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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
The series finale! Wow. I started this series back in 2012 and at that point it wasn't even complete. But now it is, and I've finished it.
It's hard to talk about the last book in the series at all, so mostly I can say that I'm glad I saw it through although there were some things I was hoping would happen that didn't, and on the flip side there were big surprizes I didn't see coming (some I loved, others not so much). I'm still sitting with how I feel about a lot of the choices made in this book, and the series as a whole. I had a feeling in book 11 that this might take a different turn than expected, and it did feel that way.
The challenges I had with this one include:
The change in Alice. How/why did she connect with the mage? That was out of nowhere and we didn't see from her perspective, so it felt unresolved.
There is trilogy after this one. I feel that at 13 books, the series should feel complete and/or resolved. As much as I love the fact that we can see Thomas go from apprentice to apprenticing, especially with a girl as an apprentice, I wanted completion with this one.
Things that impressed me in this one include:
In the big fight, Thomas steps up and says that they need to follow one leader, and that leader is Grimalkin. She was the one that brought the two sides together and that they all respected. I really came to love her as a character, which was a big surprize.
Thomas also says he's had enough of violence and is putting that behind him to become a regular Spook and he isn't going to help with the upcoming battle against the new threat introduced in Slither. Although I didn't love this from a story perspective, I really appreciated it from a character perspective. He's done a lot over the books, so to stand up for stepping back was a very surprizing but a true to character moment.
I LOVED the boggart! That was a wonder surprize to see Thomas befriend the boggart, and call him for help. And trust his instincts on what was the right thing to do in that situation. Delightful.
And finally, I absolutely LOVED the illustrations by Patrick Arrasmith. I read the majority of the books digitally, but I am so happy to have been able to get a few physical copies as well. The illustrations are so evocative and atmospheric, I always looked forward to what the next chapter would hold.
It's hard to talk about the last book in the series at all, so mostly I can say that I'm glad I saw it through although there were some things I was hoping would happen that didn't, and on the flip side there were big surprizes I didn't see coming (some I loved, others not so much). I'm still sitting with how I feel about a lot of the choices made in this book, and the series as a whole. I had a feeling in book 11 that this might take a different turn than expected, and it did feel that way.
The challenges I had with this one include:
Spoiler
The change in Alice. How/why did she connect with the mage? That was out of nowhere and we didn't see from her perspective, so it felt unresolved.
There is trilogy after this one. I feel that at 13 books, the series should feel complete and/or resolved. As much as I love the fact that we can see Thomas go from apprentice to apprenticing, especially with a girl as an apprentice, I wanted completion with this one.
Things that impressed me in this one include:
Spoiler
In the big fight, Thomas steps up and says that they need to follow one leader, and that leader is Grimalkin. She was the one that brought the two sides together and that they all respected. I really came to love her as a character, which was a big surprize.
Thomas also says he's had enough of violence and is putting that behind him to become a regular Spook and he isn't going to help with the upcoming battle against the new threat introduced in Slither. Although I didn't love this from a story perspective, I really appreciated it from a character perspective. He's done a lot over the books, so to stand up for stepping back was a very surprizing but a true to character moment.
I LOVED the boggart! That was a wonder surprize to see Thomas befriend the boggart, and call him for help. And trust his instincts on what was the right thing to do in that situation. Delightful.
And finally, I absolutely LOVED the illustrations by Patrick Arrasmith. I read the majority of the books digitally, but I am so happy to have been able to get a few physical copies as well. The illustrations are so evocative and atmospheric, I always looked forward to what the next chapter would hold.
slightly disappointing end of the series… after 13 books read in total
This was the long-awaited end of a mostly-great series. The end was a bit of a letdown after such an incredible story arch. On the other hand, it really did show how much Tom has grown up over the past 13 (!) books. It was sad to see how things ended up between him and Alice but Delaney managed to show how both of them have matured and taken different paths in life. I'm still really interested to see where the new series.
I was really disappointed in this one. The story seemed rushed,obvious. I expected a better end for an otherwise great series.
