At the Sign of Triumph- The End at Last.

Okay, I finished At the Sign of Triumph a couple of weeks ago. It was the final book (Book 9) in the Safehold Series by David Weber. I've been looking forward to this book for a while. It was a good book and I enjoyed it. If I were rating on a scale of 1 to 5, I'd give it a solid 3. Maybe a 3.5. It's unfortunate that my most overwhelming feeling was 'Thank Heavens this series is finally over!' 

Having said that, I need to add that while I didn't like how some of the books in the series ended, I loved this series. The first several books in the series were some of the best books I've read and David Weber is one of my favorite authors. It just seemed like the last few books were moving like cold molasses in January, as my mother used to say. 

The war that was being fought between the two powers stretched to encompass the whole planet and maybe it was too much to ask at it progress during each book but I ended each installment with a sense of being cheated of the ending I needed. I finally got it with this book.

I have written books that were part of a series but I have tried to make each one have its own internal story that was complete within the volume. Maybe that was why the later books were so unsatisfying to me. There didn’t seem to be any arc that finished within the framework of the book. They just went on and on.

At the Sign of Triumph I assume is the last book in the series, but the author sets it up to continue if he wants to. In any event, the war is over and the heroes have triumphed as the title would indicate. As long as the series ran, and as tired as I was getting of the never-ending battles, it seemed like this books was rushed and a lot of the ending to the combat was forced.  I kept thinking, why couldn’t this have happened two books ago?

It sounds like I have more complaints than praise for this book but the truth is that, as I said earlier, I enjoyed it.

Sorry, I guess I just needed to get the rant out of my system.

I enjoyed this book even though it had a rushed feel. Weber’s writing style is one that I appreciate. I have whole bookshelves in my library devoted to his books and if you read my own books you will probably see a pale echo of his style because I read so many of his books. All of the books in the series were good enough to keep me interested throughout the story. Obviously, I kept reading to the ninth book so something must have been working. They were frustrating in the lack of progress but good stories nonetheless. I'll always be up for his next book. 

But that’s just my opinion.