The Dire King: A Jackaby Novel

The Dire King delivered in more ways than one, as the finale of this amazing series and tying up the expectations and developments into this conclusion. The book starts off with Jackaby and Abigail preparing for The Dire Council, who have been revealed to be supernatural in origin, to invade and take over the human realm. However, before they can even have a proper plan in place, they are caught up in the town’s mayor’s rising hysteria over the existence of supernatural creatures. From the earlier book, we already knew Jackaby doesn’t tolerate discrimination against people, so he opens up his house for the influx of supernatural refugees. Their investigation into the Dire Council’s plans takes them back and forth between Anwynn and the human realm, as well as delve into the history of how the realms came to be separate. Without going into too many spoiler-y details, all I am going to say is that things that were hinted in earlier books were definitely played out in this one. There was always a mentor-student relationship between Jackaby and Abigail, and we see it so well in this one: they are a superb team, whose bond is tight, and their paths are now inextricably linked. There are appearances, once again, of many secondary characters as well as resolutions for both romances (you know which is the other one if you have been paying attention) and there’s plenty of action and development blended in. We also see Charlie’s backstory, get more background on the fae, and the roles some supernatural characters have been playing for a while. What stopped me from giving that final star was the fact that, at some point well into the first half, it does feel directionless. There are too many characters, too much plot happening and it is all very confusing for a while. Again, towards the ending, there were twists upon twists, and normally that is a good thing, but here you had to second guess every motive and it was getting exhausting to keep up with that pace. The endings, however, deliver some gut punches (which were foreshadowed) and still also resolved very well, turning some things around. In short, an explosive finale.

Honestly, it ended exactly the way I thought it would. But I enjoyed it nevertheless. This has been one of the best, most magical book series that I've ever read and I'm a little sad that it's over. I look forward to reading more things by William Ritter in the future.

It is such a wonderful world of fun, fantastical, magic interwoven with life lessons that certainly have the power to serve humanity in these dire times.