Acceptance

This is a review about the whole series since the success of this final book is completely dependent upon how it resolves. And it does conclude well. Of course in a jittery, amorphous plot, nothing will be completely resolved, but that's what you expect. If it were tied up nicely, it would be a cop-out, a Disney-fication. If you like the first book, continue through the rest of the series.

If, like I usually enjoy, you are looking for an emotional story, then you will be disappointed. I already knew VanderMeer's propensity toward the plot-driven, so I expected it. But I only lost the thread in the last part of the second book. The first and last are strongly consistent.

There are some really neat things done with these books. You do get to know the characters well despite the bouncing around in space and time. And the prose can be both technical and poetic. It also gives the reader the feeling of what it might be like to loose one's self in the world; not a comfortable feeling but very interesting.

I don't think I liked this book quite as much as the previous two, but it still sucked me in and I'm not sure how better the trilogy could have been wrapped up. There are a lot of still unanswered questions at the end, which feels fitting but something about the style of this one felt like a tease, where the previous two volumes felt more convincingly like the answers simply weren't there to be had.

I still love and strongly recommend this trilogy overall.