“Stars” or “A Review of a Book That Has Me Seeing Them and To Which I Give Lots”

What do you do when a book leaves you in such a state of excitement that you can barely put together a coherent review for your blog? Why, you embrace the chaos and roll with it, of course! (Good news, Daddy – you get to read me raving about this series one more time!)

…And boy, did it ever end with a bang…

The Book: “Spirit’s End” by Rachel Aaron.

Genre: Fantasy adventure.

Blurb: Normally, this is where I’d summarize the book in my own words. But this book’s got me such a beautiful wreck (and is a series-ender, and therefore tricky to recap without spoilers at every turn), I’m going with something new; namely, copying the tease on the back of the book. …plus commentary!

Eli Monpress is clever, he’s determined, and he’s in way over his head. [*Check, check, and oh-h-h, is he ever…*]

First rule of thievery: Don’t be a hero.

When Eli broke the rules [*back in “The Spirit War”*] and saved the Council Kingdoms, he thought he knew the price [*and he about gave me a bloody heart attack! What a way to end a book! Boo/attaway, Rachel Aaron!*], but resuming his place as the Shepherdess’s favorite isn’t as simple as bowing his head. Now that she has her darling back, Benehime [*who is even more star-struck by Eli and further out of her mind than I am*] is setting in motion a plan that could destroy everything she was created to protect [*THE WORLD*] – and even Eli’s charm might not be enough to stop her [*talk about a “You know you’re in mega-deep trouble when…” scenario*].

My Thoughts: Aw, people, I couldn’t handle it! …Meaning I couldn’t not handle it, meaning I couldn’t put it down. Something about the imminent doom of the world tends to make all heck break loose. Shocking deaths, shocking survivals, powers shifted (and if you’ve read the book, you’ll know how literally I mean that), and dangling ends from previous books tied up because, let’s face it, if the world goes under, when we will ever again get the chance to find out what’s up?

The characters were rocking the house. I mean, they’ve always rocked the house, or I wouldn’t have fallen for this series so hard. But the awesomeness levels were just off the charts! It got to the point where my heart was like, “Eli, sweetheart, I adore you, but don’t get jealous if I gaze at the Lord of Storms a little too hard…”

Oh, man, the Lord of Storms… He’s that guy menacing Eli on the cover, by the way. The dude was raining bad-A coolness. In buckets. And as my reading of this book and my viewing of the new “Les Misérables” film happened within the same time frame, I could not help but note the parallels between this fanatical demon-hunter and Inspector Javert – especially once my brain started rewriting the opening lyrics of Javert’s solo.

“There, out in the darkness, a demonseed running;

Fallen from Powers; fallen from grace.

Shepherdess witness: I never shall yield,

‘Til we come face to face. ‘Til we come face to face.”

I would pay big money to hear the Lord of Storms sing “Stars” – a performance which I imagine would sound like something between the Russell Crowe and Philip Quast, 10^th Anniversary versions (the one’s resonance meets the other’s fire). Seriously. It’s too perfect a song for him. I’d tell you why, but… spoilers.

HSYRT? (Hey, Should You Read This?): Not without reading the first four books! (E-book of the “Legend of Eli Monpress” omnibus on sale, this month. That’s the first three books of the series for $2.99. Are you kidding me? Somebody get on this!) After that, do not walk, RUN to read this! And then if, immediately after, you feel the strong temptation to read it again and rave about it to everyone and oh, gosh, why isn’t the whole world raving with you?!… well, you’ll be in good company.