Avenging Fury

The Fury #4

by John Farris

Eden Waring is an Avatar, possessing astounding psychic abilities . . . and destined to fight an ancient evil. Her battles against Mordaunt, the ageless Dark Side of God, have been many, but the war is far from over. She destroyed Mordaunt's human body in the deserts of Las Vegas, but his many followers still walk the Earth. They vow to resurrect their Master and exact vengeance upon Eden in a melee of magic and violence. 

 

As Eden fights for her life, her doppelganger, Gwen, separates from Eden to fight the battle on another front. In another dimension, the other half of Mordaunt’s soul hides within a man living in Jubilation County, Georgia – in the year 1926. To keep Mordaunt powerless, Gwen must travel back in time, but finds that awaiting her arrival is a vicious entity known as Delilah.

 

The epic story that began with The Fury reaches its electrifying conclusion, as unsuspecting worlds merge on the cusp of an age of darkness--a force only one woman, across a vast span of time and space, can stop.

Genres: Horror

352 pages, Hardcover

First published May 13, 2008

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

American writer and screenwriter of both adaptations of his own books (e.g. 'The Fury'), of the works of others (such as Alfred Bester's 'The Demolished Man') and original scripts. In 1973 he wrote and directed the film 'Dear Dead Delilah'. He has had several plays produced off-Broadway, and also paints and writes poetry. At various times he has made his home in New York, Southern California and Puerto Rico; he currently resides near Atlanta, Georgia. Early in his career he also wrote under the name Steve Brackeen.

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fourth and final book in the "Fury" series, and a good satisfying whopper it is! This one starts with the second-last chapter of "The Fury and the Power" and rolls on from there, with Eden having, one thinks, disposed of Mordaunt, or at least Lincoln Grayle, but then having to face his minions, in the form of five sexy teenage girls (who are really hundreds-of-years-old assassins in a form that makes them fit right in at Las Vegas, where most of the critical action occurs, especially towards the end). It reminded me of the Las Vegas climax of Stephen King's "The Stand." (by the way, the book cover has brief positive comments on Mr. Farris from both Mr. King and Mr. Koontz). Along the way, we have a harrowing sea trip with Mordaunt in the hold, and forays to Vatican City.

In addition to Eden Waring, we have the familiar folks from before, notably Tom Sherard and Bertie Nkambe, but with additional folks (Harlee Nations is the chief "assassin;" Bronc Skarbeck is Grayle's chief of security; Cody Olds is a gambler/rancher with a HECK of a Native American family). But the most intriguing characters are by far those who are associated with "Jonas Fresno's Vortex," a place where The Caretakers (the Pope and several other spiritual leaders whose essences have split Mordaunt's nature into two halves) have banished Mordaunt's "female half," subsequently known as "Delilah," a spewer of iambic-pentameter Elizabethan insults). Eden's doppelganger, Gwen, has merged with Delilah, making her a double threat. There's a notable Time Machine built in the early 70's by a teenager and his uncle, using "magic sparkplugs," that ends up in the Vortex, which seems to be a repository of clunker time machines. The "manager" of this "Vortex! is Jonas Fresno, a Black Blues musician, and his wife, who makes a delightfully surprising appearance towards the end of the book, making me put down said book and applaud. And speaking of delightful surprises, the Pope at one point says he's gotta go to Vegas to help things out, and - well, does so in a fun way.

As you can see, this review is a bit rambling (perhaps reflective more of my dotage than the complicated nature of the plot), but I hope you can conclude that I did indeed like this one and would highly recommend it; real roller-coaster! Of course, it doesn't make any sense at all unless you've read the other three...

[Mcf1nder_sk]

Upon this novel's completion, I have now finished Farris' Fury quadrology, a series 29 years in the making. What started out with young Gillian Bellaver trying to protect herself from a top secret government agency in 1979 ended in 2008 with her daughter Eden Waring using her powers as the Avatar to defeat Mordaunt and Delilah, the male and female halves of the Dark side of Heaven, otherwise known as pure evil.
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After a lackluster performance in the third novel, Farris has come back stronger with his finale. The story is more gripping, and the cast of characters is better developed, with a new friend at Eden's side. There are moments that got you in the feels, and there are parts that will have you turning pages as a madcap pace, but you will not want to close this book.
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I'm glad the saga ended, maybe not with a happy ending, but a more finely-crafted story nonetheless.