The Third Daughter is a book that I felt, with a little more depth to it, could have been so good. As it was, I sadly found it just a little lacking. I still enjoyed it!, I want to stress. I’ve given it 3 stars and that’s a positive rating. I also feel that it could have been so much more.

The main issue I had was that it was all, for the most part, just a little predictable. If anyone saw my first (and only) status update, it was to say that, after the first chapter, I had guessed two of the major plot twists. There was a third, that I didn’t see coming, but this is where my issue with depth came in, primarily.

However, let me start with what’s good about this. Namely, the writing! Adrienne Tooley’s writing is so lovely that I think I could read anything she writes and enjoy it. There’s a kind of ethereal quality to it, that makes everything seem very gentle and welcoming (and perhaps that didn’t always suit this book, but I loved it nonetheless). It makes you feel that, even in the tensest moments, everything is going to be okay.

The main characters, too, are equally good. From page one, they’re who you’re rooting for. This is always a good sign — no one wants to dislike the main characters of the book they’re reading, after all, not least when it’s a series. Elodie and Sabine are two characters who you’ll never have that issue with and their relationship to one another is left poised very intriguingly.

I think my major issue then, regarding the depth, is that a few of the twists at the end seemed to come out of nowhere, or relied on an emotional connection that wasn’t there. Namely, regarding Tal, Elodie’s best friend. Or, so we’re told. Because the problem here was, you didn’t actually see him to be shown their relationship before the point that’s supposed to have emotional impact. So it has none! Similarly, the twist that I didn’t predict at the end had no foreshadowing to it. There were never any hints that something like this might happen — or even hints of the constituent parts to what happened actually existing in the world (if that makes sense) and, again, because you never met Tal before this point, it was neither expected nor unexpected in relation to him — so it felt unearned.

The ending, then, began to feel a little forced. Based on how Elodie’s character had been established prior to it, it didn’t make sense to me for her to do what she did (I’m trying to be very vague here!). She never felt like a character who wanted power for the sake of power — she always wanted to protect her sister first, albeit with the desired result of getting power. So her actions didn’t make sense! Her character did a sudden flip on its head, but then later it’s almost like it has to be dragged back in the other direction to return her to her original characterisation. Hence, why it seemed forced. And, personally, all that might have been solved by a simple shuffling of events just in terms of when they happen. Certain aspects of it wouldn’t have been surprising still (see: the plot twists I guessed in the first chapter), but I can deal with guessing plot twists. It was the way the ending seemed to go against the grain totally that got me.

However, I have to say I am intrigued as to where the story will go in the next book. Especially with that little bit of prophecy at the end of this one. I do feel that, having got the more obvious plot twists out of the way, I might find myself a bit more surprised by where the next book takes us.