Fyre (Septimus Heap, #7)

by Angie Sage

[KitsuneBae]

This review first appeared on the Wayward Kitsune.

Well, that was disappointing. Years and years of following the Septimus Heap series and all I get is a conclusion that is crammed with unnecessary scenes and characters that didn’t grow at all. I don’t know if my standards have improved or this book was just awful. I used to enjoy the series during my pre-blogging days. The series was not ground breaking but still, it was fun to read. This last installment though was pure torture. 684 pages of senseless stuff going on and on that I just want to set the book on fyre and end my misery.

Here are my main issues with this book:

1. Lack of character growth

All the characters remained stagnant in terms of development. They are even brimming with inconsistencies that made my head ache. 50 year old plus characters behaving like teenagers and vice-versa. Aside from that, most of their actions do not coincide with their descriptions. For example, Marcia Overstrand is the Extra-Ordinary Wizard (the highest ranking wizard in the world of Septimus Heap) and she is described as stern, wise, a leader and has zero tolerance for nonsense. But what you get in this book is a wizard who is not only petty but highly indecisive as well. There was even one scene wherein she just relied on teenagers to make the decision for a highly critical concern. I.Cannot.Even.

Dear Marcia, I suggest that you read the Harry Potter books 1-7 and learn some lessons from Albus Dumbledore. You don’t have to be him but I think it’s really time for you to evaluate yourself as an Extra-Ordinary Wizard because you are not behaving like one.

And to the rest of the characters, are you suffering from multiple personality disorder? A visit to a psychologist should be in order I think.

2. The plot that didn’t take off after 50% of the book

Why, Angie? What are you trying to accomplish during the first 50% of the story? So that you can make an impression that this ending is so grand just by the number of pages alone? Oh no, no, Angie. I really don’t mind if you’re going to make a 2000-page book as long as there’s enough interesting stuff to cover. But if you’re just going to insert irrational scenes here and there and waste a good portion of my day then please expect a very low rating from me.

3. Some dialogues are just utter rubbish

I wish I was diligent enough to take down notes of those rubbish dialogues so that I can include them on this review. Said dialogues were totally unnecessary and didn’t contribute anything other than make the story longer. But jeez, I was already so irritated with the length of this book that I just want to finish it once and for all.

Redeeming Qualities

1. World Building

Thank heavens for some reprieve. If there’s one thing that I admire about Angie Sage is that she really knows how to create a world that can make you feel that you’re actually living in it.

2. The Fully Wrapped Up Ending

All the loose ends were neatly tied up and what I really like is that Angie even made some sort of a newspaper article telling the readers what happened to all the characters in the future.

To conclude…
I really tried my best to be lenient with Fyre but it’s just so hard to turn a blind eye on the glaring flaws that I’ve mentioned above. My verdict: read this series only if you run out of books to read. And that you should just borrow all seven books from the library. There’s no point investing all your money in the series especially with this crappy conclusion.