Endsinger

The Lotus Wars #3

by Jay Kristoff

A TREMBLING EARTH
The flames of civil war sweep across the Shima Imperium. With their plans to renew the Kazumitsu dynasty foiled, the Lotus Guild unleash their deadliest creation—a mechanical goliath known as the Earthcrusher, intended to unite the shattered Empire under a yoke of fear. With the Tiger Clan and their puppet Daimyo Hiro in tow, the Guild marches toward a battle for absolute dominion over the Isles.

A BROKEN REBELLION
Yukiko and Buruu are forced to take leadership of the Kagé rebellion, gathering new allies and old friends in an effort to unite the country against the chi-mongers. But the ghosts of Buruu’s past stand between them and the army they need, and Kin’s betrayal has destroyed all trust among their allies. When a new foe joins the war tearing the Imperium apart, it will be all the pair can do to muster the strength to fight, let alone win.

A FINAL BATTLE
The traitor Kin walks the halls of Guild power, his destiny only a bloody knife-stroke away. Hana and Yoshi struggle to find their place in a world now looking to them as heroes. Secret cabals within the Lotus Guild claw and struggle; one toward darkness, the other toward light. And as the earth splits asunder, as armies destroy each other for rule over an empire of lifeless ash and the final secret about blood lotus is revealed, the people of Shima will learn one last, horrifying truth.

There is nothing a mother won't do to keep her children by her side.

Nothing.

Genres: Fantasy, Steampunk, Young Adult, Dystopia, Fiction, Science Fiction, Mythology

705 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 25, 2014

About the author

Jay Kristoff is a #1 international, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of fantasy and science fiction. He is the winner of eight Aurealis Awards, an ABIA, has over two million books in print and is published in over thirty five countries, most of which he has never visited. He is as surprised about all of this as you are. He is 6’7 and has approximately 12,000 days to live.

He does not believe in happy endings.

Reviews

[Jay Kristoff]

This was my editor after reading ENDSINGER:



This was my wife:



My crit partners:



My copy editor:



My agent:



Some kid I met in the street who looked like Toby MacGuire:



And this was me



So . . . enjoy!

<3

[Kat Kennedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stormdancer = Perfect

Kinslayer = Nerve wracking

Endsinger = Tears, snot and comfort food.

And we know this. We know this is coming and yet, and yet, and yet.




BREAKING NEWS:

I received these words of comfort from Jay Kristoff regarding the ending of Endsinger:

"I didn't kill the puppy at least."

With that, I hope you sleep well at night until November.

[Vanessa Migliore · Rating 5 out of 5]

¿Puedo darle 10 mil estrellas? ¿No? Pues vale, entonces 5 y mi más profundo agradecimiento por esta maravilla de saga. Pronto os hablaré más de estos libros en el canal :)

[Wendy Darling]

Hah, look at this placeholder description:

Final Chapter of The Lotus War Trilogy

Like Kristoff's not dead set on ripping our hearts out and making bloody soup with the remains.

[Sara Cantador · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5
La verdad es que ahora mismo sólo quiero hacerme bolita y pasarme el resto del día llorando en un rincón. No estoy muy capacitada para hacer una reseña coherente, pero lo intentaré.

Si Imperio ya me hizo daño, este libro me ha dejado destrozada. Da igual que se trate de personajes secundarios o principales, de animales o humanos, el autor consigue que todos y cada uno de ellos se queden en tu corazón de alguna manera. Y lo mejor de todo no es el cariño o la empatía que puedan transmitir, sino su actuación como mensajeros de una serie de valores que hacen llegar al lector. La trilogía está cargada de crítica social y ambiental, resalta el amor, la amistad, la lealtad y el respeto hacia cualquier persona con independencia de su procedencia, así como a la naturaleza y la necesidad de ser conscientes y responsables de los actos del ser humano.
Es una novela cruda, narrada con una prosa única y cuidada, que ataca directamente al lector. El autor no escatima a la hora de describir escenas cruentas, duras y desagradables, pero tampoco faltan la alegría, el amor y muchas escenas enternecedoras. Te enseña las dos caras de la misma moneda, lo peor y lo mejor de las personas, y pone en mano del lector la capacidad de elegir qué cara quiere representar.

Definitivamente, Las Guerras del Loto es una historia que me ha calado muy hondo, tanto por la profundidad de la historia y sus personajes, como por el encanto de éstos. En mi corazón siempre habrá espacio para Yukiko, Buruu, Kin, Hana, Kaiah, Akihito, Michi, Kaori, Hiro, Yoshi, Rhaii, e incluso algunos como Kensai.
Jay Kristoff, gracias por regalarnos una historia tan maravillosa.

[Repellent Boy · Rating 5 out of 5]

La llorera que tuve ayer cuando acabé esta trilogía no fue normal. No solo por la pena de acabar una trilogía que me había hecho disfrutar tantísimo, sino porque el autor no se casa con ningún personaje. Si tiene que matar, mata. Y eso, aunque sea doloroso, lo hace más real. Estoy un poco cansado de esas historias donde se abre el infierno en la tierra y todo es super peligroso, pero cuando acaba la historia te das cuenta de que prácticamente se han salvado todos los buenos y muerto todos los malos. No me convencen los finales de color de rosa. Y afortunadamente este no lo es.

No me gustaría decir nada de la trama, pues es una tercera parte, pero básicamente vamos asistir al nudo y el desenlace de la revolución. Los rebeldes llevan muchas décadas luchando contra el gobierno opresor del Gremio del loto, y por fin las fuerzas están igualadas. Aunque hay varios nuevos enemigos que nadie esperaba, y eso le añade un pro a la historia.

Los personajes han sido una maravilla. Los he adorado u odiado a casi todos. Pero fuera un sentimiento malo o bueno, era resultado de lo bien creados que estaban. Las relaciones entre ellos eran creíbles e intensas. Te importaba como evolucionaran estas y que se salvaran de la batalla. Pocas veces he llorado con muertes de personajes o sufrido tanto viéndolos en peligro como con esta trilogía. Yukiko, Michi, Hana, Buruu, Yoshi, Jurou, Akihito... Todos se van a quedar conmigo mucho tiempo. Lo sé.

