Five Stars for the Final Book in a Great Series.

I’m sad to be finished with the Jane Yellowrock/Beast story, but I couldn’t have asked for a better ending. I won’t add any spoilers here, but I will say that I found the entire series to be riveting, funny, exciting, and finally satisfying.
( )

'Final Heir', the last Jane Yellowrock book, is aimed at people like me who've been following Jane Yellowrock for more than a decade and have watched her change from a 'Have Stakes, Will Travel' vampire hunter for hire, riding into New Orleans on Bitsa, her rebuilt Harley and nothing but her clothes. her weapons and a whole lot of secrets, to someone who, without ever becoming a vampire, now leads and protects them. Along the way, she's moved from lone operator to someone with a found family that includes some very dangerous humans, witches and vampires. She's also found out a lot more about her own origins and has developed a sophisticated and mutually rewarding relationship with BEAST the Puma Concolor who shares her body and her 'soul home'.

I've read all of the previous fourteen books, None of them is short. All of them have plots so complicated that you'd need a pretty smart piece of software to map all the relationships, plots and betrayals and with each book what you thought you knew gets twisted into something yet more complex, like a piece of origami that moves from simple swan to mind-boggling menagerie.

'Final Heir' is the book where all of that complexity finally resolves itself in a way that brings an end to most of the conflicts and offers most of the players a hopeful future. I'm normally sceptical of happy endings but even I had to admit that I was glad that, at the end of this book, BEAST is able to declare herself happy.

'Final Heir' is also a long book. In audiobook form, it runs for 17hrs 15 mins. When I was 2.5 hrs in, I made this note:

"The pace is... unhurried. There has already been a skirmish in which key characters were injured but most of the time has been spent with Jane unravelling the layers of politics and vamp history that wrap themselves around the plot like reeds around a swimmer's ankles slowing it down, or on Jane reflecting on her own emotional state and moral health

Reading this cold, you might expect that I was likely to set the book aside before the halfway mark and move on. I knew that was never going to happen. Why? Because I had to know what happened to Jane and her people. All that unravelling and how Jane felt about what she found out WERE the story.

It helped that Faith Hunter writes well and that I'm in love with Khristine Hvam's narration. The action scenes, as always, were spectacular. My emotions were played like an instrument, as characters I'm invested in were put at risk.

'Final Heir' isn't the best book in the series. The bad guy is a little underdeveloped. Some of the regular characters get given what, in a long-running TV series, would be called a walk-on cameo. But the emotions are still powerful and the main characters, especially Jane's found family continue to develop. Hell, I wanted Angie to have her own series, even though she's still a child (although a scarily powerful one).

What 'Final Heir' excels at is what pop psychology would call 'closure' and what I found myself calling 'Faith Hunter Explains It All'. The plot is a fiendishly clever final reworking of everything we learned in the first fourteen books, A reworking that provides clarity, and the possibility of a hopeful resolution. Of course, this being a Jane Yellowrock book, hopeful outcomes can only be achieved at great personal risk and are usually paid for by pain and sacrifice.

In my opinion, Faith Hunter delivered something very rare: a series finale that works and which gives the fans what they want. If you're one of those fans then I'm sure you'll enjoy this.

Personally, I'd have been happy if the series had ended with 'Dark Queen'. It wouldn't have been a happy ending for Jane but it felt real to me and it gave Jane a chance to end things on her own terms and do right by her people.

On the other hand, I enjoyed 'Shattered Bonds' which cleverly rebooted the series, giving it a boost in energy that allowed 'Final Heir' to deliver a very different outcome.

So, this is goodbye to Jane Yellowrock. It's definitely not goodbye to Faith Hunter. I'm already a fan of Nell Ingram and the Soulwood series and Shining Smith and the Junkyard Cats series. I'm sure there will be more good things to come. Maybe even a series about Angie. ( )

Final Heir
3.5 Stars

With the aid of her friends, family, and clan, Jane Yellowrock, the Dark Queen of the vampires, fulfills her destiny in the final battle with the heir to the Sons of Darkness and his followers. Who will prevail?

Unfortunately, Final Heir continues in the same vein as the last few installments (from #13), which have been rather lackluster, and have failed to completely live up to the excellence of the first books. That said, there are some exciting moments, all remaining plot threads are resolved, and the ending is satisfying overall.

