THE PHOENIX FALLACY

The conclusion to Sourbeer’s (The Phoenix Fallacy: Book II, 2014, etc.) sci-fi trilogy finds mercenary Janus learning of his past as he strives to stop an impending disaster.

The ODIN Legion, a group of mercenaries known as “Adepts,” has found out that Victoria Middleton, an Overlord of the city of Cerberus, seems to have a sinister plan in the works. Adept Janus Delacroix, an orphan in his early 20s who was raised on Cerberus by his adoptive mother, Clara, works to unravel Middleton’s plot, which necessitates digging into his world’s history—as well as his own. Norm Walden, former Overlord of wrecked corporate city Phoenix, and Praetor Alexander Jennings, ODIN’s leader, help by revealing the events that precipitated Phoenix’s destruction. Years ago, Jennings was leader of the SHADE Legion, which Phoenix’s forces inexplicably attacked; the city was hiding a “miracle” drug that was causing strife between the world’s ruling Corporations. In the course of Walden and Jennings’ story, Delacroix finds out new details about his biological parents and their fates. Meanwhile, a secret lying in the Phoenix rubble could spark a catastrophe, putting millions of lives in potential danger. With Sourbeer’s impressive final installment, the trilogy effectively comes together as a single, lengthy narrative. This time around, the author devotes more than half of the book to backstory, which aptly resolves questions that the series has raised along the way; for example, readers finally learn precisely how infant Delacroix wound up in the slums of Cerberus. Furthermore, the author’s prose retains its razor-sharpness, breathing life into numerous action scenes: “Large billowing clouds sprung from the grenades as they landed amongst the disoriented Inferni [Cerberus’ soldiers]....The haze instantly became like soup.” The gratifying final act includes a devastating death and a hint of more to come—a spinoff set in the same universe, perhaps.

A finale that maintains the series’ savvy and exuberance.