Ahora sí, lo importante que saco de esta novela es la crítica al ser humano, a como usa todo a su alrededor como si le perteneciera, destruya lo que destruya a su paso. Como el ser humano está acabando con la naturaleza, como los bosques se reducen, los mares se contaminan, los animales se extinguen... Una realidad bastante más obvia en la época en la que vivimos. Aunque la historia también nos cuenta que está en nuestras manos cambiarlo, no dejarnos mecer por la masa y luchar para que lo que tenemos se mantenga.

Me da pena acabarla porque dudo que vuelva a encontrar más historias con personajes japoneses, hablando de temas tan actuales, pero antiguos como el ser humano, tales como el odio al que es diferente, a otras razas, a otras sexualidades, a otras creencias... O hablando de la mitología japonesa de los dioses y los yokais. Y todo esto con esa mezcla tan atractiva que aporta el steampunk. Es difícil que vuelva a tomarme con algo parecido, pero bueno, siempre podré volver a releerla. Vaya maravilla de trilogía. La única pega es que solo sean tres y no diez. Necesito más de esta droga <3

[Abigail · Rating 5 out of 5]

• Żadna książka nie bolała mnie tak bardzo jak ta - od pierwszego do ostatniego zdania.

• Spora część mnie umarła wraz z zakończeniem tej historii, a moje serce będzie krwawić jeszcze przez długi czas.

• Strata niektórych bohaterów z trylogii „Wojny lotosowej” była jak strata najlepszych przyjaciół, ale jednak najbardziej zabolało mnie, że to już koniec tej niesamowitej przygody i że nie będę w stanie przeczytać więcej książek z tego świata. Oddałabym wiele za kilka kolejnych powieści lub serię spin-off w świecie Shimy.

• A poza tym żałobę będę nosiła chyba do końca życia. Tak okrutnych rzeczy się po prostu nie robi, panie Kristoff.

• Ale to była cudowna przygoda. Niezwykle dewastująca uczuciowo, ale zdecydowanie warta przeżycia. Naprawdę cieszę się, że ta trylogia istnieje. Bo lepszej nie przeczytałam.

Po 6 latach nadszedł koniec i lepszego zakończenia sama bym nie wymyśliła. Dzięki panie Kristoff za ten rollercoaster emocjonalny, za śmiech, za łzy, za chwile triumfu, za epickie sceny walk, za genialnie zbudowany świat, za wszystkich bohaterów i za stworzenie najpiękniejszej przyjaźni, jaka kiedykolwiek istniała. I dzięki za napisanie najlepszej trylogii świata.

A za złamanie mi serca na milion kawałków nigdy nie podziękuję.

[Robin (Bridge Four) · Rating 4 out of 5]

And that pretty much sums up the roller coaster ride of this book.

People I thought would live died, people I thought would die lived. I mean along the way so many have been killed I knew that not everyone would make it to the end.

There are some great happy hopeful moments in this. There are also so fantastically tragic ones. Then there are the moments you knew were coming and still you weren't sure you were ready for them. I was not ready for some of them.

But the characters in this were never all good or all bad. There were shades of grey to everyone and some had the chance to rise to heroics and failed while others soared.

I really like how well thought out this trilogy seems. This last book really incorporated all the lore from the prior books so well to the big bad battle at the end for all the world.

At a signing I went to Jay Kristoff said (and I'm totally paraphrasing here)

I love writing the last book in a series. It's like you've built up all your sand castles and that is when you get to come in the kick them all down.

You could tell that this last book wasn't a chore and that in the end he had a plan. That this was the fun part of it for him. Even though there was a ton of death and destruction in this, I think he ended it in a fantastic way that was completely perfect for the story he told.

Possibly more details to come....but I really don't want to give away any of the surprises of it so probably not.

[Fernwehwelten · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Sterne | Pluspunkte: Episches, emotionsgeladenes Finale | Minuspunkte: Perspektiven, Längen

Ach, was soll ich sagen? Ich komme glaube ich immer noch nicht ganz darauf klar, dass die Lotuskrieg-Trilogie das Debüt von @misterkristoff war, welches einfach nur später ins Deutsche übersetzt wurde. Die gesamte Reihe ist so komplex und episch, wie ich es bisher kaum erlebt habe. Auch nach Abschluss von Band 3 ist sie eine große Empfehlung für Fans detaillierter und dystopischer High Fantasy, welche auch ohne viel Romantik auskommen darf. Obwohl ich zugeben muss, dass mir „Endsinger“ als Finale trotz aller überraschender Wendungen, freudiger Wiedersehen oder herzzerbrechender Verluste kleinere Problemchen bereitet hat.

Wie schon in den vorherigen Bänden ist nicht nur die Geschichte an sich sehr komplex – wir erleben diese Komplexität auch noch aus unterschiedlichen Sichtweisen. Für mich war das zwischenzeitlich etwas viel. Es kam vor, dass ich mich in den Perspektivwechseln verloren gefühlt habe und den roten Faden nicht mehr finden konnte. Gerade erst hatte ich mich in die Emotion einer Szene fallen lassen, da wurde ich schon wieder herausgerissen. Die Folge dessen: Das Gefühl einiger Längen, welche bei einem Schmöker mit ohnehin schon fast 800 Seiten natürlich merkbar ins Gewicht fallen. Zwar wurden diese Längen immer wieder durchbrochen von epischen Gänsehaut-Momenten, doch hemmten sie meine Lesemotivation trotzdem.

Ich glaube, dass dem Buch für mich als Leserin ein oder zwei Perspektiven weniger gutgetan hätten, um das Tempo zu erhöhen und die Spannung stetig aufrechtzuerhalten. Aber versteht mich nicht falsch: Auch so war „Endsinger“ ein rundum gelungener Abschluss inklusive der altbekannten, derben Sprache Jay Kristoffs, die mich auch in den düstersten Momenten zum Schmunzeln gebracht hat. Ein Finale, das diesem Titel würdig ist, mit einem Ende, das Tränen verdient. Ob vor Freude oder vor Trauer, müsst ihr selbst herausfinden.

[Mogsy (MMOGC) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum http://bibliosanctum.com/2014/12/26/a...

It is worth noting that I listened to the audiobook version of this, whereas I read the print or ebook copy of the previous two books in the trilogy. I mention this because it probably affected my rating. For some books the reading versus listening experience can vary greatly, and this is one of those cases. But more on that later.

