And so it ends. With a bang and with a whimper.

On one hand, the stakes (heh (yes, I know I just did that joke)) couldn’t be higher. The Heir is coming. All the threads and mysteries of 15 books (that haven’t otherwise been killed already) are coming back to rear their ugly heads.

On the other hand, it doesn’t quite land? You have literal angels and demons, but they’re in far less of the book than would have made an impact. You have the big bad evil skinwalkers hinted at from the very beginning, but no real direct interactions with them. And you have vampire politics… but the Heir was never as interesting as the Sons of Judas.

On the other other hand (I know), as a final book in the series, it does work. You get a decent bit of closure for most the main characters (that have survived thus far). The world has changed, almost certainly for the better–and if not, certainly the more interesting. And Jane finally seems happy.

Was the series worth the read? Absolutely.

Would I have preferred that the series went a different direction about when the whole ‘Dark Queen’ idea was introduced? Probably.

Was the whole deal with time fascinating… and then ultimately less used than it could have been. Yup.

Overall, worth the read but I’m also ready to move on to other things.

Onward!

And so it ends (sort of).

Much like the previous books, it’s an adventure to somewhere new and far off, this time deep into the mountains (once again) of totally-not-the-Himalayas!

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Fate doesn’t guarantee us a happy ending. We’re not promised to be together no matter what. But in dimension after dimension, world after world, fate gives us a chance. Our destiny isn’t some kind of mystical prophecy. Our destiny is what we do with that chance.

A Thousand Pieces of You introduced us to the multiverse and Ten Thousand Skies Above You brought it to the brink of war. Now, in A Million Worlds with You, the fighting is on.

The core of the story comes in two parts:

For one, we have Marguerite chasing a twisted echo of herself (who she names Wicked; I do enjoy how everyone just goes with her names throughout the book). The entire idea that Marguerite can’t jump into the same world as Wicked and has to trail behind, digging herselves out of any trouble Wicked gets them into is fascinating. But by itself, entirely reactive.

So for two, we have a war between dimensions. We have some worlds that were already aware of parallel realities, but now, finally, they are beginning to work together and push back against the Triad.

To war!

I do love the premise. It’s solidly written and a worthwhile finish to the trilogy (although now I want more! what happens between all the worlds next?!). It … was rough to start it, mostly due to all the damage Marguerite and especially Paul went through last book, but that’s sort of the the point.

Well worth the read.

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A Thousand Pieces of You introduced us to the multiverse–and sent us on adventure across the worlds in a desperate gamble for revenge… Or perhaps to save a life. Or perhaps even to fall in love.

The multiverse is infinite. So, yeah, we go through some terrible things together, and I’ve seen versions of you who are darker, and damaged, and I don’t care. I want you even when you’re broken. I want you no matter what. Your darkness, your anger, whatever it is you fear inside yourself—it doesn’t matter. I love you completely, don’t you see? I even want the worst of you because it’s still a part of you.

Ten Thousand Skies Above You takes that idea and expands upon it in a fascinating way. Now, it’s not just searching through the multiverse, it’s the early stages of a war between realities. Once again, it’s about saving a life, but this time, it’s less a puzzle and more a scavenger hunt, with some serious repercussions if you don’t find all of the pieces.

Other than a cliffhanger ending (we’ll come back to that…), it’s really quite a good sequel. If anything, I think I enjoyed it even more than the first.

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Oh, that’s a long book to read for a half a chapter a night (and not even every night). I enjoyed it, but I think I’ve been enjoying each book in the series a little less.

The first book, the kids were brilliant and that was the core of the story. They could think their way out of any wacky mystery they get into. Here, we have Constance literally reading minds and Reynie with his sixth sense for danger. Sticky with his perfect memory, reading just … everything in the house. Even Kate’s magical bucket–nah, I still enjoy that one.

On the other hand, there was a lot of action and for the most part, the kids are still working their way out of trouble all by themselves–even when a rescue is under way–and I enjoyed that. The plot itself didn’t go to quite as adventurous destinations as the first two, which I missed.

I still do really enjoy the found family aspects of the story on all levels. The kids themselves are great together and there are some really humorous points. And they’re extended family all together, especially with Mr. Benedict, I really did enjoy that. They do get quite the sense of closure towards the end.

Although there’s apparently a 4th and a prequel, I think it’s time to move on to something else.

Onward!

We’ve been to the mountains, a swamp/rainforest, and on the ocean. What’s next? To the desert!

It’s another book much like the first three: a bit of set up and lamenting the not-British society of the time, then off on an adventure! This time, as mentioned, to the deserts of Akhia.

The inciting incident this time is that the military is trying to breed dragons–either to harvest them for bones or train them for war–is interesting enough and sure to appeal to Isabella. The whole how do dragons breed / how did we get such variety has been a question for a long time now, and I’m just as curious as Isabella is to dig into it.

