I read the last one of this series, UK2, nearly a year ago so I was pleased to get back to it and even more pleased to find that Tyler had put in a helpful The Story So Far section to scan through just to refresh who was who before I got going.
After the trilogy this is the story of what happens next, although it is also a completely new tale as it is about Bree, a girl from a village in Norfolk who’s been nowhere, and Silas, a traveller, who rarely settles anywhere for long.
I thoroughly enjoyed watching them and their relationship grow as they developed around each other. It is through them that we get to revisit Lindisfarne and see how that community has matured. I liked the way certain moments of history had been erased, despite great care being taken to record it, as parts of this story are about the way it can manipulate and affect those that came after.
I thought the Phoenix chapters were very well handled. I loved the total obsession with his father and the way he tried, and failed, to be the man he thought his father was before being told the rather confronting truth of the man.
There are some short chapters that cover what happens to the group that escaped UK Central at the end of UK2 and we get to see the return of a popular character. We also see the horrible reality of Blackthorn when Bree and Silas end up there and I know there is another book out by Tyler with this title so that will be an interesting read I’m sure.
As well written as ever the reader is drawn comfortably through this book which feels like a goodbye to some well-loved characters and is an excellent and fitting end to this superb series.
