Zenith Dream

So if you’ve been following my blog you might have read the reviews for The Star Host and Ghost & Ashes, also by F.T. Lukens. Zenith Dream, is the third and final book in the trilogy and while it is good it doesn’t quite deliver like the first two books in the installment do.

First, the first two books in the series are arguably really enjoyable. You combine science-fiction tyranny, adventure, love, space, and rebel organizations and you have a culminating concoction of interest and intrigue. Having left off Ghost & Ashes as a cliffhanger I was super pumped and exhilarated to return to Asher, Ren, and the whole crew of the Star Stream and while we did return to these beloved characters I did feel like there was one major problem with the novel: pacing.

Asher, Ren, Penelope, and the others are still characterized well and written cleanly and with care, but the timing of the book felt long and strangely off-kilter to me. The beginning was stretched and drawn out and to be very candid, nothing of much substance happened. Ren manages to pick up another stray in the form of Darby, who I found annoying but begrudgingly likable (Lukens seems to be very good at this), but I still despise when an author introduces an important character in the very last installment.

Ren and the others manage to rescue Asher and I anticipated some intense therapy and discussion for these two lovebirds seeing as they spent a majority of Ghost & Ashes fighting, but they seemed to get over their argument as if it had been a molehill instead of the mountain book two perceived it to be.

In addition, I disliked how the main villain of the series ended up being Millicent, the other Star Host, as she never seemed that dangerous to me and her motives seemed weak and unsupported compared to people like Vos or other tyrants.

The beginning and middle muddled together as line after line talked about what previously happened and then I realized there were thirty pages of the book left and literally nothing had been resolved. Like actually zero content had been fixed. So the last thirty pages was a messy rush of furious activity, poorly written action scenes, and a rushed epilogue that halfway delivers on what I want but still left me dissatisfied and insatiable.

This series was always a guilty pleasure of mine, The Bachelor in book form you might say, but the ending did not hold a candle to the charm and the uniqueness of the first two and the rushed conclusion makes it seem like a waste of time and a hurried homage to characters that deserved better.

Recommendation: Read the first two books in the series,  The Star Host and Ghost & Ashes, and then read my reviews (and comment) and then return to this blog to read this short synopsis on the third book instead of wasting valuable money and valuable time on a conclusion that does’t deliver.

Score: 5/10