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Immortal Treachery #5
The End of All Things
Tarmun Vykers, the Reaper, has battled his way across time and two continents, toppling kingdoms and empires alike and killing untold thousands in the process. And he has never really known why. But he’s about to find out. And with this new knowledge must come a reckoning—with the Queen, who has manipulated Vykers every step of the way, with the Emperor, who would take what is rightfully the Reaper’s, and even with the gods themselves. It is time for the Reaper to do what he does best.
- GenresFantasy
461 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 30, 2019
12 people are currently reading
112 people want to read
About the author
Allan Batchelder
10 books194 followersAllan is a professional actor, educator and former stand-up comedian. In addition to Steel, Blood & Fire, he's also written plays, screenplays, online articles, dialogue for computer games, greeting card sentiments and more. He holds a Master of Fine Arts in acting from the National Theatre Conservatory and a Master's in Teaching from Seattle Pacific University. He is a huge fan of Shakespeare, Steven Erikson, Joe Abercrombie, Glen Cook, George R.R. Martin, Tad Williams, and R. Scott Bakker. Allan lives in Seattle with his wife and son, where he enjoys walks on the beach, reading in the garden and puttering around on his computer. Oh, and naps. He LOVES naps.
Allan is a professional actor, educator and former stand-up comedian. In addition to Blood, Steel & Fire, he's also written plays, screenplays, online articles, dialogue for computer games, greeting card sentiments and more. He holds a Master of Fine Arts in acting from the National Theatre Conservatory and a Master's in Teaching from Seattle Pacific University. He is a huge fan of Shakespeare, Steven Erikson, Joe Abercrombie, Glen Cook, George R.R. Martin, Tad Williams, and R. Scott Bakker. Allan lives in Seattle with his wife and son, where he enjoys walks on the beach, reading in the garden and puttering around on his computer. Oh, and naps. He LOVES naps.
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Allan is a professional actor, educator and former stand-up comedian. In addition to Blood, Steel & Fire, he's also written plays, screenplays, online articles, dialogue for computer games, greeting card sentiments and more. He holds a Master of Fine Arts in acting from the National Theatre Conservatory and a Master's in Teaching from Seattle Pacific University. He is a huge fan of Shakespeare, Steven Erikson, Joe Abercrombie, Glen Cook, George R.R. Martin, Tad Williams, and R. Scott Bakker. Allan lives in Seattle with his wife and son, where he enjoys walks on the beach, reading in the garden and puttering around on his computer. Oh, and naps. He LOVES naps.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 16, 2020
"What happened here?"
"I did."
After journeying with Vykers and his sometime-companions for so long, we finally come to some solid conclusions about our anti-hero and the nature of his world. We come in at Vykers at what may be his lowest, which would really be saying something. Not physically but mentally he seems at the end of his rope. Of course, nothing can keep a good... whatever he is, down for long, but this is a more introspective Vykers and one content to take less of a central role in some ways.
Alheria is a very satisfying villain. After seeing her move the chess pieces around the board from a distance through most of the series, here we get a much closer look at her motivations, thought processes, and planning. And there's a huge cast of characters returning from earlier entries as well as a few new faces. Vykers' tendency to attract all sorts of unusual companions like flies to wanton boys despite his rampant misanthropy is thoroughly lampshaded.
Besides all the character journeys there is a war going on, after all. The action in this last entry is suitably epic and more than a match for anything previously seen in the series, the momentum does not let up. My personal favourite scene though has to be the long-awaited sparring session between Vykers and the Dead Un, Kittens (which one suspects Batchelder included expecting just such a reaction from fans of the overarching series).
"I did."
After journeying with Vykers and his sometime-companions for so long, we finally come to some solid conclusions about our anti-hero and the nature of his world. We come in at Vykers at what may be his lowest, which would really be saying something. Not physically but mentally he seems at the end of his rope. Of course, nothing can keep a good... whatever he is, down for long, but this is a more introspective Vykers and one content to take less of a central role in some ways.
Alheria is a very satisfying villain. After seeing her move the chess pieces around the board from a distance through most of the series, here we get a much closer look at her motivations, thought processes, and planning. And there's a huge cast of characters returning from earlier entries as well as a few new faces. Vykers' tendency to attract all sorts of unusual companions like flies to wanton boys despite his rampant misanthropy is thoroughly lampshaded.