While the rehashing of previous grievances over her position as the Dark Queen is kept to a minimum, and the religious elements (often overdone and unnecessary in the past) actually have a significant role in the plot, there is still too much focus on Jane's internal musings and recriminations. Moreover, she once again takes a back seat to the action until the end, and yet, is constantly sustaining life-threatening injuries.

The storyline revolving around the heir and his powerful followers - witches, skinwalkers and humans - is intense and suspenseful. Hunter skillfully weaves all of the threads from previous books into a cohesive and compelling whole.

In terms of the characters, there is little to no development, but that is to be expected in the final book. The biggest issue lies in Jane and Bruiser's relationship, which is overly saccharine and lacking in any real substance. Where is the intensity of attraction and connection that initially characterized their romance?

In sum, although the book is entertaining despite the issues mentioned above it is also disappointing in that it fails to provide anything truly remarkable or outstanding to the genre. It ends on a whimper instead of a bang! ( )

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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WHAT'S FINAL HEIR ABOUT?
The Vampire War in Europe is over—and the old guard seems to be defeated. Edmund is on his way to NOLA to be crowned and then some stability--and whatever passes for peace with the Mithrans should settle in for some time.

But first...there's the Heir to deal with. The last hope of the Sons of Darkness, the old ways—and possibly a turn to a darker time for humanity—still needs to be dealt with. Years ago, Leo Pellissier was given a prophecy about the defeat of the Heir and after Jane came to work for him, he decided she was at the center of the prophecy. Jane, as the Dark Queen, could defeat him. So Leo set to work organizing things in the way that only he can.

Now it's the endgame—time for the rest of the dominos that Leo set up to fall, for Jane to end the Heir, and change everything for the Mithrans. And possibly the rest of the supernatural world. Assuming she can. There's no certainty about that. There's also no certainty about who will survive this endgame—even if she manages to vanquish the Heir,* she may not survive the attempt. Even worse (in her mind) family, friends, and allies may die.

* He's a significant enough power that I don't feel too silly using a word like vanquish.

This isn't going to be easy. This is for all the marbles—and that's a great way to end a series.

THE YOUNGERS
Of all the characters we met along the way, I may miss Alex and Eli the most (as soon as I say that, I start to think about Angie, and question myself—but I really don't have time to go into that). Eli hasn't changed much since we first met him—he's opened up a bit more, he may be a bit more emotionally mature, but he's essentially the guy we met at the beginning. Faith Hunter's answer to Joe Pike. He knows his business, he enjoys the work (as grim as it is)—maybe finds a peace in a fight that he can't find elsewhere. He's also incredibly loyal, he takes care of his people—first and foremost, his brother.

Aside from Jane, no character in the series has changed—grown, developed, and matured--than Alex Younger. He started off as a rebellious, unhygienic, hacker—focused only on what he could do with his computer. And maybe not letting his brother down (too much) again. He's now an adult, he's responsible, he can handle himself in a fight, and there are things/people he cares about in his life—he's still a wiz with the computers, thankfully. He's essentially a version of Alex with a different weapon-set.

Their humanity (Eli is still largely human) is one of the few lasting examples we have in the series at this point, and they keep things grounded in the middle of all the vampires, weres, witches, extradimensional beings, and whatnot. They're great because of that, they're great outside of that, too.

I do feel bad for poor Eli—in the last couple of books, he's really taken a beating. It's even worse in this novel. If he survives to the end (I'm carefully not answering), he's going to have physical and psychological scars that are going to last. I know he wouldn't have it any other way, he gets them doing what he thinks is right. But still, you can't help but feel for the guy.

BEAST
The Beast and Jane dialogue/interchanges in this novel were fantastic. I relished each of them.

Once again, Beast has her own agenda—as is her right and fitting for her character. But given the stakes here, some of the information she decides not to pass on to Jane is hard to believe. Sure, Beast may not get all the details, but I don't see how she doesn't understand the urgency and the importance of what's going on.

But you know what? I just didn't care. I like how Beast is her own creature—she comes through for Jane when the chips are down, but on her terms.

