Heart of the Storm

Undertow #3

by Michael Buckley

In the epic conclusion of this dystopian trilogy, nail-baiting action and romance abound as a half-human teen faces terrifying monsters from the deep.

 After seven months as a captive of Minerva, the insane Alpha queen, Lyric Walker has escaped to the surface. Her only goal is to warn the world about the Great Abyss. When she finally arrives back in Coney Island, she discovers a world she never expected, one where humans and Alpha are finally working hand in hand to rebuild the country. But she soon discovers that an old enemy allied with an old friend may kill them all before the monsters get their turn. There’s no telling where Lyric’s loyalties, and her heart, will lead her…

“A series ender packed with action, scary enemies, and satisfying character arcs.”—Kirkus Reviews

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Dystopia, Science Fiction, Romance, Paranormal, Audiobook

322 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 7, 2017

About the author

New York Times bestselling author Michael Buckley was born in Akron, Ohio. He tried his hand as a stand-up comic and lead singer for a punk rock back before attending Ohio University. After graduating with honors he moved to New York City to be an intern on the Late Show with David Letterman which led to stints developing programming for Discovery Networks, MTV, MTV Animation and Klasky Csupo (producers of Nickelodeon’s Rugrats). Today he lives in Brooklyn, New York with his wife, Alison, and their son Finn.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Yodamom · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
A great series with a rushed ending.
I really enjoyed tis YA series. The fresh look at merpeople and sea creatures was really cool and kept me coming back for more. The character details alone are worth the read. They are believable, functional, and awesome. Mr. Buckley has a wonderful imagination. He also developed some shameful characters that you just love to hate, really love to hate ! LOL
My problems with the book was the rushed pacing. Everything was happening at a semi regular paced then bam, bam, bam, we were at the end. The new characters just never got developed enough and they were so amazing. I loved Husk, he was just getting so interesting and then it ended with him not fully finished for me. I had the same issue with Fantom, why did he just disappear in the book ? It felt like there was a hole. I fell like these side characters need their own book I liked them better than the MCand we got too much of her and not enough of them.

[Suzzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The ending seemed a bit rushed but overall I loved it. I would read a spin off of the series because I love the characters and the humor Buckley puts in. Recommended series for sure!

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read the first two books. This 3rd one I believe he just gave up.

[Lara]

Update 2/21/17: just saw this in Chapters and nearly jumped for joy. Sadly the hardcover is too expensive for me at this point, but I will definitely be buying the kindle and reading asap!

We don't even have a cover yet? I am actually so pumped for this book, and I can not wait until February!!!

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed the earlier books and was hoping I would love this one too.

It was okay, I was expecting an epic battle or a "didn't see that one coming" kind of ending, but it seemed rushed. Maybe the author lost interest, don't know but this book really spoiled the series for me.

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great ending to this non-stop action series! Part taken from a good anime, part taken from the myth of Atlantis Michael Buckley knows to create amazing characters and a great story

[❀ Crystal ✿ - PEACE ☮ LOVE ♥ BOOKS · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series has been one wild ride I did not see coming. This book wraps up the series in a way that works but also leaves certain things up to the imagination such as the “after.” The romance really takes a sudden turn and even becomes a blip in the overall story-line. Then again with an even graver threat rising out of the waters everyone has to be a little more focused and ready for war. Lyric gets the short of the stick here and unfortunately loses months of time spent as a prisoner herself, this time in the depths. It’s ironic really the drama the have down in the depths is just as ridiculous and pointless as it is topside on land. Funny how suddenly a new species and place to direct their hate has humans of all kinds, races & religions suddenly working together. Good series, great audio.

[Krystal Ayers · Rating 3 out of 5]

This gets 3.75 stars. I knocked it down because of the strange and lazy ending of getting rid of the biggest threat they had. it was a few page blurb and didn't do the book justice. But, the rest of the book was great. The very very ending was sweet, the way they kind of left it open with Fathom and Lyric and their son. There was so much death in this series. Like mass casualties! The beginning of the book where she was captured was good. Her having to go through what she did in the three months, and thus gaining Husk's friendship, I enjoyed. The middle end seemed to rush things and while I know it was trying to wrap up, things were just, muddy. The pregnancy, while needed for the end, was a weird add to the book. They also didn't explain how the US got itself back on track, which I wanted. Overall, this was definitely not as good as the first two, but still a great series.