First, I want to start off by saying that Endsinger is a great conclusion to the series. After all that buildup in Kinslayer, I was skeptical that author Jay Kristoff could wrap it all up in one more book because there’s so much ground to cover, but he pulls it off magnificently. There’s a lot going on here. Without revealing any spoilers, this is just a taste of what we’re dealing with – 1) the Shima Imperium is in chaos, practically tearing itself apart in a civil war, 2) in the last book it was revealed that the Lotus Guild is poised to take over the empire with a secret weapon at their disposal, namely a colossal steampunk giant machine called Earthcrusher, 3) the Kage rebellion is now in shambles and it’s up to Yukiko and her storm tiger Buruu to rally and unite them, 4) somewhere out there, we know there are more of these storm tigers but getting their help would be difficult as they all seem to hate Buruu due to something awful he did in the past, so there’s that mystery to consider, 5) there’s the whole ongoing “gaijin war” happening outside of Shima, and the captured prisoners who are enslaved and subjected to the most horrific fates, 6) and finally, the biggie – Yukiko will have to deal with a major bombshell that was dropped on us in book two. Not going to say anything more than that, except what she learned about herself is a life changing event which would stay with her both emotionally and physically forever.

Then of course there are all the little side plots involving the secondary characters, like Kin and Hana and Yoshi. Everyone is focused on working towards the goal of toppling Shima’s tyrannical reign as well as the evil, blood-soaked lotus industry that drives it. I won’t lie; there’s so much to wrap up here that I was half expecting the news along the way that this series would end up being a quadrilogy. And yet somehow, impressively, Kristoff manages to tie all of this together without leaving loose threads. That in itself is pretty amazing.

There’s a lot to like in this volume. For one, we have the return of some fantastic characters, and as always the relationship dynamics make this one a great read. The story itself is enhanced by the drama of friendships and animosities between characters, the most obvious example being Yukiko’s bond with Buruu, which is one of the highlights of this series. Seriously, it’s a partnership to rival all the classic tales of interspecies friendships through the ages. And obviously, no epic saga is complete without secrets and devastating betrayals – as well as redemption. Plus, there’s also love. We mustn’t forget romance and passion, even in war. This book has all that and more.

The story, however, has a few hitches. I was poised to write about the awesome twists and turns in this novel, until I stopped to really think about that. Sure, there were several hugely significant events that happened in this novel, but could I honestly say I didn’t expect any of them? Not so much. Unlike the last book, a lot of the “surprises” in this one were actually quite predictable, even when it came to some of the major character sacrifices or deaths. I also found the pacing of the storytelling frustratingly uneven. The beginning held me rapt, to the point not even a looming bedtime could have stopped me from listening, and indeed there were several nights where I stayed up late just to get an hour or two farther in the audiobook to find out what happened. Around the middle of the book though, I lost that enthusiasm. The story here started dragging its feet, and it’s a real shame, because unfortunately I never got the momentum back after that.

Now is probably a good time to talk about why I think listening to this in audiobook format affected my experience. I believe it had nothing to do with the narration (which was brilliant) and everything to do with the writing itself. While I think that in general Jay Kristoff is a good writer and an engaging story teller, he does have a tendency to sometimes go overboard with very flowery and ornate descriptions. This has been my experience with the last two books in this series, and in some ways that has prepared me well for going into Endsinger, knowing to expect some of these rough patches and passages. In spite of this, what I didn’t anticipate was how jarring and distracting it is when this kind of purple prose was read to me through an audiobook. As beautiful and detailed as some of Kristoff’s descriptions are, sometimes they go on for far too long, breaking the flow of the story.

I don’t think the effects were so noticeable when reading the actual print books, because my eye may have naturally skimmed over these big paragraphs and walls of text without me even being aware it was happening. This is not possible to do with an audiobook; instead, the audience has no choice but to be swept up into the entire text.

A talented voice actor or actress can make a book come to life (and narrator Jennifer Ikeda certainly delivered an incredible performance in this case), but hearing the writing read aloud can also sometimes clue a reader in to parts where the author is rambling, focused too much on the irrelevant, or losing his or her grasp on the scene. It happened more times than I would have liked here. It was doubly frustrating to have to constantly skip back a minute or two every time I realized my mind had wandered while listening to a particularly long section devoted to overly embellished descriptions.

Still, this trilogy is excellent as a whole, and I have no qualms recommending it to young adults and adults alike (though make that older young adults, as even though the first book started off as more YA, I felt the series grew progressively darker and more mature with each installment). Was the conclusion absolutely epic and completely worth it, though? Yes and absolutely yes!

[Rusty's Ghost Engine (also known as.......... Jinky Spring) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actual rating 4.5 stars
For quite a while I hadn't been doing a lot of reading on this not because it was boring or anything but because I'd been quite busy.

But first the cover of my edition was the prettiest of all the feeling of being transported to a far eastern setting was definitely there...

Heck it was there on my editions of the second and first books too
2

1

Many other people were saying they preferred these covers..




I can see how these covers make the story look more badass but that's not really what I go for in a book. I mean yeah I do like strong characters but I prefer a more darker mysterious feel in books like these which is what the top set of covers portrays while also giving me a feel of wonder for a far away place. These covers make the story look like a manga cartoon rather than a dark and powerful struggle.

So putting cover lust aside, there were a lot of lose ends from the last book that needed to be tied up for a satisfying ending. I along with a few others thought there was no way the author could manage this in one book (and secretly because I love the world and mythology in this book I was kinda hoping for more books in the series). Anyway the author does manage to wrap things up with a nice conclusion but because this series is very dark some strong good characters don't get their happily ever afters..

The writing style was as descriptive as ever with good pacing and good action. The cast of characters were as strong as ever and I really liked how no matter how bleak things were, no matter how many deaths they saw they refused to break and give up. I also loved getting to know more about some characters and we finally get to find out the origin and purpose of the Guild and blood lotus. That was totally unexpected.

The reason I decided to deduct half a star was because of the repetitive in depth descriptions of hand to hand combat. I found these a bit boring and thought they could have been edited a bit more but perhaps that was because I had big gaps between reading chunks and like I said I haven't been doing a lot of reading on this lately.

At the end we are left with a satisfying ending like I said but....... oh gawd I love this world like SO SO much and despite all the loss, despair and brutality I really was sad to be leaving it. I was hoping that the author would write another series in the same world but set generations later with a totally new cast of characters. But I also know more books will mean more problems and at the end things turned out pretty good for both the characters and environment of this world.... Oh well :P I would really love it if Jay Kristoff wrote more cultural high fantasies because he's really good at it! (Some people would beg to differ on that one because of all the claims that the Japanese customs in this series was used incorrectly, like I said I'm no expert but one thing for sure is that the author truly managed to create a really strong asian essence in his works which I loved not to mention how it felt real, correct customs or not).

