Book #67: The Immortal Heights
The Immortal Heights is the final book in a trilogy I have enjoyed, but it's by far the weakest one. The first was fun and smart, the second was entertaining because I was invested in the characters, but this one... Oh man. So much Woe and Drama. It's too hard to take it all seriously. I've read plenty of fantasy novels in which characters fear for their lives and they work much better than this one. There's just so much dwelling on it that what's left of the plot is pretty bare bones. There's also way too much deus ex machina when it comes to explanations of magic and powers that wasn't nearly so overdone in the first two. The final confrontation with the villain, the Bane, who I liked so much in the last two books, was a huge, lame disappointment. All that build up for basically nothing. The only good thing about is that there is a major revelation about Iolanthe's origins as well as about Titus's father that is great payoff. It was hinted at in the first two so it was good to have it resolved. Overall, it's a weak novel. I only finished it because I wanted to finish the series.