A review by amandacole
The Earth Dwellers by David Estes

4.0

I feel like I've been waiting forever for this final book in the Dwellers/Country series. I definitely enjoyed the long journey with all of the different characters and their unique towns/realms. The Earth Dwellers didn't disappoint.

I think one of my favorite parts of this installment was that not everyone was eager to join any kind of rebellion. Frequently in books, even the most otherwise risk averse people will just hop on board the rebellion train, hoping for the best and somehow succeeding despite their complete and utter lack of training or experience. Here, there were some holdouts and some tribes that just plain made the wrong decision, which I appreciated, although

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I can't say I was AT ALL happy to see Dazz and his family and friends die. I'd hoped they would make it through somehow

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I also liked that

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I was never really sure of Jocelyn's loyalties, right up through when she shot Lecter. I didn't know what to expect, since clearly she was a very convincing actress. I was happy with the way that worked out.

One of the nice parts about the Epilogue for me was that it showed some results of the wars (Unity and the Realm), but it didn't necessarily create a final ending for any of the teenage couples. While they could all end up together, it's nice that they have the option to grow and change their minds. Now that everyone's equal and free to move about, who knows what could happen?

The biggest negative for me was trying to keep up with whose perspective we were getting. In earlier books, it jumped around a bit less, in part because each of the books focused on fewer characters, so it was a little confusing at times.

Overall, I thought this was a great finale for the series and I really enjoyed reading it.