[Lala_Loopsie [fire breathing B!tch Queen] · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short review, yada yada yada...

Endsinger tells the beautifully heartbreaking story of Yukiko and Buruu, her Arashitora "storm tiger", and how they save the world together. I won't go into details, but...

The trilogy is worth reading, as you can see. I would've given it 5 stars, but the Kin-Yukiko romance was tender, but far in between. But, given my past review of Kinslayer, i owe some apologies.

Kin, i am sorry. I should've trusted you. You made a promise, and i didn't believe it would come true. And Hiro, well, you ended better than expected, considering the circumstances Death!!. And most everybody rectified their mistakes.

And now, quoted by Yoshi, obviously...

“And at the last, with empty pockets and empty chest, he paid a visit to the man who’d taken all of it away. Because good or bad, favors are just like kisses. They taste sweeter when you give them back.”

[Hedoga · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pues sí señor... una buena Trilogía.

Una trío amoroso, historias de padres e hij@s duras, familiares perdidos, Princesas, heroínas, animales míticos que se hacen realidad, espadas, naves voladoras que funcionan con elementos que perjudican la naturaleza ...

Muy chula, de verdad y con un mensaje positivo en favor de cuidar más de la naturaleza que por momentos te saca ésa "sonrisa reflexiva" de "me estoy riendo porque es un libro, pero cuánta razón tiene' ...

Me alegro de haberla leído.

[Ferdy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spoilers

A pretty decent conclusion to the series, there were a lot of entertaining parts, great characters, and quite a few twists and turns. Unfortunately, there were also some boring and predictable parts in between all the goodness, not to mention the odd insufferable character or two.

-I didn't enjoy how long it took for things to really kick off, everything was so slow and there was way too much set up/build up to the last part of the story. Also, some of the action scenes were really dragged out and described poorly, I had to keep re-reading to make sense of what was going on.

-I liked most of the characters, they all had their own little missions going on and weren't just there to run around after the main character. Yukiko, Burruu, Michi, Kin, Akhito, Kaiah and Hana were all great. I despised Kairo, Kensai, and Hiro though, they were so pathetic and easy to hate.

-I was so pissed that Burruu, Michi and Akhito died, they were the best characters. They deserved happy endings more than anyone else, I guess they had to die though since their deaths would be sadder than anyone else's.

-I loved all the various relationships between characters, especially the friendships and bonds between Yukiko/Buruu, Hana/Kaiah, Yukiko/Hana/Michi, Kin/Shinji, and Blackbird/Michi. The romantic relationships paled in comparison to them (though they were still good).

-I didn't think I'd like Kin again after his backstabbing in the second book, but he more than redeemed himself when it turned out he didn't actually betray Yukiko or the Kage. Kin was a little irritating though when he got all upset about Yukiko not trusting him, after the stunt he pulled he shouldn't have been surprised at her thinking the worst. Only someone truly daft would have had blind faith in him.

-I loathed Kairo, she was a rubbish Kage leader, she cared more about her own pain and revenge than the greater good of her people, she was a bitter cow who could have easily caused many deaths, she was just lucky that no-one died because of her pettiness. What made her worse was her acting self-righteous, hard done by, and as if everyone else was in the wrong when it was actually her who was. She did pull through at the end and start to care for other people but it was too little, too late for me.. She was still an insufferable twit.

-Why the fuck did Hana have to lose her powers when she lost her virginity? I'm sick of all these female characters in fantasy type books whose powers are tied to their virginity - and if they ever deign to have sex they lose them. As if them having sex has ruined them or made them less worthy or less of a person. I've never read the same thing happening to a male character. Ugh, it's such sexist bullshit.

-I actually felt quite sorry for Lady Izanami. I didn't blame her for turning evil and bitter after she gave birth to Shima, died during childbirth, ended up in hell for some reason, and was then found by her husband who refused to rescue her just because she was no longer beautiful. Why wouldn't she be vengeful after all she'd done for the world only to be cast aside by her shallow husband? I was actually kind of rooting for her.

-For a YA book the world building was actually quite rich and detailed.

-I wasn't crazy about the multiple POV's, there were way too many, I would have preferred only a few.

-Liked there being a summary at the beginning of who all the main characters were and what they'd been up to. It really helped jog my memory of what happened in the last book. The glossary at the end was helpful too.

-The main issue I had with this was was the poor editing, so many parts were needlessly dragged out and messily written. I have to say I wasn't a fan of the writing in general, it was a bit too embellished and dramatic at times, and it made things unclear.

Although, I wasn't a huge fan of the first two books, I would still recommend the series as a whole (well, to YA fantasy lovers anyway) as the story and characters did end up being quite engrossing and engaging.

[shady boots · Rating 5 out of 5]

what's the point of anything anymore

[Justine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely the best book of the three. The series shows a nice, solid progression, and culminates well in this final installment.

It was possibly a tad longer than it needed to be, but it did provide a genuinely exciting and emotional conclusion.

[Kitty G Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the conclusion to the Lotus War series which I have been totally loving recently and a bit absorbed in, so I am sad that it's over now. I think that this is one of the coolest stories I have read recently with all the awesome ideas, the wonderful relationships and friendships, and the cool plot and world. Basically if you like the first two in this series then this is just as epic, if far more war like and brutal. There's a lot of very dark, sad and twisty moments where I didn't guess what was coming, and I'd have to say that this series just was so different from a lot I've recently read.

This is the story of Yukiko and Buruu in a world where everything is corrupt, everything is broken, and behind the scenes the ruling powers may not be who or what they claim to be. Yukiko and Buruu are unlikely friends, and they have a bond which I couldn't help but to adore because they helped one another and bounced off of one another so often in this story.
By far Buruu is my favourite character from this book, he's utterly stunning to imagine, visually beautiful, witty, kind, loyal and heartwarming. He's also feisty, bright, fun and firm when he needs to be, and you see him in all sorts of situations over the series where all of these qualities are displayed.
Yukiko is an amazing young woman too and she has a whole load to deal with over the course of this series so she too shows us various different facets of her personality and charisma. I have to say she's a wonderfully strong and engaging main character and I loved seeing not only her external battles but her internal ones too.
Together the two of them were just plain awesome and I couldn't help but smile or cry along with them (and yes, I do mean that one section of the book did make me cry!)

