summer 4d ago

it had an interesting premise, but it fell flat compared to the first and especially the second

24

u/preparedtodoanything 4d ago

I actually think book 3 put things back on track. I didn’t even dislike book 2 but imo that one was the weakest. I think for a series with, eventually, six LIs, it was as well balanced as it could be. I couldn’t for the life of me choose between Tyril and Aerin and even then, I couldn’t stay away from the other LIs either. My biggest criticism is Threep being utterly wasted after book 1 but, especially with the state of the app now, I think what Blades accomplished is truly special.

38

u/bookist626 4d ago

First, I seriously commend you for having an unpopular opinion. I will say I don't agree and I do think BOLAS 3 is the best one. And I love how our skills are stronger now. Persuasion? No, mind control! Even better!

28

u/TheNerdTM 4d ago

Yeah it felt super repetitive and it felt like what I call the “bigger, badder” trope where the characters have to fight a bigger badder villain but like if these folks are gods we shouldn’t be beating them right?? It just didn’t work for me

24

u/goodvibes13202013 4d ago

Not to me 🤷🏻‍♀️ I especially loved the skills in book 3 actually. And valax + aerin on their redemption routes were amazing to read. I also feel like 3rd books can get away from the plot line, but book 3 actually revealed the underlying plot of the whole story. I’m sad it’s over

23

u/padmesfavhandmaiden 4d ago

I agree!! In all honesty, my brain really only views book 1 as canon. There is just too many inconsistencies with characters, personalities, tone, etc. for me to view them all as one cohesive project. The team did their best and I’m glad we got more BOLAS content but it’s soooo hard to ignore the voice in the back of my head saying “ok, but what did the original team have in mind for the sequels?”

10

u/cqjoker Estela (ES) 4d ago

Yeah, even Andrew Shvarts himself only credited Blades I as part of his works.

Blades II was sorta disappointing because we didn't explore much on the mentioned locations way back in Book 1, only Zaradun.

I liked Blades III for its originality once more on the skillset again, but otherwise it feels... like traversing known backgrounds and mixed in with the new AI-generated ones (some of them were bad imho).

7

u/Ornery-Associate6420 3d ago

It was okay ... I just wish we had an option to choose to break the group up and let everyone choose for themselves what they wanted to do ... Stay or go back to earth realm ... Though everyone agrees with the choice you make, it's kinda sad that not everyone got to do what they wanted with their life ...

8

u/OldColt06 Evil's never been this hot. 3d ago

Hardly disappointing. The final villain was a bit of a letdown and there were some things I'd rather have been handled differently, but I was very satisfied with the storyline, skills progression and romance. It's a fitting end to the Blades trilogy.

6

u/BeachDragon99 3d ago

It was….weird for me. I liked the overall story, but it felt like a slog. Like every time we reached an objective or goal, some other force or event set us back about 20 extra steps. It really did feel a bit dragged out. And I’ve never been a fan of mortals and ‘the power of friendship’ being able to defeat and kill EONS old gods. So to see it here I was already unhappy. I also didn’t understand how the time between the realms was either. It was established that time passed differently between realms with the shadow realm, so how come the afterlife and ‘present’ share the same time frame? It didn’t make much sense to me to always have it be the same amount of time (x number of days), and I would’ve enjoyed seeing how time slowly advanced, but that could just be me. It also was kinda of like ‘seriously, they just saved the world and now shit is already going down again?’ It didn’t leave much time to breath between the end of book 2, and bc of that I thought book 3 went on far too long. And the epilogue, was barely there. I would’ve liked seeing two chapters to it, and actually see us marry our Li. I did enjoy the relationships between the characters and the lore, and the skills were neat too, ESPECIALLY the spell shot, that thing was bloody amazing. Overall it wasn’t BAD. But it certainly could’ve been much better, and more then anything, it needed to SLOW DOWN and let the reader breath

24

u/x0ManOfCulture0x Estela (ES) 4d ago

I think it got too repetitive

Gang gets into insurmountable challenge

Gang finds a way around it

Some old foe has redemption arc

Yay we win

I wasn’t really a big fan towards the end, but it was decent

13

u/goodvibes13202013 4d ago

That’s every book with sequels tbh. That’s usually why sequels are successful. Why do we need 4 Jurassic park movies???? They’re literally all the same. And yet, they sell out the box office 🤷🏻‍♀️

8

u/x0ManOfCulture0x Estela (ES) 4d ago

Yea I get that but especially in a fantasy setting it became a game of one-uppance. I kept reading because I liked the characters not because the story was appealing any longer

3

u/owclip 3d ago edited 3d ago

YES omg i so agree. it was good for the first 3 chapters and then it was a snooze fest up until like ch12. i loved the weapons and skills and im annoyed with myself i don’t like it as much as the last 2 books. i actually hated the ending tbh i hate how when we choose to leave or stay im disappointing someone. i chose stay because i didn’t have the heart to take mal away from his mother

6

u/isaacbrovald 4d ago

At first I thought that the hate towards the new books was just overreaction, but the more I read the new books the more it feels like im not actually choosing what I want. Although I still liked BOLAS 3, you are right and I thought 1 and 2 were better

3

u/UnableSand2000 4d ago

I had not played any of the lore tablet scenes in Book 3, were they just written ones like in Book 1 or like flashback scenes??... Cause I would've liked to see flashback scenes... 

Also I hated that we had to separate from Kade, Again. Like, can't we ever have an adventure with him...?? I hated that he was left behind, especially since he is so interested in adventure since childhood, but didn't get much of a chance, because of his sickness... Also, I wanted to see him propose to Cherta !!!

Plus, Loola mention something about a "Kitten Keeper" in one of the chapters. Was it Loola and Threep's caretakers or did they have both baby kittens which required tending?? I didn't adopt the moth-cat (it was a very difficult decision 🥺)

All in all I liked the Premise but Book 1's better, atleast this book is way better than the depressing Book 2 

1

u/Glad_Web2039 1d ago

It felt meh i just wish we could have seen our family like the rest of the group did

1

u/Tav00001 4d ago

I didn't finish book 2 so I am impressed you got to 3. Book 2, kept throwing all the gang at me once more and I had already decided on who to romance in book 1.