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
- Never kick a man when he's down. In the long term it'll pay off.
- We keep notebooks so that we may learn from the past; but now I know that a spook must look to the future, and adapt and change. A wise man continues to learn until the day he dies. John Gregory was wise, and he realized that sometimes a compromise with the dark is necessary. That was perhaps the last lesson that he learned.
- We keep notebooks so that we may learn from the past; but now I know that a spook must look to the future, and adapt and change. A wise man continues to learn until the day he dies. John Gregory was wise, and he realized that sometimes a compromise with the dark is necessary. That was perhaps the last lesson that he learned.
Reviewed first at Brunner's Bookshelf
This is it, the end of a great series. The ending could have been a little stronger but I was pleased with how well this wrapped up. From what I have read Joseph Delaney is starting a new trilogy with Tom that I am quite anxious to get a hold of.
As this is the last book in a series of 13 books there is little I can say without ruining the story for someone who hasn't read it, but I will try. Tom has come a long way in his training with the Spook and he has been working solo on random jobs around the county as the spook gets up in age. Tom has worked hard to prepare himself to face the Fiend and keep him from coming back to power.
This was a good book, not the explosive amazing ending I was hoping for but still hard to put down. I have read a lot of books and quite a few series so there was a level of expectation I had with how this was to end. Once I heard there was another trilogy beginning I started to wonder if this was half wrap up and half intro to the new books. The ending was a little disjointed at times and seemed to have to come back around at one point to fill in information that got skipped. At the same this tied everything together pretty well, even the book Slither got tied in by the end of this book which I was glad to see there was a purpose to that. I was happy to leave this series as it was.
I think I have rambled enough, I liked this book and this was a great series. This book gets 4 out of 5 stars for me. The series would be a 4.5 and I am so glad I stumbled onto this. I even got my wife to read these ad she enjoyed them just as much as I did. We also had a lot of fun talking about it as we read these books. I would recommend these to anyone who is looking to a great adventure story. It doesn't read like a Young Adult book at all and at times got kind of violent. I loved it.
This is it, the end of a great series. The ending could have been a little stronger but I was pleased with how well this wrapped up. From what I have read Joseph Delaney is starting a new trilogy with Tom that I am quite anxious to get a hold of.
As this is the last book in a series of 13 books there is little I can say without ruining the story for someone who hasn't read it, but I will try. Tom has come a long way in his training with the Spook and he has been working solo on random jobs around the county as the spook gets up in age. Tom has worked hard to prepare himself to face the Fiend and keep him from coming back to power.
This was a good book, not the explosive amazing ending I was hoping for but still hard to put down. I have read a lot of books and quite a few series so there was a level of expectation I had with how this was to end. Once I heard there was another trilogy beginning I started to wonder if this was half wrap up and half intro to the new books. The ending was a little disjointed at times and seemed to have to come back around at one point to fill in information that got skipped. At the same this tied everything together pretty well, even the book Slither got tied in by the end of this book which I was glad to see there was a purpose to that. I was happy to leave this series as it was.
I think I have rambled enough, I liked this book and this was a great series. This book gets 4 out of 5 stars for me. The series would be a 4.5 and I am so glad I stumbled onto this. I even got my wife to read these ad she enjoyed them just as much as I did. We also had a lot of fun talking about it as we read these books. I would recommend these to anyone who is looking to a great adventure story. It doesn't read like a Young Adult book at all and at times got kind of violent. I loved it.
If you've followed the series thus far, it's worth giving this a read. Unfortunately, rather than give readers a true ending, the author basically hits the reset button to leave the door open for a sequel. Lo and behold, not two weeks after I finished this I saw that there will be a spinoff series beginning in 2015. This was a pretty entertaining series overall, even if the YA target audience meant that the writing was a bit oversimplified. The problem is that the author keeps changing the stakes, and there are very few permanent consequences. I won't be investing my time into the next iteration of this and, if you're a fellow adult reader, I'd recommend against it.