Besides all the character journeys there is a war going on, after all. The action in this last entry is suitably epic and more than a match for anything previously seen in the series, the momentum does not let up. My personal favourite scene though has to be the long-awaited sparring session between Vykers and the Dead Un, Kittens (which one suspects Batchelder included expecting just such a reaction from fans of the overarching series).
June 19, 2020
We join Tarmun Vykers for his bloodiest quest yet– ending the cycle of godly contest that has long subjected humanity to eons of hapless slaughter. Rising from the revelations of the last book, Vykers finds his destiny in the maw of slaughter itself, in doing so learns the nature of reality, himself, and the place of humanity itself in the designs of the created cosmos. What he learns can only be rectified by blood, and so the Reaper reaps; the final battle has come, and Vykers has a key part to play...
The events of the immortal treachery series come to a fiery end as the emperor Mendis bears down upon the city of Lunnessfor with an army the size of which the world has never seen before. United against him comes every fighting force the rest of the world can throw at him, a ragtag conglomerate of giants, svarren, and the forces of the very forests themselves, keen on repelling the invader from the last stanchion of humanity left upon the war-torn continent. We follow Long Pete, Kittins, and others as they desperately get their city into fighting shape, hindered by the clandestine machinations of the goddess-queen, Alheria herself, intent on turning events to her own, mysterious ends. All forces told, we are left with a battle of proportions truly Epic, truly fantasy, and truly grim-dark. With a cinematic, satisfying close for the Reaper himself, The End of All Things is a must-read for any fan of Batchelder or the Immortal Treachery series.
The events of the immortal treachery series come to a fiery end as the emperor Mendis bears down upon the city of Lunnessfor with an army the size of which the world has never seen before. United against him comes every fighting force the rest of the world can throw at him, a ragtag conglomerate of giants, svarren, and the forces of the very forests themselves, keen on repelling the invader from the last stanchion of humanity left upon the war-torn continent. We follow Long Pete, Kittins, and others as they desperately get their city into fighting shape, hindered by the clandestine machinations of the goddess-queen, Alheria herself, intent on turning events to her own, mysterious ends. All forces told, we are left with a battle of proportions truly Epic, truly fantasy, and truly grim-dark. With a cinematic, satisfying close for the Reaper himself, The End of All Things is a must-read for any fan of Batchelder or the Immortal Treachery series.
February 2, 2022
Wow! That is all I have to say about this final instalment of the Immortal Treachery series! The Reaper and Kittens (I always liked the name for that character, especially as he is far from anything close to resembling his nickname) finally go at it in a sparring session. I was looking forward to that scene and it did not disappoint. The book tied all the knots together in an intricately woven way that held my attention all the way through. I couldn't put the book down and my suspicions (leading from bok 2 all the way to now) were correct. The other characters took me by surprise, but as for The Reaper, I suspected there was something a little more to him than just being an incredible swordmaster. Brilliant book and what an epic series! I was so happy when this book was released. Do yourself a favour and pick up this series! You certainly won't be disappointed.
February 11, 2023
Fun read!
Fun read! I read all 5 of Mr.Batchelder's 'Immortal Treachery' books, back to back. The characters are layered and interesting. I did have a bit of trouble keeping the myriad of characters straight, but that may be a fault of my learning style. I would heartily recommend the series to fellow Fantasy lovers, especially those like me, who love digging in to a long series. (This is Laurie Barnett, borrowing her husband Robert's Kindle, and he's happy to finally get it back!).
Fun read! I read all 5 of Mr.Batchelder's 'Immortal Treachery' books, back to back. The characters are layered and interesting. I did have a bit of trouble keeping the myriad of characters straight, but that may be a fault of my learning style. I would heartily recommend the series to fellow Fantasy lovers, especially those like me, who love digging in to a long series. (This is Laurie Barnett, borrowing her husband Robert's Kindle, and he's happy to finally get it back!).
February 25, 2021
Great conclusion of an excellent series.
I really appreciated the relationships developed between the main characters.
Even if they can't actually be called the good guys and the story takes place in a grim and violent world, I loved the camaraderie and the friendship between them.
If you like books which are epic, grim, full of fighting and magic and with flawed heroes, this series will not disappoint you.
