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The Wizard of 4th Street #9
The Last Wizard
The Runestones' Avatars -- Wyrdrune, Kira, Angelo, and Slade -- are finallybacked by the entire military in their war against the necromantic Dark Ones...but it may be too little, and far too late.
For on a dragon-infested peak, Talon, the most brilliant of the evil immortals, has already captured all the surviving Dark Ones. Here near Tucson he leeches their life force to empower a cult of sorcerous assassins programmed to launch a worldwide slaughter spree. And each murder feeds Talon, giving him more power than the spirits and the Runestones.
The Avatars think they're battling an evil wizard. But they're about to face a mad god...
For on a dragon-infested peak, Talon, the most brilliant of the evil immortals, has already captured all the surviving Dark Ones. Here near Tucson he leeches their life force to empower a cult of sorcerous assassins programmed to launch a worldwide slaughter spree. And each murder feeds Talon, giving him more power than the spirits and the Runestones.
The Avatars think they're battling an evil wizard. But they're about to face a mad god...
- GenresFantasyUrban Fantasy
234 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1997
5 people are currently reading
106 people want to read
About the author
Simon Hawke
90 books238 followersAlso published as J.D. Masters.
He was born Nicholas Valentin Yermakov, but began writing as Simon Hawke in 1984 and later changed his legal name to Hawke. He has also written near future adventure novels under the penname "J. D. Masters" and mystery novels.
He was born Nicholas Valentin Yermakov, but began writing as Simon Hawke in 1984 and later changed his legal name to Hawke. He has also written near future adventure novels under the penname "J. D. Masters" and mystery novels.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 19, 2020
Non spoilers: I read this while series and I'd say this is a decent conclusion to it. It wrapped up fine, and this particular book had some good moments.
Would I recommend this series? Ummm. They're quick reads and if you understand what they are, you could do worse, I guess.
Catseye Gomez is my favorite and you can read it more or less with no background, so maybe just read that one. Santa Fe is second best, avoid Wizard 0 like the plague.
Now for more specifics:
This book FINALLY gets back to having a little more interpersonal moments between the main characters. When Wyrdrune and Kira are like "we never talk anymore" it was like god, thank you for remembering they're characters again. So many of the books just turned into all action, so that was a nice return. Makepeace got to be more than a "not that kind of fairy" joke for once. However, other characters are totally dropped despite showing up, like the Gypsy (I know).
The overall plot is ok. Talon's plan is thoughtful enough and different from the previous ones, though he was really too similar to Beladon, personality-wise. It might have been cooler for them to work together and then have a final betrayal but whatever.
A BIG problem is the Rafe character. It is just some yikes material, calling a big black guy a brute and hulk is sketchy at least, having him become mentally enslaved and basically in the sunken place is uncomfortable but plot-relevant, however, having him think about how he wants to make white women crave his n***** c*** like, are you serious, very white author? I don't think you are qualified to write stuff like that, sorry. At least he gets to be a hero in the end and not die, and it's not like he's the only poc in the series (which is still fairly commendable for the time it was written), it just covers the whole character in an awkward film.
(And on that topic, why did this series, which could easily be a older teen series, just randomly have enough sex stuff/language to be too much for that age? It always stood out to me.)
One of the strongest aspects of this series, the interesting worldbuilding, is once again mostly absent. It sucks, New York in this is basically just contemporary New York. There are dragons at least, but otherwise everything is practically normal, and I sorely missed the description of a post-post-apocalyptic world that was being rebuilt with magic.
It's not really a wrapup but my final thought is: thankfully Broom was mostly not in this. What a grating character, the Jewish mother stereotype joke was funny like... once, if that. This series tends to repeat the same jokes ad nauseum but what a useless character!
These are kinda scattershot thoughts but idk it's worth putting more time into. These are flawed books with a cool premise that falls short more often than not, and this finale doesn't buck the trend.
Would I recommend this series? Ummm. They're quick reads and if you understand what they are, you could do worse, I guess.
Catseye Gomez is my favorite and you can read it more or less with no background, so maybe just read that one. Santa Fe is second best, avoid Wizard 0 like the plague.
Now for more specifics:
This book FINALLY gets back to having a little more interpersonal moments between the main characters. When Wyrdrune and Kira are like "we never talk anymore" it was like god, thank you for remembering they're characters again. So many of the books just turned into all action, so that was a nice return. Makepeace got to be more than a "not that kind of fairy" joke for once. However, other characters are totally dropped despite showing up, like the Gypsy (I know).
The overall plot is ok. Talon's plan is thoughtful enough and different from the previous ones, though he was really too similar to Beladon, personality-wise. It might have been cooler for them to work together and then have a final betrayal but whatever.
A BIG problem is the Rafe character. It is just some yikes material, calling a big black guy a brute and hulk is sketchy at least, having him become mentally enslaved and basically in the sunken place is uncomfortable but plot-relevant, however, having him think about how he wants to make white women crave his n***** c*** like, are you serious, very white author? I don't think you are qualified to write stuff like that, sorry. At least he gets to be a hero in the end and not die, and it's not like he's the only poc in the series (which is still fairly commendable for the time it was written), it just covers the whole character in an awkward film.
