Pendragon #10: Soldiers of Halla, by D.J. MacHale

I.......... AM.......... FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!

(10 dots for each ellipse and 10 exclamation points, all representing my triumph over the 10th and final Pendragon adventure! Also, this is the largest type I'm allowed to use. That's how excited I am. ^_^)

It's incredible! I can hardly wrap my mind around it! This was the moment I've been working towards for soooo long! And... now it's over. -,- That's just too bad. But I'm not going to dwell on that, because that would ruin my tirade of how truly awesome the last book was!

Honestly, it was much like reading the final book of Harry Potter, only... well, I can't say it was better, since I love Harry so much and would hate to see him topple off his perch in my number one spot of best loved series, but Bobby is too good to be content with second place. So let's just say that Potter and Pendragon are holding hands at the finish line of their stories. Because it's the finale of a series that makes a reader decide whether it had all been worth it. The suspense. The adventure. The romance. The slight humor that you can't help smiling at, maybe even laugh at. The heartaches. The turmoil. The challenges. The cliff-hangers. The victories. The surprises. The characters. The villains that emulate every spirit of evilness in the world in one persona. The heroes you would follow to the ends of their worlds, cheering them on every step of their way to make things right for their people, risking everything. And of course, the universes of the stories themselves, sprung from the imaginations of two wonderful people, which are filled with the most amazing, mind-blowing, unbelievable, and yes, even magical, worlds I could never have imagined on my own. This is why I love reading so much.

I cannot give enough praise to D. J. for what he's published for the whole world to see. It's just terrific. (Graham, I'm talking to you. If you weren't convinced before to get into Pendragon, you've absolutely got to get started now! This series is too exciting to miss!) It is sooo hard to believe that I started this "journey through time and space" less than a year ago. Now I'm done.

I'm so glad I decided to just finish it already. I had a feeling that all the other books I borrowed from the library could definitely wait for another time. I wouldn't mind if Pendragon would be the last book I reviewed this month. I need to get back to writing my own incredible tale. I shouldn't be distracted by the hopes of fictional worlds that will seem hollow for a while after what I've just read.

Yes, I know. I've managed to reveal absolutely nothing about the plot-line of The Soldiers of Halla. Well, as much as I loved this book, I'd sure hate to be the one to ruin it for those who haven't yet read it. Funny, I thought I'd have a much harder time keeping the story a secret. But you know what? 

...I can't resist. ^,^

Here's a few things you can expect from this book, without any worry of spoiling the story. Sorry to tease and torture you like this, but I think it'll be fun for me:

• You may have thought it was over from the end of the last book, but in reality, Bobby and his friends are so far from over that they're on the far side of Pluto, it's so far. ^,^ (No! Not literally! Shut up! They don't go to Pluto. *snort* It's in a metaphorical sense. Duh!)
• There is much jumping between territories. You'd never believe it. And you thought the flumes were destroyed, right? Well, the Travellers still have a way to travel...
• The stakes are higher than ever before. It's not just about saving Halla. It's saving the spirit of Halla... (I'll let you think on that. ^,*)
• The military-like planning and fighting scenes are awesome! Not to mention the final battle. So appropriate!
• All you really have to know is that all the other books were a prelude compared to this epic! I swear, I could never have predicted it would come to this when I first picked the series up. Not in a million years!

Okay, enough of those vagueties (if that's actually a word). I still have a couple things I'm dying to share about the final book. Please forgive me if these secrets spoil your reading experience:

• A few people you thought were dead? They're not. Doh! I'm so sorry! That's a big one to give away. But trust me. It'll still be a relief to find out why they're not dead.
• Saint Dane's demise is sooo cool! Yes, I'm sorry about not putting you through the suspense, but Saint Dane is beaten for good. He completely deserved what he got. It was almost cooler than reading about Lord Voldemort's final defeat. Almost. ^,~
• The last chapter, what I'd call the epilogue (even though it doesn't say "Epilogue," that's ultimately what it is), I'd have to say is just a mite better than Harry Potter's. It's honestly all worth it in the end. Yes, it takes place in Bobby's future. (Uh-huh, sorry to spoil it, but Bobby has a future.) And what a future it is! It's completely worth it in the end. It truly comes full circle. To the very... last... sentence.

If you have any comments to share, I hope they're long ones. Please don't play concise with me. If you've read the book, please tell me if you can add anything to MacHale's pile of compliments. I hope all my friends can enjoy what I've just enjoyed to the fullest.

So glad I decided to buy it and not wait for it to come in the library!!! ^,^