The Wraiths of War (Obsidian Heart book 3) by Mark Morris
| The Wraiths of War (Obsidian Heart book 3) by Mark Morris | |
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| Category: Fantasy | |
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Reviewer: Ani Johnson
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| Summary: The final instalment in the Obsidian Heart trilogy convolutes our perceptions as ends are tied nicely. A satisfying, nail biting conclusion. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 400 | Date: October 2016 |
| Publisher: Titan Books | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1781168745 | |
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Although not dead as he thought he was, Alex Locke feels no closer to finding his missing daughter across time or, indeed, unmasking the dark man. However, he knows what he has to do. Alex must use the obsidian heart to travel back and fight in World War I beside the ghostly soldier who visited him a century or so later. It's not as simple as it seems, as Alex keeps telling himself… or rather as Alexes (plural) keep telling himself.
At the end of this third and final obsidian heart volume, Mark Morris thanks someone in his acknowledgements for helping him to get his head around the time travel shenanigans. By the end of the book we too have a great respect for that bloke as well as for Mark and the many sleepless nights the temporal conundrums must have caused. As Alex leaps back and forth across the centuries, the complications of time travel as well as the cross-era fixes add greatly to the intrigue and genuine cleverness.
The downside is that we need to suspend belief more in this volume than in the previous two. For instance Mark starts the novel by presenting Alex with a massive get out of gaol free card that he'll utilise throughout. At first I thought that this would ruin everything but fortunately Mark's better than that so we just groan inwardly and move on, almost forgetting it in the drama that follows. Also there's that moment when Alex is presented with an unconscious sitting duck and… well, we'll see if you yell at him as loudly as I did when he walks away!
Although this may be the slightly least strong of the three books, it's still a ripper of a read. Mark's historical research continues to entertain amongst deliciously gasp-worthy surprises. (Look out for a real left field shock towards the end.)
This is definitely the instalment that pulls it all together. Times of apparent randomness in the first two books suddenly take on logic and reasoning in some wonderful lightbulb moments. Indeed, if you can't find your copies of Books 1 and 2, you'll be kicking yourself. This is one of those series in which, knowing what you know at the end, you're going to want to go back to the beginning and live it all again. I know I do.
(Thank you so much to the folk at Titan for providing us with a copy for review.)
Further Reading: Do treat yourself to The Wolves of London - The Obsidian Heart Trilogy (Book 1) and The Society of Blood (Obsidian Heart book 2) if you haven't read them already. If you have and you fancy something equally as horrific, we also heartily recommend A Head full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay and/or Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
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You can read more book reviews or buy The Wraiths of War (Obsidian Heart book 3) by Mark Morris at Amazon.com.
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