HOMECOMING WEEK
There are so many supporting characters in this book, that it's really hard to fathom. There are so few characters from the series (that are still living/undead) that don't at least get a named drop or a check-in. But several show up for more. There were characters that we'd lost track of—a couple that I'd forgotten even existed played a role in this book.

Hunter pulled out all the stops for this book.

I'm probably not alone in spending time reflecting on the series as a whole as I read this book, and bringing up so many names from the past (ones we may have regretted losing track of—and a couple we were probably happy to have lost) really helped with that.

THE CHAPTER TITLES
I don't think I've talked about the chapter titles in these books before—and that's a crying shame. I'm not a big fan of chapter titles in general, but this series has featured some doozies. Several of them in Final Heir are amongst the best in the series. I really don't have a lot to say about them—but complimenting the chapter titles is overdue. There's a lot that Hunter does right in these books, and this is just one of the more consistent and amusing.

FINAL HEIR AS A SERIES FINALE
I'm not entirely sure it's fair to do, but I can't help but think about other series finales--particularly in the UF genre.* Last year, I compared the Alex Verus finale to the Iron Druid Chronicles. Final Heir doesn't match up well with either of them--it's more like the ending of the Kitty Norville series (and not dissimilar to the ending of The Hollows)—Jane and her friends and allies are up against a vampire (and his forces) bent on world domination in a final face-off. Okay, now that I start thinking about it, there are a lot of parallels between the two--but this isn't the time for that.

* Benedict Jacka's been talking about ending his series recently, and a lot of what he's had to say is helpful when thinking about things like this. I'm not going to use his categories to talk about Final Heir because of spoilers, but if you haven't read these posts (even if you haven't read the Alex Verus series)—go check it out after you read Final Heir.

Hunter has spent several books lining things up for this confrontation—not unlike Leo Pellissier's machinations in getting Jane to this point. Looking back at all the ins and outs from this perspective really is impressive. Final Heir is filled with combat and battles—maybe more than most novels in this series, they're definitely more savage and meaningful. I don't have a word-count, but I'd wager the final battle is longer than any we've yet encountered in the series. Hunter really gave her fans what they've been wanting (and will be missing). This is an epic villain, with giant stakes, it has to be an epic scene.

Better yet, following the battle, the novel's dénouement also serves as one for the series—and if the final battle gave fans what they wanted, then they're going to be knocked for a loop by the dénouement. We get the few dangling threads tied up and a good look at what the future offers for most of the characters.

I had expected a lot from the finale aspect of this book, and Hunter surpassed it.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT FINAL HEIR?
I think this is a bit more rambling than I want to be—it's also longer than it necessarily needs to be. Part of that is because there's so much to talk about in this novel—and I've barely scratched the surface so I don't give it all away. Part of the longer-than-usual nature of the post is also that there's part of me that knows I'm pretty much done with these characters when I hit "Schedule." Sure, I'll listen to the audiobook sometime next year, and I'll likely re-read/re-listen to the series sometime after that. But all of that is revisiting. Finishing here is finishing the series, so I'm trying to drag it out.

For the first four or five books, this series served to fill the time while I was waiting for other Urban Fantasy books to come out. But around then it took on the role of being something I needed filler for while waiting for the next Yellowrock book. And lately, it's one of those series I organize my reading schedule around. Listening to the series on audio over the last year has really helped me see all the ways Hunter's been preparing the characters and the readers for these events, and it's truly impressive. As it now stands, the Jane Yellowrock series ranks near the top of the UF pantheon for me (completed or on-going series), beating out stiff competition.

But let's set that aside for a moment and just focus on this book—it's full of all the action, the heart, the magic, and sense of family we've grown accustomed to. Jane Yellowrock finally finds her place in this world (sure, she found it before, but it's more solidified now), her priorities are intact, she's doing good in ways she hasn't been able to before--and those that she cares about (many she'd never have considered caring for 15 books ago) are in good places. Just for the character work alone around Jane, this book is worth the time.

I think someone new to this series would come away from this one entertained and impressed—I don't know why someone would do that, but I'm sure someone will.

From the jaw-dropping (whoa, Hunter's taking no prisoners!) first chapter to the last lines that genuinely made me misty, Final Heir was a great ride. If I have to say au revoir to Jane, Bruiser, Eli, Alex, and the rest—especially Beast—this is was quite the way to do it. Bravo, Faith Hunter. ( )