Full Circle

James Tiptree Jr once wrote, in the context of a discussion of fantasy novels, 'Who insist on a captain, a boss, a Great Leader? Who have evolved lunatic systems of authoritarianism in every known activity except maybe solo farming? Who gratefully accept being beaten up and then faithfully follow the bully? Three guesses. And don't say guppies.'

There are moments in Full Circle where I found myself thinking subliminally of guppies – though some of the characters who inspired that response were able to grow beyond their grateful adjustment to domination.

This is a most satisfactory conclusion to the trilogy: there is an army of the dead, the living world as we know it is under threat of extermination, the web of comradeship and betrayal, show more love and loss, heroism and cowardice, filial piety well placed and misplaced, vengeance and forgiveness, violence and tenderness, epic sweep and intimate gesture is as complex as anyone could hope for. As an added fillip, things happen in the climactic scenes that make one want to go back to the start and graze one's way through the whole 1000+ pages. show less

Full Circle is a brilliant conclusion to a great story. There were not as many “mini-stories” in this book but as with the other books I totally enjoyed the ones that were included.

The story picks up where the previous one left off and we were guided smoothly to the climax. The story is told from various viewpoints and it was interesting to see how their points of view overlapped and especially how the meaning behind something previously seen from one person’s eyes could change completely when viewed from another set of eyes. It was really well done and felt natural, a bit like a light bulb being switched on allowing everyone to see the full picture.

As the pages turned and we moved towards the climax I found myself thinking I knew show more how the big confrontation would play out. I thought I saw how the author was positioning the players and I was eager to discover that I was right. Problem is, I wasn’t! I was taken totally by surprise by the turn of events and that made the ending even better.

The ending, without giving anything away, was sad but right. I felt tears welling yet felt satisfied with the outcome. It was strange to feel this way yet as a reader, I think it’s important that the author stirs something in the reader, making them think about the conclusion for a while, allowing emotions to affect the reader momentarily. Full Circle did that.

This trilogy is highly recommended. show less

A very satisfactory ending to the trilogy. I have to say though, I really didn't enjoy reading 2 paragraphs from one characters POV and then switching to someone else. Give me whole chapters. Gave me mental whiplash...

I really enjoyed this series. The characters were multi-faceted, even Acton and Saker, and everything really did come full circle. Every past story had a purpose, and they all ended up fitting together nicely. I thought I might be disappointed by the ending - just because I usually hate it when things are too easily solved - but this was totally satisfying. I'm looking forward to Freeman's next book as well.

I absolutely hated the ending and the pacing issues got worse. I like the characters, I like the idea of the ending I just didn't at all like how it was executed.

Disappointing.

Fall-Winter-2010