I really appreciated the relationships developed between the main characters.
Even if they can't actually be called the good guys and the story takes place in a grim and violent world, I loved the camaraderie and the friendship between them.
If you like books which are epic, grim, full of fighting and magic and with flawed heroes, this series will not disappoint you.
January 27, 2020
One of my favorite series!
I've been waiting for this book. Still a great read as the previous books. I was supposed to receive a notification from Amazon when this book was released....... I enjoyed reading from beginning to the end.
I've been waiting for this book. Still a great read as the previous books. I was supposed to receive a notification from Amazon when this book was released....... I enjoyed reading from beginning to the end.
December 23, 2020
It took me again some time to get into this one. There was just too much time in between reading books. I had the same problem with book four, and now again I couldn't remember much about previous events and where the story ended. This made it difficult to really delve into it. I was already 25% into the book before I began to feel more comfortable. In the end I enjoyed the book but it wasn't the strongest one in the series.
The story picks up at the point where Vykers is on the other side of the world. He returns to the Emperor's City where he killed everyone in the previous installment with the magical axe he received from Long Pete. Here he picks up more details about his history. As he seeks a way to get back to his homeland, and as the story progresses, he gets to know new characters, and more importantly finally learns about the ultimate goal of the Queen (Alheria).
Meanwhile there is still a war raging and the army of the Emperor is still laying a siege on Lunnesfor. The Emperor himself is still locked up in another city after events in book four. When this city is attacked by an army of giants under the lead of Beesmarch, they finally get to conquer the opposition and find the Emperor locked up. They initally keep him captured as they think he can still be of use to end the siege of Lunesfor and the war in general. It's however the return of Vykers that changes these plans; it's with the unlikely help from Vykers that the Emperor is finally freed from the giants and returned to his army. The Emperor starts to plan his next steps to finally conquer the continent and kill of Vykers. But Vykers himself has other plans off course.
With all the big players back on the same continent and at Lunesfor, with Alheria having all her pawns in place, with Long Peter (Magnus) there, and the knowledge of Alheria's ultimate goal, the story slowly moves to it's final conclusion. It's only in the final pages that we learn who will be the final winner of the Contest.
Conclusion:
The story contains again some very good battle scenes and skirmishes, a lot of blood and off course a lot of Vykers. But I never felt that it reached the same quality of previous books. The plotting didn't seem perfectly done and I'm left with a feeling that the end result could have been better.
I also feel that some of the new characters didn't bring enough to the story to really introduce them. Others however, some favourties of mine, could have been given a bigger role to play. A lot of the battles were very stretched, which I liked, but the battle that truly mattered between Alheria and Mahnus, was resolved too quickly. In the end I still liked the book, but not as much as I hoped I would.
Rating: 7.5 / 10
The overall series I'm giving a 7.9 / 10
I liked the first three books best (8 / 10), then book 4 (7.8 / 10) and unfortunately this one the least.
The story picks up at the point where Vykers is on the other side of the world. He returns to the Emperor's City where he killed everyone in the previous installment with the magical axe he received from Long Pete. Here he picks up more details about his history. As he seeks a way to get back to his homeland, and as the story progresses, he gets to know new characters, and more importantly finally learns about the ultimate goal of the Queen (Alheria).
Meanwhile there is still a war raging and the army of the Emperor is still laying a siege on Lunnesfor. The Emperor himself is still locked up in another city after events in book four. When this city is attacked by an army of giants under the lead of Beesmarch, they finally get to conquer the opposition and find the Emperor locked up. They initally keep him captured as they think he can still be of use to end the siege of Lunesfor and the war in general. It's however the return of Vykers that changes these plans; it's with the unlikely help from Vykers that the Emperor is finally freed from the giants and returned to his army. The Emperor starts to plan his next steps to finally conquer the continent and kill of Vykers. But Vykers himself has other plans off course.
With all the big players back on the same continent and at Lunesfor, with Alheria having all her pawns in place, with Long Peter (Magnus) there, and the knowledge of Alheria's ultimate goal, the story slowly moves to it's final conclusion. It's only in the final pages that we learn who will be the final winner of the Contest.
Conclusion:
The story contains again some very good battle scenes and skirmishes, a lot of blood and off course a lot of Vykers. But I never felt that it reached the same quality of previous books. The plotting didn't seem perfectly done and I'm left with a feeling that the end result could have been better.
