*PLEASE NOTE - While there are no spoilers for this book in this review, I do talk about certain things from books one and two which, arguably, might be considered spoilers for those books. You've been warned!Well, here it is. This final installment see's to dreadful and inevitable conclusion all of the dreams, dangers, hopes and fears that were set up during the first two books. As someone who really took to the strange-yet-familiar world that Hoffman created with enthusiasm, I can honestly say that this final chapter in Thomas Cale's story was everything that I was expecting it to be whilst still managing to surprise me; open field battles and sieges; bitter-sweet victories; the dark and terrible violence of the world juxtaposed with the blunt and naive humour of our young 'heroes'; heart-warming reunions - and of course, wherever Cale goes, a funeral or two (or three, or four, or..) is sure to follow.Cale is no longer the Fury of God that we knew from book one however. The madness and convulsions that struck him at the end of the second book have not gone away and so, for his protection, he is hidden in an asylum called The Priory. With his convulsions leaving him drained of energy for days at a time, he simply isn't the devil with a sword that he once was - and this unfortunate turn of events could not have come at a worse time. Pope Bosco and the Redeemers' plans to enact 'Gods Will' by wiping out all of humanity has begun. Cale must recover quickly, because while the world may not want to admit it, he is the only person who can save them. He was after all the one who came up with the Reedemer attack plan in the first place.What I really liked about this book was the position that Cale was put in. He's not the most likable of characters by any margin - he would not be a good vessel for Gods-Fury-made-manifest-on-earth if he was. However his condition detailed above has affected him to such an extent that he can no longer punch the lights out of whoever disagrees with him anymore. While he is still the angry, selfish, impulsive yet coldly intelligent young boy that we all know and despise, his weakened state in some ways allowed for more character development. As a further result of his decaying health, the story is a bit more focused on the schemes and politics facing Cale, rather than intensive battles like we saw in book two - though don't worry, there are plenty of battles.There were a few things that I didn't quite like - Arbell Materazzi continues to be an obsession which began to get on my nerves a little, and the way some characters story's were ended was a bit too 'final' for my tastes (not necessarily death, but more in a 'they said goodbye and that was it' kind of way). There were also a couple of characters both old and new that seemed to be developing important or interesting story lines which were suddenly dropped and never revisited. While the overall story wasn't really affected by this, it still felt strange to have characters developed to such an extent only to then ignore them. If you liked the previous installments then you will enjoy this book as it draws towards its final conclusion. There are many plot twists, unexpected deaths, some classic retorts from Vague Henri, moments of tactical brilliance and times of devastating tragedy. So at first this book started off with a lot of questions from me as the reader. I thought that the transition between The Last Four Things, and this was sort of clunky. The book almost felt like the author was running out of ideas. But then it started to get better. This book has a lot of great dialogue between the characters, and some great battles. But in the middle the dialogue just goes on and on and on...and you just want something to happen, and you don't care what it is. The ending was certainly different...wasn't expected, which is nice - but it sort of felt like somewhat of a cop out...like Paul Hoffman was trying too hard to make it a twist. The very end end, when Cale just leaves...I don't really know how I feel about this either. He doesn't seem like that type of person. He should have died trying to kill Bose Ikard or someone. What about Gil? Is he dead? My main question is why the sickness? The second book ends abruptly with Cale having some sickness - but it's never really explained. I feel like now reading this book, that it was just a way to end the 2nd book. All in all I would still rate the series about a 4 - and I didn't hate this book, even though most of the things I said were negative. I think that it just could have gone a little differently.
What do You think about O Bater De Suas Asas (2013)?
A série foi perdendo qualidade ao longo dos livros. Este será o mais enfadonho dos três...
—aliaa
Very Interesting ending, though I wish a certain person didn't die :tears:
—nyrc