We also follow a whole load of other wondeful, fully realised characters such as Kin, Hana, Yoshi, Daichi, Kaori, Michi, Hiro and Akihito. Each one of these has their own struggles, their own stories, and they truly are well developed, complex and believable characters.
I love the fact that Kristoff has the ability to make us question the actions of not only the 'bad' characters but also the 'good' and that each character has their own minds, opinions and troubles. Everyone is convincing, everyone is complex, and each one is stick in a crazy world and story where so much is going on around them.
Some of those whom I most enjoyed seeing were Hana, for the self-discovery and excitement of her story. She really developed from when we first met her and I couldn't have guessed where her story would lead.
Also Kin whose plot and motives are some of the most complex and difficult to know which way to go, At times I adored him, at others I hated him, but always his tough choices and firm beliefs made me intrigued.
All of the characters are amazing, that's what I'm trying to say :)

Then we have the plot of this book and the plot in this one compared to the earlier is fully more bloody, sad, corrupt and crushing in all senses. There's a whole ton more magic, a lot more myth and legend, a few new cultures and a lot more clashing. The large majority of this book is a large scale war and battle and all of the threads which are leading into it, however despite the complex battling there's still a whole load of character development and realisation between all of this, and it was very cleverly woven at times.

I don't know if the ending was what I expected, but it was wonderfully done, and I won't say if it's bad or good (I don't want to give anything away as I think you should see for yourselves) but it made me think Kristoff is a firm favourite author for this series! I'm sad it's over as the world and the characters are so wonderful, but it is nice to read a series which is only 3 books for once (instead of 6, 10 or 14) and I will certainly be on the look out for future Kristoff books.

Overall a very satisfying and heart wrenching ending with SO much that happens I can barely begin to describe it. A very firm and highly recommended 5* read and more people certainly need to pick this series up :)

[Phrynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

The last in the series and it certainly ended in style! A huge battle where many favourite characters died and then a chapter which nicely rounded everything off by showing what happens in the future. Plus a really sweet last page which should bring a happy tear to most reader's eyes. Those things I liked. On the other hand the book was over padded with lengthy descriptions which occasionally made it boring and easy to put down. And I felt that Yukiko was lost in the busyness of the whole book. She became just one of the many characters instead of being the main feature. Nevertheless that last page made up for much and I reached for a tissue as a I closed the book.

[Leon Enciso · Rating 5 out of 5]

SÉ QUIÉN ERES
¿Y quién soy, poderoso Khan?
ERES YUKIKO

[Christina (A Reader of Fictions) · Rating 5 out of 5]

For more reviews, Cover Snark and more, visit A Reader of Fictions.

The Lotus War is coming to an end, one way or another. I’m here to assure you that Jay Kristoff’s trilogy doesn’t prat fall in the final volume. Endsinger is everything I hoped and dreamed it would be, only more. For the uninitiated, here’s my pitch: Kristoff’s fantasy is sort of like Joss Whedon combined Game of Thrones, and will make you laugh and cry in equal measure. That’s really the best way I can sum up the pain and wonderfulness that The Lotus War trilogy has in store. Now, at this point, I’m going to urge people who haven’t read Stormdancer and Kinslayer to head on out (though don’t miss the giveaway at the bottom of the review), because there will be spoilers for the first two books and this is not a series where you want to be spoiled. Any spoilers for book three will be within spoiler tags.


Alright, it’s just those of us who have read the first two Lotus War books. You know what that’s like. You know how Jay Kristoff stabbed his authorial pen into your heart and twisted it around. You’re probably a little bit afraid.

No, really. Endsinger is as bad as you’re expecting it to be, if not worse. By bad, of course, I mean absolutely gorgeous and utterly painful. Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to be chewed on by an arashitora? It’s probably pretty similar to the feeling of my heart. Just saying. Jay is an evil, evil human being who feeds off the tears of his readers.

Endsinger has probably the swiftest pace of the trilogy. By book three, shit is going down consistently. There’s no lull here, no calm. War has arrived. Sure, the battles haven’t yet begun at the very beginning of the book, but something intense happens in every single chapter. People often mention books leaving them breathless and this is one book where it’s actually true. At no point is any one of these characters safe.

One thing that I do want to comment on is Yukiko’s pregnancy. That was the main concern I had about Endsinger. Anyone who knows me knows that I loathe babies as a plot device. It is true that Yukiko’s new status as an impending mother is important in Endsinger, but it doesn’t change who she is. Yukiko remains every bit as brave. In fact, if anything, being pregnant makes her stronger and more determined to save her world. The twins do make others treat her differently sometimes but she is in no way weakened or lesser. I feel like society tries to tell the badass women in this series that having sex made them unworthy and they were like “I’ll show you what the fuck I can do” and that’s pretty much the best.

In some spots, Kristoff truly surprised me; there were twists that I did not see coming. Endsinger shocked me in being a book full of redemption: Kin’s a good guy after all! I did not see that coming AT ALL. Holy shit. And Hiro has some good left in him. Another surprise. The characters in this series are so dynamic, constantly changing and learning and growing and struggling. This is precisely why they’re so real to me and why it hurts me so damn much when they die. A character suddenly becomes amazing and you’re so happy for them and in comes Jay Kristoff with his murderous pen.

What’s funny though is that the one thing I was able to see coming with pretty good accuracy was the death. I was chatting with Meg (Cuddlebuggery) early on in my reading and I started guessing who would die. I was actually pretty damn on target. I’ve got you figured out, Kristoff. Even so, it hurt. Being fairly sure that X character was going to depart the world really didn’t make the actual moment any less impactful. Plus, though I saw the event coming, there’s never knowing HOW or WHEN and oh the pain. The takeaway of this review? Jay Kristoff is a mean man and I love it.

Seriously, this series is everything I want. A vivid setting with a diverse cast, magical powers, powerful female characters, incredible odds, characters all in a shade of gray, pain, and beauty. Sure, there are a couple of small goofs I noticed, like modern slang (ex. “fuck this noise”) or Captain-san (which is sort of like saying Mr. Captain), but honestly I don’t care about these things. I love the book so much, even when it’s punching me in my heart. Especially when it’s punching me in my heart.

