Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic Fantasy
Review: After being smitten by the first two Bitterbynde books, I couldn't bear not reading the third - The Battle of Evernight - and once you start reading it you can't bear to stop. You get pulled along in the amazing adventure with Tahquil - Ashalind and her cohorts, and there are moments in the book where your heart litereally stops with glee. Seriously, at the end of this book I went running round my house screaming at the twists and turns Ms Dart Thornton puts in! So very exciting and fast paced! But enough of my babbling! Please, take my word and read this book, or start reading the series. They're incredibly worth your time!
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Summary: delightful epic romantic fantasy
Review: After facing much adversity, Tahquil's memory and her looks are restored to her so she starts a quest, accompanied by two faithful friends, to locate the Gate of Oblivion's Kiss. If she can find it and open it, the Faeren who have been exiled on Erith can go home and take their hatred of mortals with them. Tahquil knows that Prince Morragan of the magical Realm is looking for her and she does her best to disguise her looks.The trio travels to Arcdur but their journey isn't easy because they pass through lands inhabited by the unsealie who wish all mortals harm. Magical allies assist them, but eventually Morragan catches her and tries to force her to remember where the gate is located so he can return home and exile his brother the High King Angavar forever. Angavar learns what his brother is planning and comes to stop him. Tahquil recognizes him as Thorn, her true love. The brothers clash and Angavar wins the battle, claiming Tahquil as his own. They were supposed to have a happily ever after ending but tragedy strikes, separating the two lovers once again. THE BATTLE OF EVERNIGHT is a very satisfying conclusion to " The Bitterbynde Trilogy", an epic romantic fantasy that will appeal to romance and fantasy lovers. The heroine is a very determined woman who is not deterred from her quest despite the dangers and pitfalls she knows she will face. The romance between mortal and Faeren rings true and when the lovers are reunited readers are happy for them. It is hoped that the author will return the readers to Erith in future books because it is a fascinating and magical place to visit. Harriet Klausner
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Summary: : )
Review: After reading the reviews of previous readers I felt inclined to add my opinion. I thought that this book was a strong follow-up to the first two in the series. Some of the readers obviously felt that the ending to The Battle of Evernight was weak and a poor substitute for the ending that Mrs. Dart-Thornton could have certainly given us. I both agree and disagree. The Epilogue clearly reveals the fate of the two main characters, and yet I thought that things might have been better concluded if their happiness was set in stone. There were many small plots that eventually, after a bit of winding, led to nothing, but overall I loved the book and the plot of it. Its meaning was inspiring and it was beautifully written.
Rating: 
Summary: Forget it
Review: Although the first book was great and the second one was OK, the 3rd book was almost a complete waste of time. Things just seemed to happen without any coherence. My recommendation.. Do not buy this book!! However, if you are like me and have invested time and money into the first two books you will read it anyway.
Rating: 
Summary: Crushed by the denouement
Review: As with the previous books, the prose was well-written. I couldn't put the book down because of the plot twists and turns. However, the ending was totally inappropriate. CDT was probably feeling guilty because she tried to rescue her trilogy with an EPILOGUE!!! Her editors should have screamed at her. If you want to read well-written tragedies that have a love story, pick Elizabeth Haydon, Jacqueline Carey, or Robin Hobb.
