Apex (Hunter, #3) by Mercedes Lackey Published by Disney-Hyperion on September 5th 2017
Pages: 304
Goodreads
Being a member of the Elite Hunter Command imperils Joy in more ways than one. In their latest clash with Othersiders, the army of monsters nearly wiped them out. Apex City is safe . . . for now. But within the city barriers, Joy must wage a different kind of war.
The corrupt and powerful PsiCorps is determined to usurp the Hunters as chief defenders of Apex City and Joy is now squarely in their crosshairs. Unused to playing political games, she has very few people she can truly trust—not even Josh, her first friend in Apex City, who broke up with her when it became too dangerous for a Psimon to be dating a Hunter.
Then Josh comes to Joy for help. He fears that Abigail Drift, the head of PsiCorps, will soon use him in her twisted experiments designed to empower PsiCorps and render Hunters superfluous—a scheme that’s already killed off dozens of Psimons. Joy manages to smuggle Josh to safety, but he cannot evade Drift forever . . .
As Joy faces ever more powerful Othersiders, she is helped by the most surprising ally imaginable—the same Folk Mage she once met in battle on the train to Apex City. But can Joy trust the most cunning and treacherous of all Othersiders?
In the thrilling finale to Mercedes Lackey’s #1 New York Times’ bestselling trilogy, Joy must risk everything to end a brutal war . . . before she loses all she’s ever loved.
3.5 Nuts
Will contain spoilers…
After a long wait I finally went ahead and finished Mercedes Lackey’s HUNTER trilogy. I want to talk about the series as a whole for a second because what Mercedes does her with the series is pretty unique. This series blends post apocalyptic settings with fabulously worked magic. If fact our screwing up our own planet is what makes the magic happen in the first place. Who would have thought of that?
This is the basis for the series. This premise is the back bone of our story and even though APEX is book three, and supposedly the last, this premise allows for all sorts of different and continuing stories in the world. I just wish this 3rd book had ended more with a bang.
Now let me be straight, I didn’t hate the ending. Not one bit. The last battle is a fantastic mix of action and clever strategizing on Joy’s part. Shit happens that never would have dreamed. And yet it still ends with a little bit of a let down somehow. Not a bad one, just a small, “that’s it?”.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Between the beginning and end all sorts of craziness goes down. Josh as a character just seems like a missed opportunity to play with the reader’s expectations a little further. However instead the easy romance is kept. Meh, could be worse I guess. I mean, I like Josh. His character could have just been so much more complicated or dynamic by making him not so dang Gryffindor. Give me a streak of bad, give me more sneakiness, something.
I guess the biggest event of the book I need to talk about is the character death. Because of course there’s a major character death, it’s a Lackey. As Lackey deaths go though, I think this one was one of her more obvious ones. Especially as a lot of this book covers the theme of sacrifice. Now, I’m not going to talk about whom, that’s a bit too spoilery for this blog, but suffice to say by the end of book 2 you can probably guess who will bite it in book 3.
END SPOILERS!
As critical as I am of the book, I really did enjoy the experience of reading it. I love all the creatures and the magic Lackey creates as well as what she borrows from every mythology you can think of. If you can imagine it, it’s real in this world. Reading her descriptions of these monsters makes my imagination run wild. Giant paralyzing eyes? Check. FREAKING DRAGONS. Yet, got those two. But scarier than you can ever imagine for sure.
I do recommend this series for YA fantasy/paranormal/or dystopian fans out there. IT’s got a little for all of you. Lackey fans will enjoy it too but if you’ve read a lot of her work you won’t be very surprised. Still, you’ll probably enjoy yourself regardless.
What’s your favorite Lackey book? Share yours in the comments below.
From my shelf to yours,
Erin
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