I’m not really sure what else to say except that I love this and ouch over and over, so I guess I’ll stop. The Lotus War series is one of my favorites of all time. The prose is luscious, the characters nuanced, and the plot so good that it makes me swoon. Pretty sure I will love these books and characters for all my life, just like Yukiko loves Buruu.

[Rayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been close to a month since I finished reading this book, and I still haven't been able to completely fill the void this book left inside of me. The ending is absolutely heartbreaking - of course it is! If you expected anything else from Kristoff, either you've learned absolutely nothing from Stormdancer and Kinslayer, or you are unbelievably, almost psychotically optimistic, in which case, may the gods bless your foolish little heart because this book is going to rip it out of your chest, set it on fire, piss on it to put the fire out and then set it on fire again. Basically, the whole series can be summed up with:



But that's not the point, I'm trying to make. Yes, the ending is sad, but the thing is, I am really, really, really going to miss this series. I've championed this series since the beginning. My first really big arc as a blogger a couple of years ago was Stormdancer, and I still remember dancing and jumping in excitement right in the middle of the airport when I got the notification, and then spending almost the entire trip glued to my Nook reading a novel I fell deeply in love with almost immediately. This series had quite an impact on me, and as much as I fangirled about Stormdancer from the very first moment I knew about it, and as much as I would've expected to love it simply because it combined so many things I loved already, the truth is that I never actually expected for this series to mean so much to me.

I'm well aware that the series is far from perfect and I'm conscious of the very valid issues some other reviewers have pointed out. It might surprise you, but I've found myself agreeing with some very negative reviews several times, even though my ratings never lowered from 4 stars, and I've had some of my own problems with the series as well. But I think it takes a pretty amazing work to leave such an impact in your life, to make you love it so strongly throughout the years in spite of any problem you might have had with it, and to break you so thoroughly when the moment comes to say goodbye.

Endsinger is every bit as bloody, brutal, merciless, action-packed, exhilarating, freaking epic - and did I mention really fucking bloody? - as I expected it to be. Plus, it's also really emotional, almost overwhelmingly so, because, when the story already has your nerves frayed and overworked with all the action, tension and the anticipation for the horrible end that will inevitably come, why not go the extra mile and also fuck up your heart? Welcome to the world of Stormdancer, ladies and gentlemen.

This book is really big, but I can't say I was ever bored. There were some admittedly slow parts, but, for the most part, the novel kept up a really good rhythm, balancing really nicely the fast-paced action scenes with the necessary, slightly quieter moments of dialogue, development and romance. The story has a lot of twists and turns spread throughout the novel, and I was actually surprised at a couple of really earth-shattering ones that were revealed early on in the story. It quickly became evident that the pace the story has was absolutely necessary, and so were the timings of the big reveals. At this point in the series, the story had gotten a bit too complicated and the novel really needed its time to attend to each and every single one of its plot points carefully.

I think Kristoff did a really good job at addressing all of the issues that were raised in the earlier installments in the trilogy and balancing them with the complications from this one. It was a very complex story and it sometimes felt like it had way too many things going on at the same time, but the novel took its time to tie together (or brutally cut through with a freaking chainsaw katana - however you want to see it) all the threads in the story. All the different character arcs were given the necessary attention and a proper end, the mythology in the novel was explored to its full potential and finally brought to the forefront of the plot, and all the different layers of antagonists and conflicts collided in one explosive, breathtaking finale.

If you've read anything else by Kristoff, then you know how the writing works. It is elaborate, wordy, and prone to long passages of descriptions, but still very evocative and beautiful. Sometimes it got really close to being "too much", but I've grown to really love his writing style. Since the beginning, Kristoff set himself apart with a very singular writing style that's very rare in YA, but he's continued to develop it and has grown with each new book. And, of course, the world building is magnificent. Whenever I thought he couldn't possibly come up with something else, he completely surprised me, taking this gorgeous, ravaged world even further and introducing savage, ugly, beautiful, and unbelievably original things with each new installment.

I don't want to give away much of the plot, mostly because it'd be really hard to talk about it without spoiling it for others, but there were things I really, really loved, some things I didn't expect and enjoyed, others I didn't - and I'm being really generic here, I know. Okay, I'll try to explain myself without giving anything away. For the most part, I really liked the events that took place in the novel. Kristoff didn't waste a single moment in this plot and used every single word to develop the characters or the plot itself, which was great. But. I wasn't entirely sold on some of the events or plot twists, mostly because some depended entirely on highly unlikely chances, others on unrealistic changes of heart, and others were a bit too convenient overall. And then, there was this kinda offensive scene that involves a young woman's virginity and the widespread belief that she'd been ruined because she'd lost it. I was very put off by that. I understood its relevance for the plot, and I am very well aware that there was no bad intention behind it, but it quickly became my biggest issue with the novel.

Endsinger is a fantastic ending to a series that consistently delivered great action, amazing storylines and unforgettable characters with each installment. Stormdancer was a bold departure from mainstream YA, Kinslayer a risky, mature and absolutely compelling follow-up, and now Endsinger closes beautifully a really amazing series that pushed on the boundaries of multiples genres in YA and dared to be so much more than anyone could've ever expected it to be. The Lotus Wars trilogy was far from perfect, but, in spite of everything else, this series forged its way into my heart and it seems like it'll stay there for a long time to come.

[Isabel Ventura · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5/5 ⭐️

Y con este libro se termina esta maravillosa trilogía!

Tengo que decir que me ha costado acabarla, probablemente por haberme empeñado en leer los tres seguidos.
El primero fue fantástico, el mejor de la trilogía sin duda.
El segundo libro se me hizo más pesado y aburrido, dado que introduce a muchos personajes nuevos y explica muchas cosas.
Y este, ha sido un poco de los dos anteriores. Tiene partes más lentas y otras con mucha acción.

He reído, he llorado y me he entretenido mucho. He amado a muchos personajes y deseado asesinar a otros tantos jaja. Voy a echar de menos esta historia aunque ahora mismo estaba deseando acabarla.

Os la recomiendo! 🤍

[Giselle · Rating 5 out of 5]

*cries* that ending!!!' NOOOOOO I'm suffering from extreme book hangover.. *sniffs*

--

If I can describe this book in one word, I would have to say brutal. It’s the book we were all waiting for. The last book where we find out what happens when Shima goes to war. Who will help? What sacrifices will be made? Who will die? We all find out and I’m still trying to pull myself together to write this review.