Rating:
Summary: A "Battle" won
Review: Cecilia Dart-Thornton is rapidly becoming a new master of the fantasy genre. Her first two books, "The Ill-Made Mute" and "Lady of the Sorrows," were both lushly written and exquisitely plotted, taking legend and myth and weaving them together in a unique fantasy world. Now she brings her story to a climax in "The Battle of Evernight." Found mute, scarred and unable to remember anything in the first book, Tahquil has regained her face, her voice, and much of her memory (not to mention her true love, Thorn, who also happens to be the king). But her murky past is connected with the sinister forces that have now scattered the people she knows and cares for. Now she and two companions are stranded in a wilderness, and in Erith that isn't a good thing -- there are many wights, both seelie and unseelie, that lurk across the land. As they travel to the Gate of Oblivion's Kiss, in an effort to right the ever-worsening problems, the Raven Prince Morragan captures them -- and the war grows even worse as Tahquil discovers a shocking secret. One of the nice things about the Bitterbynde trilogy is how unique it is. This is not one of those hack fantasy books where you constantly think, "Oh, in a few pages he'll do this." I remember being stunned at her use of the Pied Piper legend in "Lady," and even more stunned at how well she used it. Her use of other, more obscure legends is equally fantastic, as is her way of using the various wights. As always, Dart-Thornton's prose is reminiscent of Patricia McKillip's: Lush, detailed, dreamy and lyrical. She goes a little overboard at times (usually about clothing), but mostly it just adds to the mystical atmosphere of the book. Some readers might be offput by her use of large, obscure words that may require a trip to the dictionary, but they don't really detract from the enjoyability of the story. The dialogue, while old-feeling, never lapses into the cliched "ye olde fantasye" that so many books are afflicted with; you can actually imagine people speaking like this. Tahquil has come a long way, baby. First seen as a voiceless, almost mindless drudge in "Mute," she continues to blossom in this book as she gains more knowledge and ability. And her wrenching choice is exquisitely drawn. Caitri and Viviana serve as good accompaniment to Tahquil. Thorn, the mysterious ranger-turned-out-to-be-King of the first and second books, reveals new hidden facets that will stun readers. As before, Cecilia Dart-Thornton provides a gorgeous fantasy tale of good and evil, seelie and unseelie magic, legend and myth. It's a gorgeous story, to be savored slowly rather than rushed through. Bravo, Ms. Dart-Thornton.
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Summary: Bitterbynde is an original not seen in fantasty books
Review: Don't have to read brackeded area[Dart-Thornton has a gift for story telling. It is a cobination of poetry, folktales, and original plot.
As you have probably read in the offical reviews. It says the climax of the book comes too far from the end but is only true if you think an enemies changed form is defeat and that it is the only main conflict of the story. Sure he has no great power anymore but the fact that Ashlind has not married her love yet is what keeps the story going. So if you want to read this, be patient and remember that two if the main things a good writer has to accompish by the end of the is unexpected turns and to bring out emotions(good or bad).]
Now the whole plot line of the this story is to find the Gate of Oblivion's Kiss that bounded Ashlind by the bitterbynde. With her two compains Via and Caitri travel to Arcour to search for the Gate. Traveling, she goes through two forests of wights and a village in the middle of nowhere. Then travels through Lallillir and through all this, aquires the compainonship of a urisk, a swanmaiden, a waterhorse, and a half-sealfolk half-man. Via and Caitri are soon captured by the Hunt and brought to Darke, Land of Evernight. And thus Ashlind follows to save her friends...
So much have I skipped
and so little you know
where riddles are common
and immtoral love is none
or so says everyone
Rating: 
Summary: Lyrical, yet not as fulfilling as the first two
Review: First the good: the author's prose is as lush as ever, and her plot twists would be as unexpected as ever if reviews (editorial and customer) didn't keep offering spoilers. I also enjoyed seeing more character development of several of the characters. The disappointing: I agree with one of the editorial reviews that said that the story dragged some in the beginning and it became disappointing towards the second half where Ashalind took on a mostly passive role. I also think that the flashbacks in the second book worked much more smoothly then the multiple ones in Evernight, which had a feeling of catching up the reader to me. If I had reviewed this book a couple of days ago after I finished reading it, I would have given it 3 stars. The "coy ending" annoyed me at first, but that annoyance faded, so I would suggest any readers who feel similarly take a moment to cool down. All in all, it is a wonderful book with a highly original style. Although I cannot say that the plot was so terribly different than other fantasy works, the author's writing made the story seem novel. She is gifted at mixing evocative description with clever dialogue and has a mystery writer's gift for hiding elements of future importance in the earlier parts of the tale. I didn't think the book was as perfectly balanced as the middle novel - which was the highlight of the series.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed
Review: Following the 'Ill made mute', which I found to be in a class with Tolkien. 'The Lady of the Sorrows', lacked the detail of the previous book the story line was somehow lacking, but the last"the Battle of Evernight" was very disappointing I was looking for more, perhaps a fourth book is in the offering.
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Summary: Check out her website b4 gnashing your teeth.
Review: I do not want to put any spoiler in this post, but I was obsessing about the ending, as many of you have, so I went to the horse's mouth. What CDT had to say actually brought tears to my eyes. I urge any dissatisfied readers to go to her site.
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