[A B · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a stinker with a nasty c*nt of a protagonist. It's so bad that I will not even consider reading other books by this author. If he's going to phone it in instead of providing even just a mediocre experience, I'm done.

(Seriously, I do not see how you can rate this book as anything other than a 1 star. You deserve better than a book like this.)

So, let's recap. We left book 1 with Lyric and a handful of good Alphas winning a battle against the bad Alphas and the Rusalka. Book 2 added some more kids to the mix and had the Scooby Gang going up against not just bad Alphas and Rusalka, but an Undine. Well, for 30 seconds or so. It ended with Lyric jumping into the water. Now we're going to see Lyric team up with former enemies to fight an even more worser evil!!! So original!!! So creative!!! I've never seen this type of plot device before!!! Fuck this shitty series!!!

Spoilers follow.



Think you were gonna get some cool scenes underwater? Nah. It flits back and forth between her time undersea and three months afterwards...on a boat in Panama. There is zero creativity with the undersea hunting grounds. The buildings have no ceilings, so why does Lyric walk (or swim) through hallways and doors instead of just swimming into the room she wants? The Alphas are afraid of shark attacks, so wouldn't ceilings add security? How does she stay hydrated? Does she sleep in a bed? Why doesn't she float away? How do they get light on the ocean floor? How does she take a crap?

Anyone with an iota of common sense will figure out that Lyric is going to endear herself to the Rusalka. Even after one saves her, she has no problem murdering 2 to use as shark bait to escape. There's no Fathom, Arcade, Ghost, or any of the remotely interesting characters, but plenty of Bex, the second most obnoxious and useless character.

Once Lyric is on shore, she's now the most wanted special snowflake in the world because humans still don't trust the Alpha (can you fucking blame them? the Alpha have decimated the population and destroyed most of the coast, turning the US into an ununited state of chaos). Oh, and she's now psychic and sees visions of her dead friend, Shadow.

Remember the love triangle? Me either. Turns out Lyric's romp in the fish tank got her knocked up (that's what made her psychic) and the leftover guy is heartbroken. The big bad destroys more innocent humans in horrific ways before Lyric literally just tells it to stop. And it does. Seriously, the entire battle scene and resolution is less than 10 pages.

She rescues her Alpha friends shortly before the final battle. Fathom turns out to be a standup guy and wants to marry her and raise their child. She inexplicably says "I choose me". What the fuck does that mean? They love each other and are soulmates, so she's going to raise her fish bastard on dry land away from his dad because....oh yeah, she's a c*nt.

[Cynthia (Bingeing On Books) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

After a kind of lackluster second book in the series, I was kind of wary about this one. I wanted to read the final one to see what happened, but I was worried that this one would be a bit slow and uninteresting. I am very happy to say this was NOT TRUE.

Yes, the book took a bit of a weird turn at the end of the last one when Lyric was taken captive by Minerva and taken underwater. The book goes back and forth between her time as hostage and the time after when she escaped. There is a lot of adventure and action in this book and there are also new monsters. Humans and Alpha must learn to work together to fight these new creatures. But they have to get past their own prejudices first. This book had a lot of political and racial undertones and I thought it was quite relevant considering everything going on in the world today.

I liked that the romance part was a subplot instead of the main thing with this one. The focus was all about saving the world (kind of annoying that Lyric was apparently the only one who could do that, but whatever). There was a little bit of a love triangle, but not much. Lyric is still obviously pining for Fathom, but she still makes some adult decisions about their relationship. She starts to realize that maybe things weren't love at first sight for them, which was a refreshing change.

There are parts of the ending that I enjoyed and one thing happened that annoyed me (no spoilers), but all in all, I was pretty satisfied with the conclusion. I loved seeing more of the Alpha and Lyric's family and all her friends. Good ending to the series.