As always with Jay’s books, he includes several different plot-lines with all the characters and ends each one with a cliffhanger. Do you know how many heart-pounding minutes I had to endure? You finish with one plot-line only to be bounced back into another where it’s almost always life or death. So many twists and turns that I didn’t see coming!

There’s also a bit more world building questions being answered, as well as a back-story to Buruu. We also find out what it means to be a “Kinslayer.” I loved the pacing and the intricate details of each character. And the crazy hoops that they go through, especially Yukiko. There was one part where I didn’t even recognize her. Her power for the Kenning grew ten-fold and we see it in use at the end. Eeps.

So much heartache! Endsinger punched me in the feels! Assaulted my heart and broke me apart. I loved it so much. If you are looking for a high fantasy Japanese steampunk read, pick up the Lotus War trilogy. I know you won’t be disappointed. One of my favourite reads of the year, hands down!

[Elena · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't even know how to feel right now.

[Jaime Arkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh. My. God.

Yup... that was my reaction upon completing this book. I was tempted to just leave it there all by itself and call it a day, but then I realized I was on the blog tour and I'm not sure that would work for a review.

I will tell you, I binge read the Lotus War series. I had had Stormdancer on my to read list since before it came out and for good reason, but I just kept not reading it...even though all the reviews I'd seen and read about it claimed it was amazing.

And I'm not going to lie... it really is amazing!

This series has everything... mystery, intrigue, romance, political upheaval, betrayal and heartbreak, all set in an incredibly fantastic world.

I'm not going to tell you a single thing about what happens in this book, but know this.... do not get emotionally attached to anyone or anything at all in this series. NO ONE IS SAFE.

Book 1 started a bit slow for me, so when you start this series, keep that in mind and please don't let that stop you. Setting the stage for all that happens is a necessity and Kristoff does an amazing job.

This series as a whole is not just Yukiko's story either. She starts the story in Stormdancer, but there are so many people we get to meet and grow to love in this series that it's hard to list them all. From Akihito to Michi to Hana and Yoshi to Buruu and Kin if you're like me, your feelings will be all over the place but one thing is guaranteed...



Don't believe me?? Just check out this review from Jay Kristoff himself.

If you haven't started this series, I can't tell you how much you need to. I can't believe I waited this long to dive in, and now that I've finished it, I can't wait to reread it.

Thank you to the publisher for an advanced copy, and thank you to Jean Booknerd for letting me be a part of the tour!

[Pingüina Fría · Rating 5 out of 5]

RESEÑA COMPLETA AQUÍ -> http://within-books.blogspot.com.es/2...

Tras leer la página final de "Última", y llorar -ese llanto feo, ruidoso y en el que las lágrimas te impiden ver- largo y tendido, me gustaría poder conocer a Jay Kristoff, abrazarlo, y agradecerle la historia que ha creado. Porque me ha cambiado. Porque me ha hecho abrir los ojos ante la realidad que hoy en día vivimos. Porque llevaré a Yukiko, Buruu, Kin, Michi, Kaori, Akihito, Hana, Kensai, Hiro, Daichi, Yoshi, Kaiah y muchos más en mi corazón durante muchísimo tiempo. Algunos como ejemplos y baluarte de conducta y comportamiento, y otros como ejemplo del tipo de persona que nunca quiero llegar a ser.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, so you know how sometimes when you have a fever and you’re all achy and you have the chills, your skin is like, really absurdly sensitive? And it hurts to wear clothes but if you take off your clothes you’ll be cold and get the fever shivers, so you wear the clothes, and you can feel everything, from all over your arm hairs and back hairs (and all the other hairs, too), and after a while all of the sensations together actually start to hurt collectively, because it’s just too much sensation? But you can’t stop moving because the fever is also making you antsy, so it’s either jiggle around and twitch because you just need to, meanwhile agitating all your fevered hairs and starting that whole process over and over again until you just want to rip all of your skin off and say BE DONE WITH IT, or go the other way and not move at all and stay perfectly still and die of boredom and also from all the ants crawling around under your skin because you just. have. to. move. You have to? All you have are bad choices, and everything hurts and you’re all alone and your eyeballs are hot and you can feel everything and it’s all horrible. It probably all ends in tears of one kind or another.

That’s what it was like to read this book.

Not gonna spoil plot details (until maybe the end), but here are some things I have to say:

(Regardless of spoilers, this review probably won’t make much sense to you if you haven’t read the first two books in the series, Stormdancer and Kinslayer).

1. This book made me feel like I was being pulled in two different directions in a variety of ways, which was ultimately exhilirating but emotionally exhausting. The disjointed, short chapters. The way that something BIG happened in every chapter. Everything was BIG after a while, which meant nothing was really big anymore (as we all know, when everyone is super, NO ONE WILL BE). The way the plot kept moving at all times, sometimes yo-yoing between good and bad events (but more often than not, between bad and very bad events). One second a character is finally getting together with another character, the next one is dead, and it turns out them getting together also ruined some other shit. Or a character dies. Or another character dies. Then another one! And then a revelation of bad things to come. And then another one! This was effective the first couple of times, but as the hits kept coming, I just got to the point where I was like, okay, stop. Enough. You’ve made your point. If you do it again, I’m checking out of this motherfucking hotel, and I am NOT coming back.

2. The pacing was off, making some of the big moments hit less hard. Also, in my opinion, Kristoff needs to work on the writing in those big moments, which is either overwritten or cheesy and cliched. Or both. I’d cite examples, but I had to return the book to the library. For me, the short chapters and the constant back and forth between characters in various plights had benefits and disadvantages. They push you through and give you an urgency to rush through the book and find out what happens, but they also leave you feeling tired, and don’t really give you a chance to inhabit the book. You’re too busy rushing through. Good pacing is all about contrasts. You have to have the slow and steady in order to appreciate the fast and furious (and vice versa). His sentences also tend toward the overdramatic, both in terms of the actual words chosen, and the way he constructs them. Subtle is not a watchword in this book. I wish he’d have pulled back on a lot of it, and I know there were multiple instance in the book where he would say something, and then follow it up with a sentence that was completely redundant, I guess for dramatic effect? It just made it feel overwritten. (Again, sorry I don’thave examples*.)

*I vaguely remember one sentence from near the end, after (SPOILER!) Buruu dies, sacrificing himself to close the doors of hell. Yukiko is thinking, and the narrator is narrating something along the lines of how “the hellhole that was just there is gone now, but there’s still a hole inside of her.��� And if Kristoff would have stopped there, it would have been perfect. But then he continues on with something like, “Where he used to be.” Which is a fragment, first of all. And second, we already got that part, it didn’t need to be said. It’s actually less moving the more words he adds on there, less powerful for having said it than if it had remained implied.

