Customer Reviews

The Lost Ones (The Veil, Book 3)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Oliver Bascombe is imprisoned along with his sister Collette and his fiancee Julianna after having been tricked into killing the King of Yucatazca, one of the Two Kingdoms; an act that has helped destroy the truce and brought the kingdoms to war. Behind the scenes, it is the sorcerer Ty'Lis who is manipulating events. Ty'Lis and the Atlanteans are hoping to weaken the Two Kingdoms and end up being the supreme power. They have been killing the Borderkind and hope to close off all gates between the modern human world and the world of myth and legends.

Oliver and Collette may be Legend-born, people with unique powers to enable the Lost Ones (humans trapped behind the Veil--which separates the worlds of myths from the mundane world) to be able to cross back into the human world they originally came from, but if so, they have yet to come into their powers or believe in themselves. But they still have to somehow escape and try to keep the human Kingdoms from war and the Atlanteans from killing people and closing the gates.

The story is fast-moving and filled with battles and action and magic and monsters and plenty of horrors (both of monsters and of warfare). There is some character growth in that Oliver and Collette and Julianna need to deal with being crucial players in events that will be possibly world-shattering. And there is suspense and emotion as characters are threatened by the evil Sandman and by the violence of warfare.

There could have been a little more character development and growth, but this is the third in a trilogy, so most of the emphasis is placed on bringing things to a climactic ending. Even that isn't handled particularly well--the warfare is horrific and there is also heroism and sacrifice, but Oliver's attempt to shorten the war seems ill-planned and odd, yielding an unintended result. Things seemed to tie up a little too quickly, but it was still a solid ending for this trilogy. My small pet peeve is that Ty'Lis succumbs to a classic Evil Overlord no-no when it comes to dealing with Oliver and Collette. Ah, well. I guess that's why the Evil Overlord-types never win...!

This was my first time to read a Christopher Golden Book. After reading one I read the whole set and thoroughly enjoyed them all. You have to read the whole set.

Awesome. This series continued to build itself up and finally in the final book we see everything come to a bloody resolution. Golden manages a sense of closure that plays at your heartstrings and a desire to find out what eventually becomes of the characters, humans, legends and gods that he creates.

The grand conclusion left a little to be desired and some of the creatures in this final installment were a little laughable (flying sharks and octopi???), but there was a sense of "epic-ness" that definitely reminded me of Tolkein.

Poor Kitsune! And how cool is the new Sandman? I can readily imagine myself reading this again on a cold winter day with rain pattering at the window.

This is an excellent conclusion to a wonderful series. I especially like all the twists and turns along the way. For instance, three of the mundane characters turn into very powerful legends themselves. What happens to Ted Hallowel is particulary fascinating. Of all the characters of the trilogy, he changes the most drastically. And another thing, he's indirectly responsible for the major change in the relationship of the two worlds. In the trilogy, Hallowel's transformation parallels the transformation of the worlds. In both cases, a merging takes place. In conclusion, these plot twists made for a very enjoyable epic.

Oliver Bascombe has learned so much about the creatures of legend since that night Jack Frost busted into his Maine home (see THE MYTH HUNTERS) and the Sandman abducted his sister Colette (see THE BORDERKIND). The American attorney has crossed the Veil several times to and from the Two-Kingdoms mostly to save his sister, but has learned of an interesting prophesy that vaguely implies earthlings saving this realm; could the Bascombe siblings be the saviors?

However, when the sly Atlantans destroy the peace between Euphrasia and Yucatazca, Oliver realizes he must prevent Armageddon. He blunders when he is fooled into using the sword of Euphrasia and kills the ruler of Yucatazca. As the doomsday clock ticks down, Oliver frees himself, Collette, and his fiancée Juliana Whitney from the Yucatazca royal dungeon. Whereas Collette and Frost journey to Euphrasia to reason with Hunyadito, Oliver and Juliana beg the indifferent legends of the Two-Kingdoms to save the realms as no one will remember them if they fail to act. However, no longer one to sit idly on the sidelines with cold feet, Oliver attacks Atlantis bringing the hostilities to the place that started the fiasco.

Although like in most if not all (can't think of an exception) quest fantasies, readers know what to expect, but will still be enthralled by the conclusion to the Veil trilogy as this is a golden winner. The story line is fast-paced and filled with action as the Maine siblings use Yankee know-how and some magic to try to save the day. Fantasy fans will appreciate this fun finish to a fine saga.

Harriet Klausner

Book is 3rd in series in which war is waged by evil socerers to seal off the magical world from the normal human world. Golden uses ancient gods and assorted animal monsters to wage his war, but these imaginative characters are kept distant. His interior dialog is well done, but most of the book is spent gathering forces. Protagonist Oliver, a man of some sort of ill-defined magic (he increases entropy) does not grab reader's sympathy. He is captive, then freed, then leading group to free the prince. Characters in general are not very engaging. Final battle sequences are bloody, repetitious, and way too long. Deaths of main characters occurs without any obvious benefit to plot. Quite in contrast to the cover assertion that this is fast-paced, I found that the book drags throughout and wished chapters would end and then that the whole book would end. I spent twice as long ploughing through 427 pages as I should have. Book should be cut at least by a third. I did not read the first 2 books in the seriies and am not motivated to do so.