Pacing Issues And Out Of The Blue (And Unnecessary) Epilogue Mar Promising Sequel. With how this book ultimately comes out, to my mind it actually would have worked better as one single book rather than two, even though both books told complete stories within themselves. This book arguably brings the most similarities to Hunger Games’ Mockingjay, with so much military strategizing of a looming threat dominating the book before a quick sprint of a final fight with an almost literal blink and you’ll miss it climax. As I said in the review of the first book here, it is still solid enough for the genre and for what it is, and fans of this particular type of tale will likely still very much enjoy this particular book. The training sections and first actual battle are particularly well done and indeed also bring to mind certain elements of Breaking Dawn, which was an interesting twist given the comparisons I named in my review of the first book.
Ultimately the star deduction was 90% about the epilogue though, and while I fully cop to this being a touch of a spoiler, it is an important deal breaker for many people, so I want those types to be aware of this up front – rather than defenestrating this text from the highest available window and leaving a one star review. Specifically, completely out of the blue with *zero* indication *anywhere* else that this was even *remotely* in the cards, we find ourselves a time after the final fight… and suddenly our lead suddenly has a baby, which becomes the entire focus of the epilogue. This was not only unnecessary, but also tarnishes the story told to this point moreso than the aforementioned pacing issues ever did, to the level that it leaves quite a bad “aftertaste” on the story.
Still, up until the moment of the epilogue, this is still a solid story of its type and one many will find enjoyable – and indeed, many will even enjoy that epilogue. But for those that don’t like sudden pregnancies/ sudden babies at the end of their books… just know that you can spare yourself and skip the epilogue without missing anything of import and while preserving your own view of this book.
Recommended.
This review of The Genesi Cure by Tristen Willis was originally written on December 31, 2024.