Characterwise, it’s a welcome delight to see Suhail again. I do quite enjoy seeing Isabella and Suhail’s relationship develop and this book certainly doesn’t slouch in that regard.

I sometimes imagine there is a clerk behind a desk situated between the brain and the mouth. It is his job to examine utterances on their way out, and stamp them with approval or send them back for reconsideration. If such a clerk exists, mine must be very harried and overworked; and on occasion he puts his head down on the desk in despair, letting things pass without so much as a second glance.

Oh they’re fun.

I will admit, after actually getting Jake at least somewhat in The Voyage of the Basilisk, it’s weird that he’s just completely ignored again for the most part here.

(Indeed, a female desert drake makes me look like a doting mother by comparison.)

You’re not wrong.

Overall, if you’ve enjoyed the books up to now, you’ll almost certainly enjoy this one.

Onward!

(And only one left!)

Well that was a weird, wild, and chaotic ride. More than most comics even, this volume didn’t feel like a volume so much as a series of vaguely connected issues. It’s fun to see Coulson and S.H.I.E.L.D. doing their thing, but I honestly couldn’t really get into the story before off we go again.

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And now we’re wrapping up… just in time to add in some random new bigger badder big bad that we’d never heard of before?

Onward!

To be fair, it’s the right time for it. Jane has managed to take control of vampire world and solidify her power in and around New Orleans. We need something to shake up that new status quo, if the series isn’t just going to end now. And really, there was foreshadowing that something like this might happen all the way back to the early books.

Still feels weird.

On the plus side, seeing the new evolution of an old character was great fun, I hope we get more of that! The battles were exciting and bloody, more of that! And seeing Jane well supported and loved is something that’s she had a long time coming and well deserved.

On the flipside… I miss the smaller stakes (heh) of the older books. I don’t really understand why Jane became the Dark Queen (either from a personal perspective or a metaphysical one), beyond perhaps that there’s no one else. I’m still not a huge fan of the transition.

Still worth the read I think. And at this point, you absolutely can bet I’m going to finish the series. Only one book left. Onward!

I quite enjoyed The Left-Handed Booksellers of London, but I’ll admit, I was a bit surprised to see that there actually was a sequel. I quite often find myself, after reading a book, wondering–but what happened next?!

Well, here we go!

For the most part, The Sinister Booksellers of Bath (I do love the titles of these), is more of the same. Susan has been trying to go on and lead a normal life… nope. Back into the magic! Merlin and Vivien are off doing magical things… and stumble into trouble, needing Susan to help them out.

I do love reading about the three of them. I think Susan, growing and changing and coming to terms with her powers is really the heart of these stories and I’m hoping for even more.

The worldbuilding remains fantastical in a way that Garth Nix is so good at. We have a wonderful blend of real world and an underlying magic, with ancient powers, magical artifcats, and statues coming to life.

Overall, I’m surprised but pleasantly so that the Left-Handed Booksellers had a sequel. If there’s ever a third in the future, I’ll most certainly give it a chance.

But for now, onward!

I have read or listened to these books so many times with my children, but somehow never actually gotten around to writing up reviews.

Not that I expect there are many out there that have never heard of these books until reading this and are now going to go out and read them right now. But as these are reminders of what I liked in a book (and what even happened in a specific book), on we go anyways! 😄

When the fiddle had stopped singing Laura called out softly, “What are days of auld lang syne, Pa?”
“They are the days of a long time ago, Laura,” Pa said. “Go to sleep, now.”
But Laura lay awake a little while, listening to Pa’s fiddle softly playing and to the lonely sound of the wind in the Big Woods. She looked at Pa sitting on the bench by the hearth, the firelight gleaming on his brown hair and beard and glistening on the honey-brown fiddle. She looked at Ma, gently rocking and knitting.
She thought to herself, “This is now.”
She was glad that the cosy house, and Pa and Ma and the firelight and the music, were now. They could not be forgotten, she thought, because now is now. It can never be a long time ago.

These are the quasi-non-fictional stories of Laura Ingles Wilder, who grew up in the American frontier of the late 1800s. In this book, they start out in the titular Big Woods of Wisconsin, living a relatively simple life of farming and hunting.

It’s a slice of life story as much as anything, detailing the lives of Laura and her family rather than following any overarching plot. That’s just not how lives work. And having read a number of other (purely fictional) books in the genre, I appreciate it. Sometimes, it’s just nice to live another life for a while, even if that life isn’t alway pleasant in turn.

It’s fascinating to see the little aspects of life. What’s important to Laura and her family. The sugar snow and maple syrup are always big huts, but the delight in finding a honey tree, the brand new innovation of a threshing machine, and even all the little mentions of what they eat, it’s all a window into ‘days gone by’.

Overall, I quite enjoy this book. It’s weird knowing that it was life for Laura and her family–as it was for many people of that time. But in my opinion, worth a read.

Side note: I’ve most often and most recently listened to the narration by Cherry Jones. She is the voice of these books and I do quite enjoy her narration. Worth a listen.