WEREWOLVES, RANGERS, DWARVES, MAGES AND VAMPIRES...DO I HAVE TO SAY MORE? 5/5 STARS!!
Well well well...here we are, at the end of Asher's story, at least the prequel, since for all of those who haven't yet read the Echoes Saga you still have 9 books of him and other fantastic characters. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING?! GO, NOW! Ok, aside from jokes, let's start with it.
It always takes me so long to write a review for a new entry by Philip Quaintrell. It's just that they always leaves me with so much that i have to really think and maybe read it two or three times more before i can put
toughts into words. What can i say, Philip it's just awesome in the way he writes his stories. I've always gave him 5 stars. His books just click with me, it's unbelievable.
I think he writes fantasy just as i love to read it.
Really powerful characters, with traumas and serious emotions to fight, accept, and live, inside of them. A world that breathes from the pages, a lot of monsters...and classical elements in a modern way that i love so much and so many epic and brilliant fight scenes. He's one the best in these things. The pacing and the scope of this book and this entire Trilogy i should say are masterfully done. This story is intimate, great in scope in the sense of a big and intricated character arch. I think Asher is the best character that Quaintrell has ever written. He was my favorite in the main saga and he's even more now, after the final book of this Trilogy.
The internal struggle he has to go through...all the guilt he feels, the desperation to redeem himself, even when every action he takes is that of a hero...was powerful, i've felt it in my heart.
Asher did a lot of disgusting things, like a lot! Yes, he was basically abducted and indoctrinated...but still, he was an awful human being. But he tries, he tries everyday to take responsibility for what he has done, and to be better. It was so interesting and hurtful at the same moment to see this fight in his head and heart, between The Ranger and The Assassin, the Persona of who he was, the one he despites but that still feels in every movement of his body, almost phisiologically. A part of him will always be an assassin, and you have to read the main saga to find what balance he can find in that. The Persona of The Ranger instead Is all he wants to be, the hero he wants to be for others, even tough he thinks that he will never be fully that person, no matter how many lives he saves. He will still be guilty, now and always. The reality, instead, is that he already is that person, that good person has always lived inside of him, and with the Ranger he just can finally let It free. He still has a lot to growth to make in order to find this reality.
I've loved how Quaintrell used this book to introduce one the best characters in my opinion of the main saga: Russel Maybury. How Quaintrell intersected Russell's origin story with the internal fight of Asher was superb. Not to make many spoilers even tough you can probably guess...Russel has a big monster inside of him, a fight in which Asher finds similarities with his own. He starts to develop a bond with Russel, a difficult one at the start, since the second doesn't even want to live, exactly like Asher at the beginning. It Is a bond that serves as a way to Asher to believe that he can be redeemed, that he can be good, because if even Russell can fight his monster and win, so can Asher, pheraps.
He desires to help Russell no matter what, he needs him to win. It's a desperate altruistic/selfish move, and i love this character arc.
Russell is an incredible character and seeing him starting to slowly fight the monster not for Asher but for his ideals, supported by the other Ranger, was really sweet.
Oh, seeing the creation of a special location of the main saga was really nostalgic. I do not lie if i say that an elephant entered my eye in that part.
I also loved the difficult relation between Asher, Russell and Doran Heavybelly.
Yes, the fan favorite dwarf makes a comeback in this final book, and his part is essential. Aside from the fact that he makes me laugh my ass off, he's a real loyal friend for Asher, the truest one he has. They bicker a lot in this book, for the question of Russel's monster, but Doran does It for Asher, cause he would love for his friend to see that he already is a great person, without having to fight for something maybe greater than him. Despite this, the dynamic between the three was magnificent, and you really start to see the creation of a long lasting bond, a family. It was the most real bond i saw in a book. It was so sweet, and knowing what happens in the main saga this book is even more significant. Who has read it, knows what i'm talking about.
Aside from that we even see the introduction of the mage Hadavad, another important character in the main saga, and in Asher's story. This book has ben the overall creation of the Rangers, WOW! Hadavad is a fascinating and charismatic character. He's the perfect mage. Wise, misterious, criptic, but also true to himself, and a real friend when he has to. His introduction is also the introduction to a villain that it's like FUNDAMENTAL in the Echoes Saga so...clever move Philip!!! Real clever. He managed to put some little crumbles of something even greater you can see in the main saga. This trilogy is written in a way that it could be considered the real first trilogy of the main saga, and i love it.
Even the villains of this book were Epic. You have a secular fight between werewolves and Vorska ( Quaintrell's take on vampires, soooo cool) and to see that no matter what the protagonists where between crossed fire augmented the tension and the stakes. They are both powerful, malevolent, and disgusting creatures. The fight scenes with these enemies were epic in every sense. Quaintrell.never.miss.a.hit.
His fight scenes are the best, period.
The one the roof in Velia...who knows knows, but It was my favorite.
This is maybe my favorite book of the three, evene tough it's like choosing between my childrens i have to say. This trilogy has ben a way for us to enter more in the head of Asher, and to see where he was before he becomes the Asher we know. It has been a powerful, so so so emotional journey, and i've breathed every second of It. Quaintrell is on my podium at this point. I love everything he does.
Thank you Philip, for this incredible journey. Untill the next time we'll see Asher...i will be here to live the next big journey you have for us, and i know it will be incredible.