The final book in this series will jump forward 18 years and feature Dorie, Jane's young charge from Ironskin.

18 years later . . .
Dorie Rochart has been hiding her fey side for a long time. Now, finished with University, she plans to study magical creatures and plants in the wild, bringing long-forgotten cures to those in need. But when no one will hire a girl to fight basilisks, she releases her shapechanging fey powers--to disguise herself as a boy.

While hunting for wyvern eggs, she saves a young scientist who's about to get steamed by a silvertail-- and finds her childhood friend Tam Grimsby, to whom she hasn't spoken in seven years. Not since she traded him to the fey. She can't bear to tell him who she really is, but every day grows harder as he comes to trust her.

The wyverns are being hunted to extinction for the powerful compounds in their eggs. The fey are dying out as humans grow in power. Now Tam and Dorie will have to decide which side they will fight for. And if they end up on opposite sides, can their returning friendship survive?

Plot: ★★★
Characters: ★★★★
Readability: ★★★★

Dorie Rochart has always wanted to do field work; to go out searching for basilisks, to study wyverns, to bring back the long-forgotten cures to people who can’t afford the expensive prices everyone seems to charge now.  Unfortunately for Dorie, no one wants to hire a girl for jobs like these, especially not when they see her ringlets and doll-like face, so Dorie unleashes a little of her fey powers for the first time in years in order to become Dorian, in the hopes of gaining a job without being discriminated against for her gender.

I loved Dorie – she’s not as kickass as someone like Celaena, or as stubborn as Katniss, but she’s determined, she’s fiery, and she’s just very likable.  Her half-fey nature means she’s never quite felt like she fit in anywhere, which makes her very easy to relate to. She’s worked hard all her life to blend in as a human girl, and now she’s frustrated to find out that that makes her apparently unsuitable for the kind of work she wants to do.

Her roommate Jack is interesting, though a little difficult to understand at times, and their friend Stella is a great addition to the two of them, though her role in the story itself is relatively small.

Tam is intriguing, sweet, and a bit of a geek which is always great 😉 I loved learning the little facts about his and Dorie’s childhood and the hints regarding their estrangement. I also liked seeing (however briefly) both Jane and Helen from the previous novels.

Silverblind was a bit of a bittersweet read for me; I enjoyed it, but I was also sad that the series was coming to an end, and I didn’t manage to savour it as much as I had planned to…. Connolly’s writing draws you in very quickly and easily –for me, it’s the sort of writing that leaves you realising you’ve been reading for an hour instead of the ten minutes you thought you had; it’s enticing, it’s easy to get lost in, and most importantly, it doesn’t get in the way of a fantastic story. I loved the plot, and the characters, but Silverblind wasn’t quite a perfect read for me. While I didn’t mind the ending, it didn’t have as strong an impact as I was expecting which was a little disappointing, and prevented it being a five for me. Having said that, I really enjoyed it, and it’s a nice ending to the series. I’ll definitely be on the lookout for whatever Ms Connolly does next.

Buy it? This is one I’d be happy to buy (not hurt by the fact that the cover is gorgeous!)
In a nutshell: The same beautiful world building, great writing, and fascinating characters we’ve come to expect from the rest of the series.

Other Reviews of Silverblind: Proud Book Nerd  | Geek Girl in Love |  Book Worm Blues