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A review by breakfastgrey
A Darkling Plain by Philip Reeve
4.0
Reviewing the last book of a series is always a bit difficult because you want to both talk about the book itself and the series as a whole.
Reeves does a beautiful job sticking the landing on this series. As with any series, each book adds more pieces to the whole, all of which need to be tied up. It's one of the reasons why I honestly would not be shocked if A Song of Ice and Fire never actually finishes. Reeves navigates this problem beautifully, though, knowing when to cut to the different parts of the plot and having a good sense of what can happen off screen.
Unfortunately, because he needs to tie everything off neatly, this book isn't as exciting as the others. The stakes are bigger, but the risks are non-existent. Massive plot twists and a constant level of threat to characters gave the earlier books a sense of danger this book lacks. It's very safe, which is a bit disappointing.
Looking at the series as a whole, though, this safety serves its purpose. There are certain stories that needed to be told and a thematic unity to be achieved that constant twists would've endangered. Viewing it as Act 4 of a larger arc alleves some of that disappointment.
The same applies to the rest of the novels, as well: even though I only gave one of the four books a five star rating, I would have no hesitation calling this a five star series. Individual pieces have some flaws, but its impact is so much more than that. I am absolutely in love with this world and these characters in a way that few twixt series outside of Harry Potter or His Dark Materials have managed. I'm going to miss it terribly.
Reeves does a beautiful job sticking the landing on this series. As with any series, each book adds more pieces to the whole, all of which need to be tied up. It's one of the reasons why I honestly would not be shocked if A Song of Ice and Fire never actually finishes. Reeves navigates this problem beautifully, though, knowing when to cut to the different parts of the plot and having a good sense of what can happen off screen.
Unfortunately, because he needs to tie everything off neatly, this book isn't as exciting as the others. The stakes are bigger, but the risks are non-existent. Massive plot twists and a constant level of threat to characters gave the earlier books a sense of danger this book lacks. It's very safe, which is a bit disappointing.
Looking at the series as a whole, though, this safety serves its purpose. There are certain stories that needed to be told and a thematic unity to be achieved that constant twists would've endangered. Viewing it as Act 4 of a larger arc alleves some of that disappointment.
The same applies to the rest of the novels, as well: even though I only gave one of the four books a five star rating, I would have no hesitation calling this a five star series. Individual pieces have some flaws, but its impact is so much more than that. I am absolutely in love with this world and these characters in a way that few twixt series outside of Harry Potter or His Dark Materials have managed. I'm going to miss it terribly.