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Disharmony #3
Immortal Combat
A war that will end the world or save it . . .
The prophesied war is raging. Luke's destiny is unstoppable, Sam's losses and powers are unravelling her mind, and Jake's family secrets put the whole world in peril. And that's before the darkest warlock of all time makes his first move on the chessboard. A move he's planned for centuries . . .
The prophesied war is raging. Luke's destiny is unstoppable, Sam's losses and powers are unravelling her mind, and Jake's family secrets put the whole world in peril. And that's before the darkest warlock of all time makes his first move on the chessboard. A move he's planned for centuries . . .
- GenresYoung Adult
384 pages, Paperback
First published August 21, 2013
80 people want to read
About the author
Leah Giarratano
10 books74 followersDr Leah Giarratano has had a long career as a clinical psychologist. Her professional background offers a unique selling point in this genre and gives an authenticity to her writing. Leah is an expert in psychological trauma, sex offences and psychopathology and has had many years assessing psychopaths and treating their victims.
She has worked in psychiatric hospitals, with the defence force, and in the corrections system with offenders who suffer severe personality disorders. She has assessed and treated survivors of just about every imaginable psychological trauma, including: hostages; war veterans; rape, assault and accident victims; and has worked with police, fire and ambulance officers.
In 2009 Leah began her television career, presenting Channel 7’s top rating Beyond the Darklands program, on which Leah was the expert psychologist who delved into the psyche of Australia’s most fearsome criminals.
She has worked in psychiatric hospitals, with the defence force, and in the corrections system with offenders who suffer severe personality disorders. She has assessed and treated survivors of just about every imaginable psychological trauma, including: hostages; war veterans; rape, assault and accident victims; and has worked with police, fire and ambulance officers.
In 2009 Leah began her television career, presenting Channel 7’s top rating Beyond the Darklands program, on which Leah was the expert psychologist who delved into the psyche of Australia’s most fearsome criminals.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 29, 2020
3.5 stars
September 6, 2013
The Psychopath, the Empath and the Genius have figured out what they think they need to do. The three children of The Telling will either end the war that threatens the world or contribute to its ultimate destruction.
Luke, Sam and Jake all have their own talents and their own destinies. Separated from his siblings after they retrieve an artifact, believing that they think the worst of him, Luke seems certain to run headlong into his fate of destroying the world. He embraces the powers and gifts his mother gave him – but will he go back to his siblings when they call for him? Maybe only his twin Samantha, the Empath can help him realise what his true potential is.
Sam’s powers are growing as well and it threatens to unravel her as she suffers along with everyone who has ever suffered before. Along with the street urchin she has known nearly all her life, Birthday Jones, the two travel to Japan to try and gain some allies in this fast escalating war that threatens to destroy the world before they have the chance to save it and restore the harmony again.
Jake is the Genius. He’s possessed of a knowledge and intelligence most people could only dream about. But there’s something Jake doesn’t know – but he’s about to find out. And when the new family secrets come out, along with a powerful warlock who has waited centuries to take control of the world, the three of them face an even harder task.
Are they up for it?
Immortal Combat is the third and last novel in the Disharmony trilogy by acclaimed crime author Leah Giarratano. The first two books have all been building up to the showdown in this one, everything coming together for the three children of The Telling to either embrace their combined destiny and work together or reject it and cause the destruction of the world. We have gotten to know Luke, Sam and Jake – their different backgrounds, the way in which their mother, the witch Morgan Moreau shaped their upbringings to give them the skills and talents they would need (or strip them of them) in order to fulfill the three facets of the prophecy. In this novel they discover there are more siblings: failed psychopaths, empaths and geniuses, those whom Morgan gave birth to and attempted to shape and failed. Some of them will be necessary to their cause.
This series is very clever, very well thought out and very detailed – I’ve thought that since the beginning. There’s so much that I forget in between reading installments that it always takes me 30-50 pages to settle into the rhythm again, remembering who is who and what role they’ve played in the past and how it has affected everything that’s happened and where they’re up to right now. I was super confused at the beginning of this book but once everything began to fall into place again for me, I was engrossed in the story. There’s so much happening in this one – the action jumps around from Bulgaria to Romania to Mexico to Switzerland to Japen to Australia at breakneck pace.
But the characters aren’t neglected in favour of the plot. All 3 of the children of the Telling undergo a lot of growth in this book – or in Luke’s case growth then regression and then growth again. I think I found Luke, the Psychopath the most interesting character of them all. He believes that he doesn’t have feelings, that he can’t connect to anyone but that’s not precisely true. He does feel things, but it takes him a while to process that he is feeling something and then identify what it is. His first instinct is to retreat, to be alone, to destroy. He isn’t able to really connect with Jake and Sam the way that they connect with each other and he thinks that they also believe the worst of him. So rather than face that, he backs away. However when they come calling, when they need him on their side, he is there for them and the three of them are united once more. In this book Luke meets one of their siblings, a failed psychopath which was interesting because she actually seemed more of a psychopath than Luke himself. Their interactions were interesting and highlighted the differences between them and between the others.
Even though this book led the way to one final showdown and conclusion, I liked that the author threw in quite a lot of things that I didn’t expect along the way, including one final opponent that was quite a surprise. I think this trilogy would definitely benefit from a re-read when I could read all 3 books together, in a row, without long gaps between them. It would definitely highlight the intricacies of the plot and keep everything fresh in the mind because I know that a lot slipped through the cracks in the gaps between books. However despite that, I think that Leah Giarratano has attempted something very new and different here and has managed to pull it off pretty well.