3. I’ve read interviews with Kristoff where he states he doesn’t believe in happy endings, but all the same, this book did deliver some cliched (and tonally off, almost cheesy) moments, that all tied in to a (relatively) happy ending. I say relatively, because I think we’re supposed to think the ending isn’t happy because, well, the book is basically one big blood bath. Almost everybody dies. By the end, I was so sick of it, there was one character who I thought was dead, and I was seeeeeriously done with the book. I was ready to write it off and be really pissed. It would have been the character death that broke the camel’s back, that finally pushed the book into TOO MUCH territory (which it’s probably in anyway . . . seriously, everyone everyone everyone dies). It’s almost like Kristoff thinks all those deaths and the horror and terror of the war disguises all those other moments where he totally gives in to the fantasy cliches. The speech that Yukiko gives at the end falls into this category, as is what happens to Buruu–both events feel manufactured and predictable, which sucks because up until the ending, this series was good at not doing the thing that other fantasy books have done before. Luckily for Kristoff, he backed off the character death and I was able to escape the book and still think well of it. Just, frustrating opposing things. Like, how there are basically two epilogues, and one was cheesy and pat as hell, tying up stuff that was implied and didn’t need to be said. And then one that was gorgeous and moving and made me cry. It’s maddening, frankly.

4. Disregarding all that other stuff I just said up there, the overall experience of reading this series (and this book) was a positive one. The fact that I was so mad at certain character deaths (and the way the series shortcut some endings into cheesiness) means that I cared enough about the characters to be upset. The fact that I was a little let down by the ending, and pissed at the ending, and lots of other things at the ending, likewise means I cared enough to be pissed and let down and lots of other things (yes, including crying, but those tears were cried under protest, dammit). The fact that parts of it were overwritten only stood out so much because the rest of the book was so solid. Kristoff may be exuberant as a writer now and overdo things a little, but I feel like if this joyful (and not so joyful) mess is what he can accomplish as a debut author, I kind of can’t wait to see what he’s going to do in the future. (I’m totally in for the sci-fi series he’s co-writing with fellow Aussie Amie Kaufman, due for release later this year, and for the weird fantasy/horror thing he’s got coming out the year after.)

[Marta Conejo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Me ha costado una eternidad terminarlo.
Creo que por varias cosas:
1. Muy lento, todo son comparaciones: tenía los ojos azules como el cielo despejado y su pelo azabache como el carbón abrasado estaba cubierto con una cinta del color rojo de la sangre y de las plantas de Chi en primavera media. Y creo que en este libro ha perjudicado mucho.
2. Demasiados personajes y muchos de ellos nuevos a mitad del libro. No empatizar y solo avanzas leyendo en transversal.
3. Meter una trama con un descubrimiento imposible de adivinar al 90% del libro... :/

[Jahi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aún estoy pensando como plasmar lo que siento. Ha pasado un día y sigo con el vacío que te deja leer algo tan bueno... como lo ha sido esta trilogía.


Inicié Última con temor luego de lo sucedido en el libro anterior y aunque tomé mis precauciones, y por ello fui muy lento, igualmente me tocó muchísimo. Hay una mezcla de emociones tras esta fantástica lectura; me ha hecho reír, me ha hecho enojar y me ha hecho llorar demasiado, más de lo que creí posible. Es así como esta se ha vuelto una de mis sagas favoritas y la recordaré con mucho cariño, pero... bueno, no todo es genial y a continuación daré mi opinión general de Las Guerras del Loto.

Aventurarse en estos libros es lo siguiente: saber que puedes ir a un buen ritmo, emocionarte, luego frenarte en un pequeño pantano e intentar arrancar con fuerza y, una vez vuelves a tomar carrera, no pararás hasta el final.
Y es que sí, cada uno de ellos tiene el fallo de que, en cierto punto de la historia, se vuelve un poco pesada y floja, llegando a costar que avance. Sin embargo, todo vale absoluta y completamente la pena. El mundo lo vale, los personajes lo valen, la historia lo vale y el final lo vale.

Yukiko es de las mejores personaje femeninos que me he topado, no solo su valentía cautiva, también su diversión y su lealtad. Es precioso cada aspecto que conocí de ella y el amor que llega a sentir por las personas que considera cercana, y eso incluye el fuerte e irrompible sentimiento de amistad que tiene hacia Buruu. Ellos dos son el equipo más hermoso que haya leído y los amo a ambos, de forma individual y unidos como siempre lo están. Tienen un vinculo inigualable, inquebrantable e insuperable.

TE DARÍA EL SOL Y LA LUNA, YUKIKO. TE DARÍA LA ALEGRÍA SIN FIN Y DÍAS DE PAZ, Y CIELOS AZULES BAJO LOS QUE REÍR Y CANTAR.
- Simplemente dame a ti mismo. Eres todo lo que necesito.
ME TIENES SIEMPRE.

Los personajes secundarios igual son entrañables, cada uno tiene sus puntos destacables y cada uno estará en mi corazón por su forma particular y única de ser.

Finalizo esto con alegría y lágrima en los ojos, porque están en una parte importante de mi vida.

Yo estaré contigo en los cielos azules y el agua clara.

[Skip · Rating 5 out of 5]

The stunning conclusion of Jay Kristoff's "The Lotus War" trilogy. The book starts slowly, although I do like the way he summarizes the prior two installments via a review of characters, recapping developments and stating where they are now. As momentum builds, there are more twists and turns than San Francisco's Lombard Street (and dare I say it, a Harlan Coben novel.) There are incredible highs and lows, both literal and figurative for an almost too larger cast of characters. Endsinger does not shy away from the brutal realities of war. There is action, adventure, love, sadness, humor, politics, betrayal, violence and horror. At the core remains the story of the unbreakable bond and love between Yukiko (Stormdancer) and Buruu (thundertiger) although similar ones develop in this novel. The backstory of how Buruu became the Kinslayer and estranged from his species is revealed, and Yoshi's loss and redemption is special. I was aghast with the Lord of the Rings-movie reunion towards the end, but Yukiko's message about humanity spoke deep and meaningful truths, and the last chapter was nothing short of epic. What is next Jay?