Ember's End - book review

 I figured I might as well get this over with, which is why I'm posting this review the same day as Ember Rising's. The best books are sometimes the hardest to review, especially the ones with heart-stopping twists. It has been a perfectly wonderful ride from the very beginning of The Green Ember, all the way to here. The final book. The fourth, and the last, time I will ever see The End in my mind this way.

                                                         

                                               "Now, my dear," Father said. "Tell us a story."

                                                    "A story of bravery?" Heather asked.

                                                "Yes," he said. "A story to make us brave."

Yeah, the quote above is from Ember Rising and not this book, but it's the only quote I can think of that isn't majorly spoiler-y.

I vividly remember June 22nd, and I suspect I always will. It was the day I started this, knowing that there weren't going to be any more books to look forward to. 

You have zero idea how hard it is to review this without a) spoiling, or b) writing a whole essay over how much I love this series.

I suppose I'll have to.

Okay, launching into this, I was surprised that it began with Jo's point of view. I was expecting Heather's, what with that cliffhanger, or at least Picket's. But we get what we get, so I kept on. 

(And that chapter in Jo's POV really made me think that *certain character* was dead. But then I reminded myself that villains aren't always the most trustworthy sources of information).

Also, the lapses in points of view were sort of long. It wasn't until Chapter Fifteen or something around that that we finally reach Heather's point of view. I was aching for it ever since the start of the book. 

(I've also noticed that S.D. Smith uses the word embraced a lot. Like, a lot lot. And with all the reunions in this book and previous, I'm pretty sure "embraced" has been used 500 times, and I can only remember a few uses of "hug" in the first and second books. I mean, if it's a super beautiful and awesome scene then obviously use "embrace" but if it's just Wilfred and Picket or Picket and Cole seeing each other for, like, after a week, just use "hug". I like myself a good hug now and then). 

Some chapter names really had my mind racing. The "Farewell, *character* and *character*" was, in a word, terrifying. Also, "The *position* Charge of *character*" made me gasp out loud. I really wasn't expecting that character to be in that position.

Of course, I've been through characters deaths before. I mentally prepared myself before I went into this book, knowing that it was going to be the climax of the climaxes. But nothing could've prepared me for THAT. You know what I'm talking about, people who have already read this book. THAT death. It was only in one of around three, so I hadn't been expecting it as many named characters hadn't died.

Of course, that ending line. That perfect, quotable line. I know what it feels like to come to the end of a series, but most books I've read don't have this perfectly happy ending. And I'm not saying I love the perfect happy ending, but this series deserves it. All the characters deserve it, with what they've been through. That perfect loop from the very beginning to the very ending. It was so...heartwarming.