Great Imaginations

Heartbreaking, horrifying, suspenseful, brilliant...these are all words I could easily use to describe Horde by Ann Aguirre. It is all that and more. I have had a long and bumpy road with this trilogy, but the last book...the last book has made that all worth it.

It's no secret that I am not a fan of Stalker. I do not appreciate that he was made to be a love interest at the end of book one and throughout book two. Since I am trying to write this without spoilers (which also means this will be a short review), I'll just say it gets better. Everything gets better, for the most part. Character development is better. The pacing is better (though it takes a bit to get going). All your questions about world-building and the freaks will be answered (though I did feel the explanation was a bit simple in parts). I guess I just I wanted a little more creativity from that. But...you will notice I gave this book 5 stars. I'm criticizing it and I gave it 5 stars; how is that possible?

Simply put, because of the way it made me feel. The book tore my heart out, stomped on it, put it back in my chest, tore it back out, rolled it around in the dirt, and then baked it at 375° for forty-five minutes before sending it down the garbage disposal. Yeah, I know. I always go overboard. I wasn't sure at first how I would feel, but as the tension continued to build, as characters started to die, as it got violent and graphic, my heart and anxiety levels couldn't take it. This is a book I wanted to savor and yet I could not put it down. This is one of those books I wish I could read all over again for the first time. I will never get that moment back. And it kills me. I haven't felt emotions like this in a long time. Maybe it's my antidepressants, I don't know, but this day when I finished THIS book, they were out in full force. I have never felt such pure rage, sadness, happiness. I laughed, I sobbed, I vocally yelled. The ending was perfect. AUTHORS. If you want to know how to end your trilogy right, read THIS BOOK. I went to bed with swollen eyes and woke up with them burning. I cried over characters I thought I would never feel a lick of emotion for. I don't even know who I am anymore. 

That is why this book gets 5 stars. Sometimes emotions books make you feel ARE enough. I'm not even going to attempt to talk about the mechanics of the narrative. It was good. It was great, even. It wasn't perfect but this is a wonderful book that gets an eensy bit repetitive in places. The battle scenes are what I am referring to. Some of them are awesome. And the ones that take place past the halfway point are fantastic. So it's a minor thing, and if you aren't looking for it, you might not even notice. I love Ann Aguirre's writing. I read a lot of books (several a week), and if there was one author I could write like, I would choose her. She balances emotion, imagery, plot, and characters in a way that I find to be a work of art. It's something most authors can't do. And I appreciate the shit out of her for being able to accomplish this in what seems like an effortless way. I know it's not at all, which makes it even more of an accomplishment. 

There's not a whole lot more to say without revealing spoilers. And I won't do that. I want people to read my reviews so it's better to make them short than hide them under spoiler tags, in my opinion. Sidenote: I know not everyone feels this way and that is totally okay too. So, do I think you should read this series? Yes, I do. I rated Enclave and Outpost both 3 stars. I had issues even though I loved the stories in both books. This one was just went so above and beyond the other two, in my opinion. Not that they were bad at all, this book just fulfilled all my expectations and then some. I am sorry it is over. But I am definitely not sorry I stuck it out, because those emotions I felt were totally worth the wait.