Monday, March 22, 2010

Review: Always Forever (Age of Misrule Book 3)

Well I finished this book several weeks ago, and I'm finally getting around to writing a review for it, and I'm glad that I am because it's helping me remember exactly how good this book, and this series, is. It's not often that I find a book that seriously makes me think at the end, a book that makes me care for the characters, even after the last page is turned. In my review of World's End (the first book in the series) I mentioned that I struggled through the first book because the beginning of the book turned out to be nothing like the end of the book the events had changed things so much. I think my initial struggle with this series lay in the fact that I have no knowledge of English topography and so many of the places that are mentioned in the book went right over my head, as well as the highways and street names in London. Once, however, I got on Google earth and looked at many of the places, I began to see the events transpire a lot easier and learned something in the process. O.K enough prattle, let's get on with the review. 

The eternal conflict between the Light and Dark once again blackens the skies and blights the land. On one side stand the Tuatha de Danaan, golden-skinned and beautiful, filled with all the might of angels. On the other are the Fomorii, monstrous devils hell-bent on destroying all human existence. And in the middle are the Brothers and Sisters of Dragons, determined to use the strange power that binds them to the land in a last, desperate attempt to save the human race. Church, Ruth, Ryan, Laura and Shavi have joined forces with Tom, a hero from the mists of time, to wage a guerrilla war against the iron rule of the gods. This is the stunning conclusion of a powerful fantasy saga by one of Britain's most acclaimed young writers.

The Good
The final book in the Age of Misrule series ended in the way that every good series or stand alone book should end, leaving more questions, and the possibility of more events to come (not necessarily a sequel though), it should leave of making you think, and that's exactly what Always Forever did. These three books weave an epic tale that every good fantasy fan should read, the story is nothing new to the fantasy genre, but it is presented in a way that makes it a fantastic and a thrilling read. Set in a world where technology and the age of science have failed, the events are presented in a way that really make you think "what IF all the technology in the world were to stop working?" 

The Bad
As a series I found absolutely nothing wrong. There is, however, something about this book that makes me cringe, it's a little thing but it irks me none the less. The characters, lovable as they are, seem to have the same interactions over and over again; dreading what is to come, talking about what they miss about technology, and disparaging the state of the world as it was before the start of the book. It just all seemed very repetitious in some points. Although this took almost nothing away from the story itself, I feel that there could have been a lot more depth to these books if the character interactions were tweaked a little. 

The Verdict
Overall a brilliant not so modern day fantasy series capped off by a thought provoking ending that left nothing to be desired, except for maybe another book. I would most definitely recommend this book for fantasy fans.

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