A review by ergative
A Darkling Plain by Philip Reeve

5.0

 A perfect ending to a perfect series. It's a reasonably frequent trope to have the last sentence or last line in a long sago circle back around so someone is telling the story that started it all off, but I think this book set it up in such a way that it was not just a tidy bow, but something beautiful and resonant with everything that had happened before. Reeve has mastered world-building, character, plot, and wordplay in equal measure. Everything he does is set up so that it makes sense; everything that happens is both right and hard, and I was whimpering and crying throughout the entire last chapter because everything was coming out exactly as it needed to.