The Enemy series overall is absolutely 5 stars. I’m 27 and I’ve been as obsessed with this series as much as I have anything I’ve ever read! I love these books and Charlie Higson has done something amazing in building such a big cast of realistic and engaging characters with so many interweaving plots. This books finally brings it all back together for the final confrontation with St George and his army, but in the end (ha The End) I was left feeling like something was lacking. It’s too abrupt and I’m not completely satisfied given just how emotionally involved I’ve been with all these great characters.

I’m going to lay out some negative points but really this book is awesome, all these books are awesome, and you need to read them! (Whatever age you are!)

An epilogue is what this book really needs! As it is the story just ends very quickly following the final battle, and I mean quickly... like twenty pages later. I want to know what happens after! What do the kids do now the threat of St George is over? How to they put their society back together? Do they continue to work as one group or split off again? What about Just John’s squatters at the palace? Just a few pages, or even some notes on a year or five or ten years later. I’m invested in these kids!

I was also left wondering if that really was the end of the parasite/virus threat because this book just focused on London! Surely if it was airborne the rest of the world would be affected (if they weren’t why did nobody ever check on the situation)? The cynical part of me thinks Higson ended it the way he did so he wouldn’t have to tackle that issue!

The last third felt rushed but my main complaint is that there was barely any Ed! I know he pretty much got a whole book in The Hunted but he has been a key character and for me; the one I have the most invested in because he’s been part of the bigger emotional moments of the series. He turns up right at the very, very end to save the day and that’s all you get. Not to mention Malik/Scarface who was built up to be such a great character in the last book! He’s up there with Shadowman as being one of my favourites. He gets a line. This wasn’t enough! I care about these people. If you get to read all the books consecutively they you probably won’t feel that way, but I’ve had six months or so to wait for this.

I hated all the stuff with Paul and it just felt too unbelievable to have him really be able to communicate with the sickos. I can just about buy the Twisted Kids but the Paul stuff just didn’t make any logical sense to me. David infuriated me, as always, and I didn’t really understand why the heck Jester (and the others) stuck around with him when he’d clearly lost his mind! The way things end for David were also not satisfying; he was such a dick and made some dangerous and terrible selfish decisions that I felt he needed to really get what he deserved. The way things go felt like he got off too lightly and it wasn’t a big enough moment. I actually feel that there weren’t enough Big Moments (or main character deaths) for the finale of a series that has been so (Game of Thrones level) high stakes for six previous books.

All that said I didn’t put this book down and it felt amazing to be back in this world, with all these characters again. I was worried I’d forgotten what happened but it all came back to me almost immediately. These books are something special and I’m a bit sad it’s all over now.
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I've loved this series and I've been excited to finally get around to reading the final two books this year. This final one though just didn't feel as satisfying as it should. I can recognise that things are tidied up neatly and there's a whole kind of circular thing going on with Sam and Ella but it just didn't do anything emotionally.

I would have liked to read more about what happens after the battle. We see a small glimpse with the kids at the Palace but there are so many groups of kids and alliances that we don't find out about what happened to after the battle.

I think there were only one or two deaths that really hit me and upset me, which is a lot less than in some of the previous books. This series has been characterised by shocking sudden deaths and heroic sacrifices and there just didn't seem to be enough loss for the final battle to mean much. A lot of nameless kids die and that feels a bit sad but it's hard to actually feel anything further for characters you don't know very well.

I like books to make me feel things and/or really excite me and this just didn't do that for me. It was a tidy ending tho, bringing together characters from the previous books. ( )

The end is coming.

The sickness struck everyone sixteen and older. First it twisted their minds; next it ravaged their bodies. Now the sickos—crazed and hungry for young flesh—are gathered in the center of London, lying in wait.

It’s time for all of the survivors—kids spread out across the city—to unite. They must come up with a plan of attack to end the grown-ups’ reign of terror before it is too late.

One thing is certain: surprises abound in the bloody conclusion to Charlie Higson’s Enemy saga.

That's it it's over. What a suitably action packed way to finish the series. All the different strands of this sprawling story come together in an apocalyptic final battle. Brilliant. ( )

The End (The Enemy Book 7) by Charlie Higson is the 7th and is being labeled the final volume in his YA apocalyptic series. As much as I like the idea of closing off another series, I am sad that it has to be this particular one. These books have been a guilty pleasure of mine for a number of years, they are all well over 400 pages but read quickly and easily. Packed with lots of adventure, action and violence, I have enjoyed each book.

A terrible disease has struck and all adults over the age of fifteen are infected. Most die, but those that live are forever changed. They now act inhuman and all they seem to want to do is attack and kill the healthy. In this final book, the surviving adults form an army but the real threat is that the parasites that they carry are ready to be launched and infect the living children. Both sides gather in London’s Hyde Park for the final battle.

The End brought gathers the many various story-lines that have been spread over the course of the series and gives closure. As no one is ever safe in these books, I was prepared to lose some of my favorite characters but I also knew that the author would leave his readers with a feeling of completion and hope. ( )