Waybound

I basically liked absolutely nothing about this book but out of respect for my enjoyment of these characters and this world, I will give it three stars instead of two.

This book lacks any tension whatsoever and I think the structure of this series just ended up being really poor. Most of the main goals in the series have been dealt with by this point and major revelations have changed the status quo, so most of this book is just trying to get Lindon's friends to the same power level as him, which I don't like on principle. If everyone (even with a lot of help) can get to the same insane power level as Lindon in just a few chapters of grinding then why did we follow Lindon struggling to do it for 11 books? If you're commited to this, Why can't we just start the final book with a time skip and have everyone powered up to what you need them to be for the plot so that the final book can have some sense of momentum?

I also just think the consequences in this series were so low. The stakes are sky high and the sacrifices necessary to defeat these insanely overpowered, staggeringly awe-inspiring powers is not high enough.

The ending does not feel like an ending at all. We are still being introduced to new characters and new concepts and things in the final two chapters, and the ending of the book is basically a cliffhanger. My brain autofilled in,” Find out in the next episode of DRAGON BALL Z” after the final line. Meanwhile, Wight is still playing coy on if he will ever return to these characters. Which is terrible - either he intends this to be a genuine ending and if so it fails in almost every way to be a satisfying conclusion to me, or he knows he's going back and is not saying anything to try and make people feel like this is really the end. I don't like either option.

Also the best character continued to not really be in this book, which is a structural problem I can't get into due to spoilers. But basically I feel very strongly that this character was just wasted, especially with how important they were overall, they were just barely mentioned. It's like if Dumbledore was just for whatever reason only mentioned like three times in the final Harry Potter book.

I know Wight has a few completed series and I think I will go back and read one or two of them before trying anything else new from him, because I've lost confidence that he knows how to end something.