I also feel that some of the new characters didn't bring enough to the story to really introduce them. Others however, some favourties of mine, could have been given a bigger role to play. A lot of the battles were very stretched, which I liked, but the battle that truly mattered between Alheria and Mahnus, was resolved too quickly. In the end I still liked the book, but not as much as I hoped I would.
Rating: 7.5 / 10
The overall series I'm giving a 7.9 / 10
I liked the first three books best (8 / 10), then book 4 (7.8 / 10) and unfortunately this one the least.
November 15, 2019
Quick review.
Beginning/middle of the book just drags along, very little of actual importance occurs until around halfway into the book, where things start to pick up and the characters and plot lines begin to converge. This promising build up is unfortunately for naught due to an utterly anti-climatic showdown of the Alheria/Mahnus/Empire conflict and a truly awful and unsatisfying conclusion.
Many characters and plot lines are either forgotten or given unsatisfactory explanation. Nothing of note is done with Janks, what happened to Esmine/Mardine is an absolute cop-out, Aoife does nothing but show up when other characters enter a forest area and go 'hey i still exist lol' and then briefly shows up in the final battle to again remind you she still exists. Yendor actually does nothing, literally nothing in the entire book. Rem does nothing. Omeyo and the Woman's paragraphs could've been completely deleted from the story and just replaced with a few lines about some generic Svarren causing havoc and nothing would be lost. Trinta, the Alchemists companion, doesn't do anything. Scab is a more boring version of the Historian whose purpose is rendered largely pointless by the existence of Dragon's Bile. Overall there are far too many characters who do nothing/extremely little, yet are still constantly written in for some reason.
Any character of note that isn't mentioned in the above paragraph actually does something interesting, or has interesting developments, however some of their conclusions are still unsatisfying (looking at you Spirk).
I don't know if the previous books got editing updates, but as of the version I read on my kindle (15/11/2019) the editing in this entry is atrocious, multiple times throughout the book a word seems to have been auto-corrected wrongly, such as reading 'he mind kill us' instead of 'he might kill us'. Occasionally, in the first half of the book, two words will run on together without a space ('he raisedhis mug for another round' as an example). However, in the final 50-40% of the read this particular error shows up constantly, cropping up every few pages.
I very much got the impression from this book that the author lost interest in writing the Immortal Treachery with the completion of the previous book, The Abject God, but felt obligated to finish the series.
Beginning/middle of the book just drags along, very little of actual importance occurs until around halfway into the book, where things start to pick up and the characters and plot lines begin to converge. This promising build up is unfortunately for naught due to an utterly anti-climatic showdown of the Alheria/Mahnus/Empire conflict and a truly awful and unsatisfying conclusion.
Many characters and plot lines are either forgotten or given unsatisfactory explanation. Nothing of note is done with Janks, what happened to Esmine/Mardine is an absolute cop-out, Aoife does nothing but show up when other characters enter a forest area and go 'hey i still exist lol' and then briefly shows up in the final battle to again remind you she still exists. Yendor actually does nothing, literally nothing in the entire book. Rem does nothing. Omeyo and the Woman's paragraphs could've been completely deleted from the story and just replaced with a few lines about some generic Svarren causing havoc and nothing would be lost. Trinta, the Alchemists companion, doesn't do anything. Scab is a more boring version of the Historian whose purpose is rendered largely pointless by the existence of Dragon's Bile. Overall there are far too many characters who do nothing/extremely little, yet are still constantly written in for some reason.
Any character of note that isn't mentioned in the above paragraph actually does something interesting, or has interesting developments, however some of their conclusions are still unsatisfying (looking at you Spirk).
I don't know if the previous books got editing updates, but as of the version I read on my kindle (15/11/2019) the editing in this entry is atrocious, multiple times throughout the book a word seems to have been auto-corrected wrongly, such as reading 'he mind kill us' instead of 'he might kill us'. Occasionally, in the first half of the book, two words will run on together without a space ('he raisedhis mug for another round' as an example). However, in the final 50-40% of the read this particular error shows up constantly, cropping up every few pages.
I very much got the impression from this book that the author lost interest in writing the Immortal Treachery with the completion of the previous book, The Abject God, but felt obligated to finish the series.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews