Review: Almost At A Loss For Words
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 13, 2014
Well, "The Final Rule", the last installment of "My Brother's Keeper" is done. And, honestly, I'm at a loss as to what to write about it. Perhaps, with time, I'll be able to better express the incredible experience of reading Ms. Wilder's books and update this review with something more cogent.Honestly, I approached this last book with trepidation. Ms. Wilder is an extraordinary writer, bringing insights and convictions to her books that very few other authors in the gay fiction genre ever even aspire to. I was worried that the last book might devolve into a standard gay, paranormal thriller. I should have known better. So far, I've loved virtually every word of Ms. Wilder's I've ever read, and that includes subjects and topics I'd normally avoid like the plague. Somehow, in her hands, the books always rise above their genre and resonate, deeply, with the humanity we all share.There is something particularly special about her gay fiction, because the "gay" is incidental to the story and the theme. Don't worry, the main characters are gay and the occasional sex scenes are beautiful and erotic. But sexuality is only incidental to a story that bravely goes to larger themes and universal human experience.This story has it all: love, family, pain, loss, fear, action and an enemy that transcends human scale. There are even ghosts guiding the lives and actions of the heroes as they set out to save humanity from itself.Under all of this is Ms. Wilder's exploration of good and evil, of what drives mankind to do hateful things, of the very material from which bigotry, intolerance and violence are made. Her evocative prose shows us that what drives all of these is fear - a little seed of it, in each of us, that leaves us with the potential to do evil, but which love counteracts with light, forgiveness and compassion.If you haven't read the first two books, STOP! This and the previous one are not sequels - they are the second and third chapter to one long masterwork. Go back and start with "The First Three Rules", followed by "Rule Four And Five". Only then will you fully appreciate (or even understand) the joy and the tears that Ms. Wilder artfully wrests from all but the most hard-hearted readers.My highest recommendation for all three books.