

Even though it didn’t end on a high note, I am sad to see it go and look forward to Mr. That’s perhaps why the end of this series feels so dang rushed. Same with Barry (whom took me ages to even remember).

He is a central character, yet he is given insufficient time. I think we needed more time to develop him as a character, rather than gather tiny, vague snippets of his past. The Master is interesting, but we are given almost nothing about him. In the first books, he had all the time in the world to play. When we jump from those goings ons to Cal fiddling with traps, it feels insubstantial. The world is ending, the sky is falling, people are losing their minds. This book has those same elements, but they feel different. We got to watch him hack reality, creating traps, monsters, and everything in between. One thing I loved about early entries of this series was experiencing Cal explore the rules of his universe. My blind guess: founding Mountaindale Press has taken taken a higher priority, even if wasn’t intentional.

These last two books felt both meandering and simultaneously jam packed with history tidbits, which left me unsatisfied. A few other reviewers have mentioned that this book feels rushed, like Dakota was ready to move on to other pastures.
