Reviews

Oblivion by Anthony Horowitz

jakewjerrard's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

4.0

nightshade_novels's review against another edition

4.0

The fifth and final book in this series, Oblivion, was much longer than the previous four books. However I don’t think that it was any better. I felt as if I spent the majority of the book waiting for something to happen. I was particularly confused at first by the introduction of Holly to the story, who in hindsight really had a very small part to play and actually didn’t do anything useful. I was also confused by the fact that they had jumped forward ten years, but this soon made sense in terms of the plot.

Spoiler

I knew as soon as Richard was given his special knife by the Inca’s and told that he would regret being given it, that it would fall to him to have to kill one of the five. I predicted that Scott would be the character betrayed them and that died (initially I thought Richard would have to kill him, but it would make more sense for Richard to have to kill Matt, with whom he had become such good friends), but once Matt read the book of his life (which was only 150 pages long) and found out when he would die I then decided that he would be the one to die in the final battle and Scott would live. Therefore I was surprised when both Matt and Scott died.

The end itself seemed to be really short compared to the huge build up and how long the final book was. But I had kind of expected this because that is the way it happened 10,000 years ago when Jamie went back in time to help win the war then.

Spoiler

I guess that having the nuclear war heads follow the Old Ones into the third gate was an indication that they have now been blown up, so either they won’t come back or it will be very hard for them to come back again.

It was an interesting decision on Horowitz’s part to hold the final battle in Antarctica. There is no doubt that it makes for a good background to the fight. However, I am dubious as to the survival of all the people in the Antarctic conditions, even if it was summer. Most of them were living in whatever planes or boats they had arrived in. Also at the end Pedro and Jamie both arrive in Antarctica without any special clothing, then stand around for a fair while in the snow. How did they not die, or even get a little bit of frostbite? Was it because they are the Five, or was Pedro subconsciously healing them?

Spoiler

It was interesting that the five chose to leave the world and reside in the Dream World at the end of the book. Through their being there the world became colourful and populated with people. Richard and Holly were now also able to visit the Dream World when asleep, although their time there is just like a dream to them, as opposed to the second reality that it was for the five. You have to wonder how the five would get along, considering Flint and Matt are from 10,000 years ago and the others are from the present, each member having experienced the death of another who is now seemingly still with them.

This was a really good book and nicely concluded the series, but is certainly not my favourite out of the five and therefore receives four stars.

archvine18's review against another edition

3.0

Lame ending!

zohal99's review against another edition

5.0

Words cannot begin to describe how utterly beautiful and amazing this book was. So lets just say this.

Oblivion filled me with grief,sadness, happiness, utter despair and a sense of amazement and beauty as to how well written and thought-out this last book was. Anthony Horowitz did an amazing job. He tied up all the loose ends and the amount of surprises in the book was stupendous. He was able to make you think one thing and change it completely. He broke THE NUMBER ONE RULE TO WRITING A FICTION NOVEL and still was able to make a perfect last book which will not disappoint. ANTHONY HOROWITZ IS AMAZING, FANTASTIC AND STUPENDOUS. In some ways this book is just as good as the last Harry Potter but is itself unique and AMAZING.

I extremely enjoyed the set-out of this book. I liked the fact that it had various different POV's. Not just the POV's of the main characters but of others too. I also find it quite amazing that the author was able to make each character likeable in their own way. I loved all five of the Gate Keepers even Scarlett, although at the beginning I wasn't too fond of her, but now I am.

So all in all AN AMAZING LAST BOOK. ANTHONY HOROWITZ HAS CREATED HIMSELF A REPUTATION. In some aspects the books set-out was quite similar to 'Scorpia Rising'

I strongly recommend this series "The Power of Five" as you see the progression of the author as a writer and you see an extreme growth of character development for all the characters. The ideas were complex yet simple and were able to make sense and deceive the reader. There were no loose ends. It all flowed perfectly and fit together well like a Jigsaw puzzle, with the end an amazing relief that it was finished and was finished so well.

I STRONGLY RECOMMEND THIS SUPERNATURAL SERIES !!!!!!

justagirlwithbooks's review against another edition

4.0

 “Evil will never win entirely. It can’t. It’s not in its nature.”

I liked some parts more than others, but overall this finale was pretty good.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Death, and Violence

the_planetarywanderer's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

lena_taco's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

It took me 10 years to finish this series and i do NOT wanna talk about it 😭

isa_wmadsen's review against another edition

0.75

I don't really know where to begin explaining what I don't like about this book. I hate time jumps, and when they casualled traveled 10 years into a broken world, really awful. They spent the first 4 books bringing everyone together just for them to start all over in book 5, useless. The whole book just seemed like random time filling obstacles that they had to endure, which made no point (like what the fuck was the point of the whole cannibal town!). The author made this huge ass book for an ending, with a large build up, only for them to defeat the old ones like nothing. Two out of the five died for no reason. And then they all left their friend who helped them behind! The only reason it isn't getting a plain 0 stars, is because the idea had potential, it was just so poorly executed that it was sad.

bunnybookslife's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

pimm's review against another edition

5.0

Beautifully written.