Review: Perfect ending!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 10, 2012
Well it's been a while since I finished book 4 in the Kiera Hudson series by Tim O'Rourke, but I finally sat down to read the last book and finished it. I can't tell you what took me so long, but I am glad that I took a little bit of time between the books. It made reading the conclusion that much more exciting and I was able to rediscover what I loved about O'Rourke's books.In this exciting and adventurous last installment of the first Kiera Hudson series, Kiera and the crew have finally made it below the Earth's surface and into the Hollows. Their mission is to get Kiera to the Dust Palace where she must make her decision as to which race should remain alive, the human race or the Vampyrus. As if that wasn't enough for Kiera to deal with, her friends and loved ones are being picked off one by one by a traitor in her group. She believes that the mastermind behind the war that is brewing, Elias Munn, is among her group of friends. Is it Potter, is it Luke, is it Isidor, Jack Seth perhaps?  As her friends begin falling all around her, she fears that Munn has already fallen in love with her, but has she fallen for him too? Which race should she choose to destroy? Kiera goes quite literally to the ends of the Earth to try and save her friends and live up to the greatness she was destined to have.I quite liked this conclusion to the series, in the simplest sense because I was able to see the Hollows. I was so anxious to see how O'Rourke would describe this new world underneath our own, and I was not disappointed. I loved his imaginative description of a unseen world within the Earth's crust. What I think I liked most was that it was believable. What's so hard to believe about a world beneath our own that is lit during their pseudo-day by a heating element straight from the Earth's core? I type this as I'm watching a History Channel show about the evidence present in ancient cultures that Earth was visited by Aliens, but still! It's fun to think that another world exists beneath our own. O'Rourke does a stellar job with his world building and has you craving for in invitation into the depths of the Hollows.His character development is right on par yet again. While I will not giveaway who our elusive Elias Munn is, you will be surprised. I thought many times through out the book I knew exactly who Munn was, but then I would be surprised again. I would have liked to see a little bit more of Potter's snarky comments, but when do you not want more? This was also a bit more of a serious story and so our characters tended to be a little more stressed out than normal, as I'm sure you can imagine.Lastly, I do want to mention the end of the book. Of course I will not be giving away the ending, I just wanted to mention that I feel that O'Rourke did a superb job of setting up his second sereis. It was one of those endings that didn't leave you with a huge cliff hanger, but made you cry out in joy. Generally, I hate when authors set up a sequel in the end of a book, but this ending made me so excited to read the next book. That's all I'm saying about our ending and O'Rourke's set up for the new Kiera Hudson series, but you'll be happy. It's hard to believe that a book so full of vampires, blood, guts, death and war leaves you feeling warm and fuzzy inside, but somehow, someway, O'Rourke has outdone himself and I cannot wait to begin reading Dead Flesh (Kiera Hudson Series 2, Book 1)!9 out of 10!Happy Reading :)-Allison[...]