(And on that topic, why did this series, which could easily be a older teen series, just randomly have enough sex stuff/language to be too much for that age? It always stood out to me.)
One of the strongest aspects of this series, the interesting worldbuilding, is once again mostly absent. It sucks, New York in this is basically just contemporary New York. There are dragons at least, but otherwise everything is practically normal, and I sorely missed the description of a post-post-apocalyptic world that was being rebuilt with magic.
It's not really a wrapup but my final thought is: thankfully Broom was mostly not in this. What a grating character, the Jewish mother stereotype joke was funny like... once, if that. This series tends to repeat the same jokes ad nauseum but what a useless character!
These are kinda scattershot thoughts but idk it's worth putting more time into. These are flawed books with a cool premise that falls short more often than not, and this finale doesn't buck the trend.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 7, 2017
Talon may be the youngest of the Dark Ones, but he's been scheming for centuries. And with all his opposition whittled away---by the Council, and their human Avatars---the time has come at last to strike. The Avatars have no idea the full extent of his plans. Even the human government, with all its resources, can't provide more than a speed bump. It will be a battle of power Talon fully intends to win . . .
This was probably the worst place to start the series, but I didn't realize HOW many books came before it until after I finished. And this was the only one I had on hand anyway, so, take my thoughts with that in mind.
If it sounds like I'm seeing the plot more through Talon than anyone else, that's because he was not only the easiest character to latch on to, but the most consistent one. The actual Avatars themselves got a boatload of backstory but not much present-day action, so they weren't all that interesting. The old professor was amusing, but he also doesn't contribute a whole lot until the end. So Talon drove most of the story, as we get to see his schemes unfold.
Actually Rafe was my favorite character. Rafe understands well enough how the world works, and he can suss out Talon's agenda enough to refuse to have any part of it. He's maniacally single-minded about that, and it's his will against Talon. And I love how the end of that plays out (although I don't buy Rafe's ultimate decision about what he'll do . . . he seems wasted on something that won't let him do more with what he already has).
I liked how tight the writing was, too. The descriptions are vivid and succinct, and the game of cat and mouse didn't often falter. Most of the slower spots were the backstories of the various good guys, which series readers probably already know and I found more confusing than relevant. So this person has that person's memories. Did it matter? No. So I don't really care about the whole sequence unless that's actually going to be important to THIS plot.
Overall, I found the world to be interesting, though I probably would've followed along a lot better if I'd found one of the earlier volumes and started there. If you've been reading the series, Recommended. But if this is the first book you're looking at, I'd try to start somewhere else, and rate it Neutral.
See my reviews and more at https://offtheshelfreviews.wordpress....
This was probably the worst place to start the series, but I didn't realize HOW many books came before it until after I finished. And this was the only one I had on hand anyway, so, take my thoughts with that in mind.
If it sounds like I'm seeing the plot more through Talon than anyone else, that's because he was not only the easiest character to latch on to, but the most consistent one. The actual Avatars themselves got a boatload of backstory but not much present-day action, so they weren't all that interesting. The old professor was amusing, but he also doesn't contribute a whole lot until the end. So Talon drove most of the story, as we get to see his schemes unfold.
Actually Rafe was my favorite character. Rafe understands well enough how the world works, and he can suss out Talon's agenda enough to refuse to have any part of it. He's maniacally single-minded about that, and it's his will against Talon. And I love how the end of that plays out (although I don't buy Rafe's ultimate decision about what he'll do . . . he seems wasted on something that won't let him do more with what he already has).
I liked how tight the writing was, too. The descriptions are vivid and succinct, and the game of cat and mouse didn't often falter. Most of the slower spots were the backstories of the various good guys, which series readers probably already know and I found more confusing than relevant. So this person has that person's memories. Did it matter? No. So I don't really care about the whole sequence unless that's actually going to be important to THIS plot.
Overall, I found the world to be interesting, though I probably would've followed along a lot better if I'd found one of the earlier volumes and started there. If you've been reading the series, Recommended. But if this is the first book you're looking at, I'd try to start somewhere else, and rate it Neutral.
See my reviews and more at https://offtheshelfreviews.wordpress....
March 13, 2025
I was going to give this four stars because there is a LOT of backstory and Mr. Hawke had some characters drinking “pitchers of dark Guinness stout” (they were brewing real beer when this was published, so there’s no excuse to NameDrop that swill), but I decided that this was a fitting end to a good series.
Except it isn’t, it seems. I only just learned of another published 26 years after this one, and another after that last month. Billy is not my favorite character so I am not sure when I’ll get to it.
Except it isn’t, it seems. I only just learned of another published 26 years after this one, and another after that last month. Billy is not my favorite character so I am not sure when I’ll get to it.
June 9, 2009
I don't know how I feel about this ending; it was amusing (or maybe ironic is a better description), but strange. I liked the series in general. The world was really cool, and I liked the characters. Parts of it were really strange (the love triangle) and it had a tendency to be repetition and unnecessary death.
March 6, 2015
The best in the series. The climactic raid on Dragon's Peak is awesome. I knew that there was going to be something go down between Brother Talon and Rafe at the end of the book. Satisfying conclusion to a great ride of a series.
July 5, 2015
A bit too graphic for me to rate the entire series 5 stars. This is still a great work, yet... Unlike the others.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews