When the latest and final installment of one of my favorite series came out last week, I raced over to the bookstore to pluck it off the shelf (along with several other books that I just couldn’t help but grab as well). Arms overloaded with books, I made my way into my house where I unceremoniously plopped them down on my bed and cracked open The City of Mirrors, by Justin Cronin.

I was engulfed. Immediately swept back into this world I have revisited so often (I think I’ve mentioned reading these books several times over the past years). I was both anxious to find out how it would all end and terrified of reading even one word more, lest it end too soon.

The Story

The world we knew is gone. What world will rise in its place?

The Twelve have been destroyed and the terrifying hundred-year reign of darkness that descended upon the world has ended. The survivors are stepping outside their walls, determined to build society anew—and daring to dream of a hopeful future.

But far from them, in a dead metropolis, he waits: Zero. The First. Father of the Twelve. The anguish that shattered his human life haunts him, and the hatred spawned by his transformation burns bright. His fury will be quenched only when he destroys Amy—humanity’s only hope, the Girl from Nowhere who grew up to rise against him.

One last time light and dark will clash, and at last Amy and her friends will know their fate.

It All Comes to an End

I think one of the things I like most about this series, and possibly the entire post-apocalyptic world genre, is the focus on humanity’s struggle to survive. You can say a lot of things about the human race but you have to admit, when our backs are up against it, we are serious fighters in our quest to keep going.

I love how the characters in this story are so resilient, even with faced with literal flesh-eating monsters. And over the course of the series I have grown to know, respect, and certainly cheer for some of them. But every series has to end, and I think Cronin did a nice job of bringing the story full circle.

Though I did enjoy this book and couldn’t put it down, nothing will ever quite live up to the first book in series, The Passage, with its horrific decimation of the humanity as we know it. But I still think you have to read the full series (trust me, you will want to) so you can understand the real motivations behind what happened.

I’m realizing it’s hard to talk about this without spoilers popping up everywhere. So just take my word for it and read the books.

You can find The City of Mirrors here.

Guest post contributed by The Storied Life Blog. Aside from this blogger’s wit and love of wine, enjoy the conversational tone of her book reviews.