This is the last book of the John Cleaver series and I had such high hopes for all six of them. Maybe that's why I wasn't able to enjoy the books too much; I expected too much from them. Like everything else, if I start something, I must finish it, and that is the only reason I stuck it to the end with this series.
As I said before, I wasn't expecting much from this book due to the decline in delight of the last few books. Once again, the first few hundred pages were unnecessary. I get that John has to go through things to get to the final destination of his journey, but it took way too long.
There were two instances of dialogue that I was really bothered by. The first being when John met Jasmyn's friends at the pizza parlor just because it was useless dialogue and none of those people turned out to be useful to the plot anyway. The fact that it was multiple pages long just seemed so unnecessary and could've been shortened or taken out completely. The second dialogue that I wasn't thrilled about was at the end of the book (view spoiler)[when the "Queen of Demons" (called that "plot twist") and John were trying to compromise. It was very cheesy and unrealistic in that she has been set in her ways for hundreds and thousands of years, but then this one boy comes along and in the span of a few minutes convinces her to stop killing altogether and stop making Withered. In my opinion she wouldn't have given up that easily (hide spoiler)] .
I did notice that the second book's killer is based on a real life serial killer and it makes me wonder if each book is based on a killer. I'll look for the killer and add it in the comments for reference to draw your own conclusions. It's a cool thought (similar to Criminal Minds), however unfortunate that these weren't the idea of the author which is fine, but they are so similar there appears to be no creativity added.
I am bummed about the ending of the book. It was too happy for what the rest of the series was trying to portray. It was very much summed up and the reunion was kind of cliched. I was expecting John to either die (serial killers usually cannot control their urges - even though John was able to for so long, he has killed and it would be hard for him to go cold turkey) or that he would escape to somewhere in seclusion of all the people he knows so he can only live away from society and lives off the land or moves elsewhere and continues to kill (Dexter style because people can be as evil as these Withered).
All in all, I am glad the series is over so I am able to move on from these books.
As I said before, I wasn't expecting much from this book due to the decline in delight of the last few books. Once again, the first few hundred pages were unnecessary. I get that John has to go through things to get to the final destination of his journey, but it took way too long.
There were two instances of dialogue that I was really bothered by. The first being when John met Jasmyn's friends at the pizza parlor just because it was useless dialogue and none of those people turned out to be useful to the plot anyway. The fact that it was multiple pages long just seemed so unnecessary and could've been shortened or taken out completely.
The second dialogue that I wasn't thrilled about was at the end of the book (view spoiler)[when the "Queen of Demons" (called that "plot twist") and John were trying to compromise. It was very cheesy and unrealistic in that she has been set in her ways for hundreds and thousands of years, but then this one boy comes along and in the span of a few minutes convinces her to stop killing altogether and stop making Withered. In my opinion she wouldn't have given up that easily (hide spoiler)] .
I did notice that the second book's killer is based on a real life serial killer and it makes me wonder if each book is based on a killer. I'll look for the killer and add it in the comments for reference to draw your own conclusions. It's a cool thought (similar to Criminal Minds), however unfortunate that these weren't the idea of the author which is fine, but they are so similar there appears to be no creativity added.
I am bummed about the ending of the book. It was too happy for what the rest of the series was trying to portray. It was very much summed up and the reunion was kind of cliched. I was expecting John to either die (serial killers usually cannot control their urges - even though John was able to for so long, he has killed and it would be hard for him to go cold turkey) or that he would escape to somewhere in seclusion of all the people he knows so he can only live away from society and lives off the land or moves elsewhere and continues to kill (Dexter style because people can be as evil as these Withered).
All in all, I am glad the series is over so I am able to move on from these books.