Four books to review in this installment, including a pair of books from personal favorites, a fantasy/sci-fi hybrid, and a new superhero entry that’s so damn readable.
Destroyed by Madeline Dyer
I suppose with a title like Destroyed, an unhappy ending was inevitable.
And that’s all I’ll say about the ending, because to spoil the ending would be to deprive you of the satisfying yet heart-wrenching conclusion to one of the best, most intense, most well-written dystopian series I’ve read. Madeline Dyer is at her best in Destroyed, the fourth and final installment in the Seven Sarr series. The result is a fast-paced, action-packed, intellectually-fraught read where neither the characters nor the reader can relax and take a breath.
The pacing issues from previous installments are a thing of the past. Seven is at her strongest now, but she’s also stretched beyond her limits, she constantly questions herself… as Chosen One tales go, I feel like this series does a great job of balancing the certainty of action with the uncertainty of being human.
Being the Chosen One is a heady responsibility, one I feel most in this genre forget. Dyer makes sure her protagonist never feels relief from the weight that responsibility places on her. And with such a worthy antagonist in Raleigh, who is at his most devious (if not his most violent), and this is the satisfying build-up and payoff a series finale should be.
I did have to read the ending twice, because I’m so conditioned to expect a zig that any zag, of any degree, hits at first with a sense of “…Huh?” But it fits perfectly with Destroyed, and it fits perfectly with the series as a whole. The TV show Angel‘s finale was controversial in some circles because of how different it was, but it fit the overall philosophy of the show.
Such is also the case with Destroyed.
Dyer has become an author whose work I will support no matter what genre she tackles, and given how deft she showed her skills in Destroyed, I eagerly await her next narrative venture. If YA dystopias are your thing, and the Untamed series isn’t on your shelf, then you are seriously missing out.
Rating: *****
Order of the Lily by Cait Ashwood
If The Seekers was a coming-of-age tale, then its follow-up, Order of the Lily, is all about what it means to be of age — and the ugliness and beauty within. Whereas Audrey faced metaphorical adolescence in the first book, the second book is where she, in a sense, reaches adulthood, stepping up to make difficult decisions.
For much of the book, those decisions are the typical sort for dystopian fiction. There’s a coordinated rescue, uneasy alliances, and Audrey finally being honest with herself about who she loves. All this while she’s dealing with being a mother of twins and still handling the pressure of being what amounts to this timeline’s Chosen One.
But then there’s the end… and an impossible choice that goes far beyond genre convention of “will they/won’t they?” and “who will the heroine be with?”
Again, Cait Ashwood carries a deft pen. Her prose is simultaneously easy to read and powerful; so many in this genre go so overboard with the prose that reading becomes a chore, because they spend so much on the prose that they forget what really matters. But Ashwood continues to keep the characters, their feelings and thoughts and motivations, at the forefront. Epic does not have to mean hard to read, and Order of the Lily is a perfect example of that.
Order of the Lily is every bit a worthy follow-up to The Seekers, and one would be hard-pressed to finish this one and not immediately clamor for the next installment. Dystopia and fantasy readers alike need this series.
Rating: ****
Buy Order of the Lily on Amazon
Someday I’ll Be Redeemed by Kelly Blanchard
I’ll readily admit that I’m not as familiar with high fantasy as some others, so I don’t know how frequently the genre is married with others, but I’m engrossed by the way Kelly Blanchard has married high fantasy with science fiction in her novel Someday I’ll Be Redeemed, the first installment in the Chronicles of Lorrek.
The sci-fi angle isn’t immediately apparent — much of the open is establishing the typical fantasy trappings: kingdoms occasionally at odds with each other, royalty and its relatives in various stages of trouble, magic, etc. But as Blanchard slowly introduces the sci-fi elements, she changes not only the world these characters inhabit, but the characters themselves.
The changes are subtle, easy to miss at first, but just past the midway point, the tenor of the book changes — and without spoiling anything, the shift — while jarring — sucks in the reader. The pages really fly by at that point, and watching all the chess pieces move in both predictable and unexpected ways is a joy.
There are unanswered questions, but considering there are eight books to follow in the series, that’s to be expected. A small amount of patience is in order for just that reason, but the way Blanchard marries two genres together — to say nothing of the multi-layered protagonist at the heart of it all in Lorrek — makes me confident the wait will be worth it.
Someday I’ll Be Redeemed lays the foundation for what promises to be a great series, and while it’s neither truly high fantasy nor sci-fi, it’s a fascinating blending of the two, and fans of both will find plenty to enjoy here.
Rating: *****
Buy Someday I’ll Be Redeemed on Amazon (available in three-book box set)
Burden of Solace by Richard L. Wright
With Burden of Solace, Richard L. Wright takes comic book-style superheroes from the panels to prose, and in the process, he gives the genre something it often lacks: a protagonist that doesn’t default to punching things.
The result? An engrossing, refreshing take on the genre.
My only qualm with this book was the villain; specifically, for a man with such grandiose plans (and they were grandiose; I wish they had been fleshed out more), he was too fixated on being a sexual predator toward Cassie, the protagonist. It’s an overdone trope that extends beyond the superhero genre — the threat of sexual violence against a female character — and I feel it merits discussion, should any potential readers be triggered by that sort of thing.
The rest of Burden of Solace is a tremendous read. Cassie is an easy protagonist to root for, in large part because Wright gets us to care about her before she becomes what she becomes. Along the way, Wright also introduces us to Guardian 175 — not only giving us a peak at the legacy-style superhero we often see from the likes of Superman, but also doing a good bit of worldbuilding.
Granted, politicians meddling in the affairs of superheroes is nothing new; even the bigwigs at Marvel and DC do it. But Wright handles it in such a way that feels grounded in reality, and the result is a superhero story that still feels grounded. No matter how big the action gets, we’re still rooted at the ground level, with Cassie and the Guardian.
In all, Burden of Solace is a great superhero story, a fun read, and the beginning of what I hope to be a great series. The superhero genre needs more love from the book world (and yeah, I’m a bit greedy in saying that), and books like this are a big reason why.
Rating: ****
J.D. Cunegan 