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Source* Publisher via NetGalley
*Genre* Young Adult, Dystopian
*Rating* 3.5

*My Thoughts*

Heart of the Storm is the third and final installment in author Michael Buckley's Undertow series. When last we saw our protagonist, Lyric Walker, she was being dragged down into the deepest part of the ocean by her nemesis Minerva, and her Rusalka allies. The story actually goes back and forth through several chapters before pushing ahead. There are chapters where we learn how Lyric was treated while being held by Minerva. Then, there are the chapters that focuses on Lyric's time after being rescued, and finding herself once again at center stage in the biggest play she's ever starred in

*Full Review @ Gizmos Reviews 02/15/2017

http://gizmosreviews.blogspot.com/201...

[Grace · Rating 2 out of 5]

Way to squander a good trilogy in the last 1/4 of the book.


1. Surprise pregnancy trope??? literally why? there was no reason. And the pregnancy timeline never made any sense to me.
2. What she decides to name that kid is stupid.
3. “sister from another mister”……
4. This reminded me why I try and only read books written by women because lord so many times I just thought to myself wow how obvious is it that this is a grown man attempting to write a teenager.
5. The way all the relationships work out in the end irritated me.
6. and this one is kinda a spoiler but THE BABY TAKES HER SPECIAL, PROMISED SAVE-EVERYONE POWER AND NOT HER???? she had literally been imprisoned and tortured and is still trying to save the world??? you give the power to an unborn MAN!?? piss me off

All in all: read the first 2 and then stop and make up your own ending tbh.

[Michelle Huss · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I enjoyed it, I couldn't help but feel that this finale to the series was a bit lackluster. Everything seemed to happen a little too fast without any "real" conflict (at least not when compared to the previous books). I did enjoy Lyric's journey, however, and the first half of the book alternating between current time and her three months spent underwater was paced pretty perfectly. The ending though felt anticlimactic and lacked the "wow" factor of the previous novels.

[Nova Syzygy · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was...interesting. I don’t know how to feel about the fact that Lyric got pregnant, though she is but a dumb teenager that didn’t think of using protection. I guess it just emphasizes her flaws.

Review to come later.

[Roxanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great series, tons of potential but the ending ugh was just not enough.

[Blake T]

Heart of the Storm is the third and final book in the Undertow trioligy. This book is just as good as the first and second books, so enjoy! In the third book 18-year old Lyric Walker is now the world's most wanted criminal. Yes, you heard me right, she is now the world's most wanted criminal. She is as weak as a crippled soldier, yet some how she is still clinging on to what happens to be her life. At the end of the second book, Lyric sprawls out over the beach with absolutely all strength drained from her. But in the beginning of the third book she is taken into Minerva's wicked grasp. Instead of quickly desposing of her, Minerva decides to spare Lyric's life... but barely. She is forced to hunt, catch, prepare, and feed the vicious queen. But then a Rusalka, who calls himself Huke, helps Lyric with all that is expected of her. Later Lyric finds that Huke is unlike any other Rusalka--he can speak English and understand humans! The secret is that Huke's power seeking glove enabled him the ability to understand and process human words and thoughts through his brain. Wait, that's not all, he also has ties to Lyric's brain to hear and feel whatever Lyric might be feeling. Together as a team they dominate the next few months until another casuailty occurs. This time it is not something that Lyric finds intresting. The deathly queen is ill, but this isn't just any type of ill, she is pregnant! And if the remaining Alfa find out, they will shed blood for the throne until they all die. So what will Lyric do? Will she help the queen, or will she use her chance and swim away? But that's not all, another species that could be possibly the only species on earth, are angry and will stop at nothing to kill every single human until they can produce new "children" of their own. I loved this book because of all of the action. It was as action-packed, as the greatest comic books made, yet still finds a balance to make it suspenseful. I didn't like this book because at some points it made me feel scared. This book is a lot like the Walking Dead series becasue it's scary and suspenseful. People who will like this book are people who like action, suspense, romance, and comedy. Have fun reading!

[Kassandra Patti · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book ending in a way that I definitely didn't see coming, but I still enjoyed it a lot! The ending was rushed. The war against the new creatures was short and sweet. Max seemed like a little cutie pie! I'm kind of sad that Fathom and Lyric aren't together I wanted to to have more of a connection that that they're parents but it works out fine. Bex is a bad ass from start to finish! I absolutely loved her.

[⎊Annie⎊ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the stuff was completely unexpected knowing how YA literature is about doing el delicioso sin protección. I’m always happy to get a family and more to know a girl chooses herself over everything.

The thing that bothered me was that Buckley changed the facility’s name from Tempest to Trident lol

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buckley does a good job wrapping things up with a nice epilogue of how things look a few years later. A great conclusion to the series.

[jakey · Rating 1 out of 5]

this is quite literally one of the worst endings to a trilogy that i have ever read! do not recommend! living in denial!

[Maya Dukhey · Rating 5 out of 5]

The ending of this book series is one of my favorites ever. Also I love Lyric Walker, she’s a real heroine!

[Noah K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lyric Walker has just finished defending the human race for a second time, this time though against the Rusalka. But her gift in return is getting captured by the evil queen of the Alpha "Minerva" and being dragged off to be killed in the Great Abyss. However a Rusalka named Husk steps in and reasons for Lyrics life, but in return Lyric has to be Minerva's slave. Lyric stays Minerva's slave for three months until she trys to escape while Minerva is struggling with a failed pregnancy. When Minerva finds out about this she is outraged, so much so that she battles Lyric to the death. Lyric and Minerva's fight goes all the way into the Great Abyss "aka really a volcano", where Lyric triumphs over Minerva, but in an interesting fashion. Minerva gets eaten by beasts that call themselves the Tartigrade, and claim that all the broken ones must be destroyed to make way for new children. Lyric does how ever end up escaping, but she can feel the Tartigrade slashing towards land with hopes to kill everyone who is broken. What will Lyric do next? Find out by reading Heart Of The Storm.
What I loved about this book was that it coveyed the message that no mather are great differnces we can still fight and live together. This story really made me feel suspenseful because Lyric has to over come so many obstacles. I would reccomend this book to those who enjoy action and romance. I would also reccomend this book to those who have read Legend.

[Monica Goodell · Rating 5 out of 5]

While there were a few weird things in this book, it was pretty good. The ending was a little lackluster, but overall, I enjoyed it.

[Audrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Undertow book series are my absolute favorite book series out of all the books I've read, so if you haven't read these make sure to read them. The Undertow series is about a girl named Lyric Walker who thought she was an average human being, but she is soon to find out that she is a hybrid. Part human and part Alpha. In Undertow 3 which is Heart of the Storm it has been a while since the attacks on Coney Island. When Lyric comes back to her family in the book she and the whole population of the United States don't have long until a group called the Tardigrade attack. Lyric and her other hybrid and alpha friends have to prepare the world for what happens next, but will they be able to teach the whole U.S. how to fight, fire guns, and how to protect themselves before the tardigrade attack and try to take over the world? You will have to read the series to find out!
I love love love this book and the books before it. These books make me feel all kinds of emotions when I read them. Sometimes I'm so happy I can't even read and other times I'm so frustrated I want to cry. This book has some fighting, and some romance in it. I think everyone will enjoy this book if they read it. If you want to start reading the series the first book is Undertow, and the second book is called Raging Sea. You can find all three books at our library at HCMS! Hope you enjoy this book as much as I did! Enjoy!

[Alexandria · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second book of this series was kinda slow for me. A lot of it irritated but, that may have been mainly due to the fact that the plot was based on decisions of a 17 year old girl. This book drew me back into the series though. Especially that twist in chapter 12 I did not see coming at all. I loved reading about the Hunting grounds and Lyrics time there the change in setting was nice. The epilogue was cute. Like most books I would love to read more about what the future holds for all the characters!

[Danilyn N · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lyric has come back from the dead, well not literally just she was trapped in the darkness of the ocean for 3 months. And when she comes back she comes back with a warning. A new enemy has arisen and they have to stop it. I LOVED this book!! It gives me the chills knowing that something big is going to happen. It has an amazing plot Line and the emotion it had in this book was overwhelming. This story,are me feel many things, sadness, happiness, excitement and etc. all those action romance and drama lovers out there, READ THIS BOOK! This book would put the Hunger Games to shame. This book will teach things you would never imagine.

