Well, here we are. The conclusion to the Bravelands series. Will it stick the landing, or will it fail? Let's see. Spoilers ahead.
The Bravelands are in peril as the Great Devourer is gaining power. The landscape is crumbling and water and food shortages are rampant. The only solution seems to be to get Echo to be accepted as leader of the buffalo, but in order to do this he must speak to the deceased former leader Bellow to learn the Way. He travels underground, together with Stride and Stonehide, in order to learn this skill. Meanwhile, Whisper is still standing up to Holler, and the Great Devourer is possessing Breathstealer's body as it gains more power. Will the Bravelands be saved once and for all?
Is it a good book? Yeah, I'd say so. But as a conclusion to a pretty epic series I gotta admit I'm not super thrilled by this conclusion. It's solid enough, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't hoping for a little more.
What does still really work for me is the characters of Breathstealer, Stride and Stonehide. They're solid and especially Breathstealer's arc was well-handled. She becomes more and more corrupted throughout the book before finally realizing who she really is (a sympathetic hyena who cares about her sister and Cub) and breaking free of the Great Devourer. Stride and Stonehide meanwhile take on more of a helpful side role to Echo, but I still think it works. Stride is a main character, and even if he isn't the most interesting of the bunch I still like the role he got to play in this story. Even if his own part wasn't that big all things considered, it's still nice to get a conclusion to his arc of reuniting with Flicker, and seeing him helping out Echo.
Whisper...ah, yeah. Like I've said in my review of book two of this arc, I like Whisper as a character fine, but I simply do not think she makes for a good protagonist. She's a rather passive character and pretty much every book of this arc consist of her doing the same (mostly calling out Holler and his bullies without doing much else except going looking for Echo that one time). And she's not horribly written or anything, but a compelling protagonist she is not. I still maintain that Echo should've been the buffalo protagonist this arc, or perhaps a split POV between Whisper and him. Echo can also be a bit passive, but he's still all things considered the most important buffalo in these books.
Well, up until the very end of this one, when it's revealed Whisper is the next Great Parent. Which simply does not feel earned to me. Sure, she's a spirited and compassionate and just character, but she didn't do a whole lot this arc, so to see her suddenly become a god-incarnate by the end of this arc didn't feel entirely justified. It's like they wanted her to really be important last minute, so they decided to make Whisper the next Great Mother to make up for her lack of being a compelling protagonist earlier in these books.
I'm not saying Breathstealer or Stride should've become the next Great Parent, either. I don't think that would've been very satisfying. But surely there could've been some way how they could've ended this with a solid conclusion?
Another thing that didn't feel entirely satisfying to me was Breathstealer's "sacrifice". Overall I thought the final climax of this book was rather well-handled, with the Great Devourer possessing our hyena protagonist and having more power than ever. But after realizing who she really is and that she doesn't want any of this, Breathstealer breaks free from its grasp and gets herself stuck underwater to get rid of the spirit, thinking that if it can't possess her body because she is dead it also won't have any power. And this works, and it would've been an emotional sacrifice and a satisfying and bittersweet conclusion to her arc.
But then nope, she comes back to life (without much of a good reason, honestly) and that kind of took away the emotional impact of the climax for me. If this has been a genuine heroic sacrifice on Breathstealer's part with a gut-wrenching death (similar to Fearless' and Prance's from earlier arcs), I think legit this might've been one of the best Bravelands climaxes ever. But the fact that Breathstealer's "sacrifice" didn't even mean that much and has no lasting consequences for her (other than banishing the Great Devourer) feels a bit hollow to me, especially since there's no good reason given for her coming back to life. This is one of these instances where I genuinely hate death cop-outs and think she should've stayed dead.
Another issue I have is with the Way and the buffalo. Sure, the story keeps reiterating that the entire Bravelands depend on the buffalo migration, and in order for this migration to go well they need to be led by a chosen buffalo who knows the Way, but it also just feel kinda vague and is never explained that much. Why won't the rains come if the buffalo don't migrate? Not explained, as far as I could find in this book. What exactly is the Way and how does a quick conversation with Bellow make Echo a perfect leader? Never explained. See what I mean? For such heavy and important plot points this arc, it all just feels a little vague and far-fetched and like it isn't that well-explained. I don't need to know every single detail, but making things just a little more clear would've been nice.
But, okay, to counter some negative points with something positive, I once again think the character relationships were rather well-written. I liked Whisper's interactions with Echo and Quake, Stride's with his old friend Pace and Stonehide, and especially Breathstealer's with her sister and Cub.
What I did find oddly missing this book though was Graypelt? He was a pretty major side character last book and even in the epilogue, but in this book he's nowhere to be found or even mentioned. Just a bit odd to introduce a character like this last book when he's not even going to be brought up in the next book.
I do need you guys to know that despite my gripes I do like this book overall. I just think it could've been stronger as a conclusion to the series. Particularly the stuff with Whisper and the meaningless sacrifice of Breathstealer I think could've been handled differently. But it's not a bad book, either.
Rating: 3.5/5
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