United as One is the seventh and final book in the Lorien Legacies series. I implore you to go and read them! They start with I am Number Four.
There's always a huge sense of dread when you pick up the final book in a series. It could be incredible and everything you wished for. Or maybe it's not going to live up to all the hype you've got inside you ready to burst. It's always tough picking up that last book. When I looked at the beautiful hardback edition of United as One, it filled me with this exact feeling of dread, as well as excitement to pick it up, and sadness that it was almost over.
But whoa, what a ride.
From the beginning, I felt this big weight of tension. It's all come down to this, and I was a little terrified. No, little is an understatement. After each of the first few chapters, I had to stop and steel myself for the next one. I couldn't be any more invested. I was fully involved and ensnared by this universe.
The whole thing is tense from start to finish. I thought the previous book (The Fate of Ten) was hard to put down, but this was on another level. This time, there weren't as many places to breathe. I read a lot of it with my hand covering half the page so I couldn't read ahead. I just don't have the words to describe this level of tension. It was crushing. I was gripping the book tight, my heart pounding, face getting closer and closer to the page.
Lore made it painfully obvious that none of the characters were safe, and that put me on edge even more. I knew that if I read on, people were going to die. Usually, you can name at least one character that you know will survive until the end. Not in United as One. Anyone could go at any time. And that was petrifying.
And yep, there were tears. Oh yep.
What a mad roller-coaster it was. I finished the whole thing in under 48 hours. A sense of horrible loss swallowed me up when I turned the final page but also satisfaction as, at last, everything was tied up.
All I can say is bravo, Lore. Bravo.
Author / Editor in Chief at Molten Publishing / Freelance Editor / Writing Coach / Reviewer / Blogger / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready
