I think I kept going with this series mostly because I've so loved Pike's horror, and love fantasy in general. Unfortunately, this finale of the "trilogy" (more on these quotation marks later) goes downhill from the earlier books, and when/if the series continues, I don't see myself continuing with it. The characters and concept of the series are enjoyable, but unfortunately, the execution falls flat--and I hate saying that, given how much I adore Pike's other work.

The first issue is a lack of editing; simply put, the book is overwritten/wordy, and would probably be quite a bit stronger if the author or an editor had cut loosely 50 pages of wordiness and needless backstory, if not more. The beginning is so incredibly weighted down with backstory (as are some parts after it), that it feels like the writer/editor expected everyone would have completely forgotten what happened in earlier books. There's no nuance to how the backstory is presented, either. If they really did feel that such a refresher was needed, I would have loved to see them offer one of those 'what happened before/up to this point' early sections/prologues that some fantasy books do, to great effect.

The second issue is a lack of centering...technically, the book is YA Fantasy, but even though the concept fits YA Fantasy, it's more of an Adult genre fantasy than not, especially once the main character (a teenager) begins acting more and more like an adult, and less and less like a teenager. There are reasons why, and I won't go into them for fear of spoilers, but the effect is that the book feels torn between YA and Adult, and it simply doesn't work. Especially in this book, when we stay with the MC for the first half and then start bouncing around between POVs...to be honest, it feels as if the book is just sloppy/unedited.

I'd love to have more good to say about this work, but the truth is that it was a slog to get through, and I don't think I would have picked it up at all (since I felt only lukewarm about the series' beginning books) if not for Pike's name and feeling like he'd present a grand finale. Story-wise, I think it was on one hand. On the other hand...the reader should know that this isn't a proper trilogy.

The book finishes up with a promise of another book/continuation in the series to follow the main character further in her adventure (which is necessary--the conclusion gave us a conclusion to plot, but no resolution to character struggle)...but as of now, 14 years after the publication of The Yanti, that fourth work has still not been published.

I'd recommend Christopher Pike's horror. I would not recommend this series. ( )

This review is for the series (all three books). I really enjoyed reading these books. I do like fantasy. I do like saving the environment. And I do like faeries. And I've read Pike since I was 11 years old. So I highly enjoyed this series. I enjoyed it much better than the Thirst series! ( )

The third book in the Alosha series deals with what I had thought would be the final battle against the Shaktra. Come to find out, there's a fourth book that's not yet in print (even though this one was published in '06). That was disappointing, as the tale is not yet wrapped up.
Besides that, however, this volume of the series was excellent. More information about the Shaktra (and the Shaktra's superior) is revealed, and the story is advanced. Also, this is a happier book than either of the first two. ( )