[Rebekah Crain · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 out of 5 stars

It is with a heavy heart that I write this review because doing so means I've finished the book and therein the series. There will be no more installments because the Undertow series was a trilogy after all, and Heart of the Storm was book three. It was the culmination of a story that drew me in with the first page of the first book and kept me anchored until the very last page of this very last book. It was packed with excitement, horror, action, love, and even hope.

Book one was excellent and really got me interested in seeing where the author could take his idea, yet the ending left something to be desired. I assumed and had hopes that another book would follow to take up the slack; however, I wasn't for sure. Then book two came out (Yay!) and was pretty incredible, but the ending was a wham-bam-thank you mam cliffhanger setting things up for book three. So when it came down to it, my biggest concern going into this final installment was whether or not I would be satisfied with the conclusion Buckley came up with. You always want a book to have a solid ending, but especially one that the author is putting to bed after allowing you to grow attached to the characters and their storyline over several books/years. And though I had a few small complaints, I have to say that I was truly pleased with the overall wrap up of Lyric's tale.

Of all the books, I'd say Heart of the Storm packed the darkest, heaviest, most political/racial punch. Told through two different time perspectives- then and now, Lyric's story continued. New monsters were unleashed. And humanity and Alpha, as a whole, had to decide which wars were really worth fighting.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for introducing me to this crazy series three books ago and once again today. It's been a pleasure.

[Mircea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Alors que j'avais aimé le premier et le deuxième tome, j'ai été plutôt déçue par ce troisième et ultime tome.

Lyric revient après trois mois d'absence passée dans l'océan. Elle retrouve sa famille et ses familles et on apprend au travers de flashback ce qu'il s'est passé durant ces trois mois. En effet, une mission est donnée à Lyric, elle doit *roulement de tambour* sauver le monde ! Et oui, elle seule en est capable avec l'aide de ses amis.

Si j'ai été captivée par le début parce que j'avais hâte de retrouver Lyric et l'univers surprenant de Undertow, j'ai été rapidement confronté à l'écriture froide de Michael Buckley. Alors oui, j'ai déjà lu les deux tomes précédents, mais avec celui-ci, le manque d'émotions était vraiment palpable ! Surtout au niveau de la révélation "choc" du livre, très mal gérée par Lyric qui ne reflète absolument pas les pensées d'une adolescente de dix-sept ans. Alors qu'elle est censée avoir gagné en maturité durant ces mois passés dans l'eau, Lyric est une lâche à l'intérieur et préfère fuir en disant que c'est pour son bien alors qu'elle fait croire qu'elle est forte à l'extérieur. Les deux premiers tomes laissaient entrevoir une love story entre Lyric et Fathom mais avec ce tome, toutes mes espérances ont été réduites à néant.

La grande bataille que j'attendais durant tout le tome ne dure que pendant quatre pages et se termine bien trop vite à mon goût.... Quant à la fin... disons que j'ai eu l'impression que l'auteur voulait vite en finir pour passer à autre chose.

En conclusion, grosse déception, j'ai l'impression d'être passée totalement à côté de ce troisième tome...

[Ashton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love this series and the characters, but the ending felt too rushed.

[αλήθεια · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ending??? LIke???


Spoilers ahead.


You've been warned.














Again I say: the ending??? what???

Ok so I get that the author (who, side note, is a dude) was trying to make the whole situation with Lyric and Fathom, like, girl power type thing or something? Idk, but I SO did not like that even though Max was Fathom's baby, Lyric was just like "nope, I want to be by myself and raise our kid by myself"?? Like?? SHe kept saying it was impossible for them to be together and yet it really wasn't. She could have gone into the sea to live, or maybe Fathom could have lived on land or SOMETHING. But no, since she chose "me", Max has to live without a father and Fathom doesn't get to raise his kid. Anywhoooo the ending wasn't horrible ig, but I didn't like it.

Another thing I was confused about was Trident aka Tempest??? Like, in the first 2 books, the torture camp thing was literally called Tempest, and then randomly the author just? changed it? I was soooo confused.

Anyways the book was decent. I think it was a good book, and you'll probably enjoy it.