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Monsters of Men (Chaos Walking #3) by Patrick Ness.

"The final installment in what has been an incredible series but this book, sadly, was a bit of a disappointment. It had its entertaining moments and its fair share of twists and turns but once it all came down to the end, it was a little too perfect."
3 Stars
Pros: The same cast of characters except for the addition of Simone and Bradley, two scouts from Viola's convoy/The story did keep me on my toes and there were definitely a few times where I was floored with how things turned out.
Cons: The ending was just a little too rote and perfect, "skipping off into the sunset" for me. I liked it since it wrapped up the series but it all just seemed a little too perfect.

Full Review
Starting off right where The Ask and the Answer left off, the reader is thrown right back into the thick of things, literally, with Todd and the Mayor marching into war with the Spackle army that reaches well beyond thousands. The few men that follow the Mayor are promptly eviscerated and Todd and the Mayor are lucky to escape with their lives.

Viola, who has reached the Hilltop and found that Mistress Coyle is already there to greet the two sent to scout the planet, is surprised and delighted to see that it's Bradley and Simone, two people she knew from the convoy. She tells them not to trust anything Mistress Coyle tells them and all the while she says that they need to go and rescue Todd and the members of the Ask that Mistress Coyle had sent into town to fight the Answer.

A third narrative is brought into the mix when the reader is put into the point of view of a Spackle called The Return. And he is called this because he is 1017, the Spackle that Todd managed to pull out of the mass of bodies from the genocide that Mayor Prentiss had performed. He is the Spackle that vowed to kill Todd and is now fighting with the Spackle army as a way to hopefully fulfill his goal.

The story devolves into a three way narrative of competition and struggle for power. Todd starts to think that perhaps the Mayor isn't all that bad, that maybe he can be saved. Viola, after having banded herself, grows sicker and sicker with each passing day from infection but continues to adamantly tell Simone and Bradley that Mistress Coyle is not to be trusted. And as things take a turn and Prentiss and Coyle are forced to work together, the reader is left to wonder how in the world will all of this end?

Unfortunately, it all ended rather disappointingly. It was all nice and wrapped up with a pretty little bow. Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of twists and times where I was absolutely floored with what happened, but the end, and the short story at the end that more or less wrapped everything up, was just rote and predictable. It was a good wrap up for a great series but it just felt too cheesy after all.

I'd recommend this series, at least, to anyone who's looking for a bit of a different read. Something that takes Sci-Fi and adds an interesting twist to it.

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