The Fall of the Readers

Executive Summary: A good ending to the series, but I didn't like it as much as [b:The Palace of Glass 22817456 The Palace of Glass (The Forbidden Library, #3) Django Wexler https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1438701203s/22817456.jpg 42367547].Full ReviewI read very little Young Adult, and absolutely no Middle Grade. I'm not the target demographic by any means. I really like [a:Django Wexler 639491 Django Wexler https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1357865518p2/639491.jpg] though, so I decided to pick up [b:The Forbidden Library 17987501 The Forbidden Library (The Forbidden Library, #1) Django Wexler https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1372045701s/17987501.jpg 25223481] from the library a few years back.By the time [b:The Palace of Glass 22817456 The Palace of Glass (The Forbidden Library, #3) Django Wexler https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1438701203s/22817456.jpg 42367547] came out I was really enjoying the series and bought all the books. I was late in coming to fantasy, not really reading very much of it until college. If there had been more books like this when I was growing up, I probably would have been more interested.I really like the world building and the magic system. As someone who loves books, the idea of magical books has always appealed to me. This series combines elements I've read or seen in other books and games, but done so in a unique way as to not feel derivative.Over the four books, Mr. Wexler did a really good job of telling a stand alone story, while building up to a bigger narrative. The characters and creatures are a lot of fun, and Alice is a great protagonist. I've always been more of a dog person than a cat person, but I know Django has cats and that really shows in the way he writes them in this series.All of the past books have had an element of seriousness to them, but this one seemed to have the most of all. I found that weighed it down a bit compared to past books, where it was always just a fun, light read.Don't get me wrong, this was still a fun read I just thought it was a bit slow in places. I think he did a really good job with wrapping everything up. I feel like he could tell more stories set in the world, but there isn't a need to do so.Overall this is a really fun series and I'm glad I decided to pick it up. I still prefer his Shadow Campaign series to this one (where I'm much more the target audience), with [b:The Infernal Battalion 25845205 The Infernal Battalion (The Shadow Campaigns, #5) Django Wexler https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1498788742s/25845205.jpg 45746689] coming out next month and finishing that series, I'm interested in seeing what he does next. Whatever it is, I'm sure it will be good.