The End of Dreams

With The End of Dreams, Marcus Lee's The Gifted & The Cursed comes to a close.

When it comes to the last of a series of books, we know that there will be an inevitable conclusion and the series will end. It's always bittersweet when we get to the final chapter of a series. On the one hand, you want to see how it all ends. Will good triumph over evil, or will there be a twist of events that will somehow change the outcome and give us an unexpected ending that we didn't see coming. There are a multitude of ways things can end, but end they will. And so it comes with The End of Dreams.

However, whilst the ending is important, it is not the be all and end all. The most important aspect is the journey to get there. Therein lies the joy! And, oh, what a journey this is.

The book starts immediately from where we last left our main characters. Taran, Rakan and Yana are escaping from the fortress of Tristan's Folly. Whilst Maya is fulfilling her obligation to Tristan that she made to keep Taran alive.

It's pretty fair to say, that at this present moment in time, mostly everyone is not happy about the current situation that they find themselves in. Well, except for Yana, who is quite happy that things seem to be going according to plan. In that Maya is off with Tristan and she has time to see her wily plans of making Taran her own come to fruition.

In amidst this, Taran has made the stupendously wise decision to continue to wear the amulet of the Witch King and repress all his emotions pertaining to the current state of his relationship with Maya. You know that isn't going to end well, don't you! However, Rakan tells him this and he completely ignores this advice. Suffice it to say, Taran walks a pretty dark path, believing that the most appropriate way to deal with the Witch King is be like the Witch King.

Meanwhile, Daleth is currently holding up, injured as a result of the events at Tristan's Folly. However, he is not entirely idle in his God given right to dominate the whole world and suck off its life energy so that he can live forever and sets off a series of plans so that his victory can be orchestrated.

Maya, on the other hand has decided that although she is not in the best place, what with Tristan wanting to get his wicked way with her (in more ways than one), she feels that the best course of action is to defy Tristan at every given turn and also make the best of her situation by doing what she does best, caring for others and thus telling them the truth about Daleth and his army.

I think that tells you enough about plot without giving too much away.

I have loved this series as whole and with each book, it has gone from strength to strength, and the End of Dreams is no exception. Marcus Lee delivers plots and subplots, weaving each one delicately to reach the final ending of what for me is a memorable series of books.

Again, he shows inexplicable skill in mounting tension, introducing new characters and subsequently completing this journey.

What I like about, Marcus Lee's writing is that he wears his heart on his sleeve. He loves epic fantasy in all it's forms. He is able to write about romance without it turning into mawkishness, he can write about other relationships, such as Rakan's care for his son and make it believable and he can satisfy even the bloodthirstiest of readers like me. That's a pretty good balancing act to perform if you ask me and he does it with style.

Now we have to talk about characters. Marcus Lee writes fantastically believable characters that are worth getting attached to. From Maya, with her beguilingly innocent view of the world to the despicable Tristan. Yes, I say Tristan, because whilst Daleth is the big bad, he's a smidgen less odious than Tristan, who I virtually hissed at every time he entered the stage.

One last thing that I have to mention, is that surprisingly, amongst all the plot and the characters, Marcus Lee manages to squeeze in some pretty awesome world building with the introduction of the Horse lords, which to me, reminded me of a mix between the Rohirrim, the Mongol Hoardes and the Knights of Solamnia and I thought were a welcome addition to the book.

So, we come to the close and I must say that this is a satisfying ending to a memorable series.