Luke, Sam and Jake all have their own talents and their own destinies. Separated from his siblings after they retrieve an artifact, believing that they think the worst of him, Luke seems certain to run headlong into his fate of destroying the world. He embraces the powers and gifts his mother gave him – but will he go back to his siblings when they call for him? Maybe only his twin Samantha, the Empath can help him realise what his true potential is.
Sam’s powers are growing as well and it threatens to unravel her as she suffers along with everyone who has ever suffered before. Along with the street urchin she has known nearly all her life, Birthday Jones, the two travel to Japan to try and gain some allies in this fast escalating war that threatens to destroy the world before they have the chance to save it and restore the harmony again.
Jake is the Genius. He’s possessed of a knowledge and intelligence most people could only dream about. But there’s something Jake doesn’t know – but he’s about to find out. And when the new family secrets come out, along with a powerful warlock who has waited centuries to take control of the world, the three of them face an even harder task.
Are they up for it?
Immortal Combat is the third and last novel in the Disharmony trilogy by acclaimed crime author Leah Giarratano. The first two books have all been building up to the showdown in this one, everything coming together for the three children of The Telling to either embrace their combined destiny and work together or reject it and cause the destruction of the world. We have gotten to know Luke, Sam and Jake – their different backgrounds, the way in which their mother, the witch Morgan Moreau shaped their upbringings to give them the skills and talents they would need (or strip them of them) in order to fulfill the three facets of the prophecy. In this novel they discover there are more siblings: failed psychopaths, empaths and geniuses, those whom Morgan gave birth to and attempted to shape and failed. Some of them will be necessary to their cause.
This series is very clever, very well thought out and very detailed – I’ve thought that since the beginning. There’s so much that I forget in between reading installments that it always takes me 30-50 pages to settle into the rhythm again, remembering who is who and what role they’ve played in the past and how it has affected everything that’s happened and where they’re up to right now. I was super confused at the beginning of this book but once everything began to fall into place again for me, I was engrossed in the story. There’s so much happening in this one – the action jumps around from Bulgaria to Romania to Mexico to Switzerland to Japen to Australia at breakneck pace.
But the characters aren’t neglected in favour of the plot. All 3 of the children of the Telling undergo a lot of growth in this book – or in Luke’s case growth then regression and then growth again. I think I found Luke, the Psychopath the most interesting character of them all. He believes that he doesn’t have feelings, that he can’t connect to anyone but that’s not precisely true. He does feel things, but it takes him a while to process that he is feeling something and then identify what it is. His first instinct is to retreat, to be alone, to destroy. He isn’t able to really connect with Jake and Sam the way that they connect with each other and he thinks that they also believe the worst of him. So rather than face that, he backs away. However when they come calling, when they need him on their side, he is there for them and the three of them are united once more. In this book Luke meets one of their siblings, a failed psychopath which was interesting because she actually seemed more of a psychopath than Luke himself. Their interactions were interesting and highlighted the differences between them and between the others.
Even though this book led the way to one final showdown and conclusion, I liked that the author threw in quite a lot of things that I didn’t expect along the way, including one final opponent that was quite a surprise. I think this trilogy would definitely benefit from a re-read when I could read all 3 books together, in a row, without long gaps between them. It would definitely highlight the intricacies of the plot and keep everything fresh in the mind because I know that a lot slipped through the cracks in the gaps between books. However despite that, I think that Leah Giarratano has attempted something very new and different here and has managed to pull it off pretty well.
June 19, 2014
2.5 rating because I was so frustrated. The only reason I finished it was because I got this far and it seemed like a waste to give up so close to the end. Mostly I was disappointed, after a really strong beginning the series suffered from too much world and not enough building. It also didn't help that the characters were mostly empty and the only one I genuinely liked was in it for so little. By the end of the book I had no idea what was happening or why it was happening and then suddenly they were summoning angels? I'm so confused and I'm just trying to gather my thoughts for this review.
November 11, 2014
Very good series, however a bit of a disappointing end.
still a good ending but I wished the author had spread it out a bit instead of plot line, plot line, plot line, BAM! ending
I found the entire series was stretched out and the ending was just finished very quickly as if the author got bored and wanted to finish the book ASAP.
Still a good series but in the end a bit rushed.
Bex
still a good ending but I wished the author had spread it out a bit instead of plot line, plot line, plot line, BAM! ending
I found the entire series was stretched out and the ending was just finished very quickly as if the author got bored and wanted to finish the book ASAP.
Still a good series but in the end a bit rushed.
Bex
August 19, 2014
Ridiculously frustrating. So disappointed because this series started off so well but just got too carried away by all the different characters. Figured out the ending halfway into the book and cringed reading those last 5 or so pages as she quickly as possible explained everything so the book could be finished.
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August 2, 2015Katharine is a judge for the Sara Douglass 'Book Series' Award. This entry is the personal opinion of Katharine herself, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of any judging panel, the judging coordinator or the Aurealis Awards management team.
I won't be recording my thoughts (if I choose to) here until after the AA are over.
I won't be recording my thoughts (if I choose to) here until after the AA are over.
January 4, 2014
never finished reading it.
July 2, 2014
Loved it! Especially how something possibly world-ending happened in Australia, it's about time this country got attention like that
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews