Fyre

Whenever I am awaiting a new book, I seem perfectly calm. Until a stray thought, a picture, or a random comment from someone around me suddenly reminds me what is coming, and I suddenly can't stop grinning and I find myself squealing and jumping up and down, to the knowing smiles and eye-rolls of those who know and love me.
It is a rare book that leaves me with this same feeling of excitement and thrill after I have finished the long-awaited book, and I can positively say this is one of those books. It draws together everything and everyone from all the other books, and even if it is a bit long, and sometimes a bit disjointed, I positively don't care, because her writing is so engaging, her characters are so loveable, and I love every show more quirky scene Angie Sage has to offer. Yes, it is her longest yet, and you can tell. But it was a good kind of noticing, like "Ohmigosh I've been reading for hours and I still get so much more to read!"
It was a treat, and one can only hope the TodHunter Moon books will be as good.

Oh, and all those things you've been desperately waiting for for like six books (and a short story)? Yup. Finally here. It was awesome. She ended everything just the way I had hoped/imagined, and I can only say I am truly, truly sorry to have reached the last page. show less

It feels like so many of my favorite series are ending :( I was so excited to get this audiobook because I love the world of Septimus Heap. I think Angie Sage has created an unique and creative magical world and her use of language is just terrific. She has some of the most intelligent humor I've ever seen in a book intended for this age of child. Sage assumes that the person reading her books is intelligent and never talks down to her audience. I love that. This is one of my top audiobooks so far this year. Gerard Doyle does a fantastic job narrating. I loved seeing Septimus and Jenna grow and take charge of their lives (even though they're just 15). At the end of the day, I was pleased where Sage ended the series (even though I still show more want more).

If you haven't started these books, I highly recommend them. show less

I listened to that last installment in the Septimus Heap books by Angie Sage. This one made me sad and happy. Sad that this excellent series had to end, and yet happy that finished it. This entry, Fyre, was a worthy entry in the series and a great way to bring this series to a conclusion. Like all the others, this novel was filled with action, relationships, and a good plot. There are always loose ends to wrap up and this one did a fairly good job of doing that. Even so, there were some loose ends that I would have liked to see brought to a better conclusion, but it seems you can't have everything in a series. The loose end that in particular bothered me, was the story line of Syrah Syara. After the novel "Siren," she pretty much show more disappears from the plot. As always the narrator did a fantastic job and Gerard Doyle remains incomparable.

I think this is a must read for family story times, teacher read alouds, or books for upper grades. show less

A fine finish to a funny series. It's been two years -- real-world time -- since we've seen Septimus and his world, so the first half of the book is pretty slow-going, reintroducing many of the characters from the first six books. Somewhere around page 350, the action ramps up and the humor finally hits its stride. The ending is a little predictable (after all those pages, the bad guys are dispatched in a few paragraphs), but so many story threads get tied up that you almost don't notice. I was a little saddened that my second-favorite character (Stanley the Message Rat) got little more than a few pages, but it's clear many of the characters will be appearing in a new series in a few years; perhaps he'll be heard from show more again.

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LT Haiku:

Double-faced ring and
double helping of dragons
and Sep growing up. show less

I'm sorry to come to the end of this series, though it was a satisfying end. Septimus finally settles into his role as a magic wielder, his family have been reconciled (including Simon, who has fully recovered from his time as a dark magic practicer), and even Marcia & Marcellus are reconciled to each other and to the way their two powers can work harmoniously with each other. I liked especially the glimpses of technology in this final installment.

I'm not quite sure how to take this, Angie sage seemed determined to wrap things up but some parts were blatantly sad. I don't want to ruin anything for new readers but when the endings/prologue start, don't read the first two-three pages, basically every well loved characters were either killed for no reason or to make way for a new person. It was also shocking to me that at the end, she starts a new series that intertwined with this one. Why not continue it? That's not to say the book itself wasn't good but because sage was so focused on finishing it, her usual charm and quirkiness were not there. Overall, there was a lot more death and sadness then I would like from, what should be, a happy(and adventurous) tale.

I was totally in love with series start to finish. It is hard to find this long of a series that can keep me on the edge of my seat for the entire time. I have to say that Angie Sage really pulled the whole series together with Fyre. Any unanswered questions that I had were answered. I will recommend this series to everyone I meet, It has become one of my all time favorites.