I had sadly fallen out of the habit of reading regularly, but this week I finally got back into it. Tonight, I finished book three of the "Apropos of Nothing" trilogy, by Peter David. (I read the first two books last year.)For some 350 pages of a 424-page tale, this third book -- Tong Lashing -- was everything I'd come to expect of the series. It was fun and whimsical, loaded with puns, and throughly enjoyable, managing to tell a compelling fantasy story while above all being a comedy.
And then, in the last few chapters of the book, something very unexpected happened. The book became quite deathly serious. Oh, there were still a few puns scattered here and there, but suddenly the subject matter had turned extremely dark. And the main character went to places he'd not been in any of the previous books.
As for the final few pages... well, if you'd told me that was how the series was going to end, it's possible I would not have believed you. Not a "twist ending," not exactly -- just something that was tonally completely different from all the rest of it.
And I haven't yet been able to decide what I think about it. The bulk of the book was great, as the two preceding books had been. Really, the ending was good too. But part of me is unable to reconcile that that ending went with this book. Scrooge goes back into his office the morning after Christmas and fires Bob Crachit. Sauron gets the ring back and wipes out all of Middle-earth. I mean, we're almost talking that order of change.
I think I praise Peter David for providing something good, unexpected, and unconventional. But it may take me some time before I know that for sure.
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