WRITTEN IN FIRE

The war over a generation with superpowers comes to a final showdown.

Sakey (A Better World, 2014, etc.) brings his cinematic series to a ferocious close, capping off a three-book experiment in futuristic violence, societal catastrophe, and hyperkinetic storytelling. The world is at war. The White House has been destroyed, cities burned to the ground, and society is crumbling. In Wyoming, the small percentage of the population with extraordinary abilities retreats behind the walls of the Jerusalem-like city of Tesla. They hide behind the Vogler Ring, a wall of microwave weapons that threatens to fry invaders in gruesome fashion. But a new group of extremists called the New Sons of Liberty is determined to exterminate the Brilliants at Tesla. Meanwhile, a mad scientist named Abraham Couzen has discovered a method to turn normal people gifted. Since testing out his strange brew, Couzen has become a multifarious threat himself. Terrorist John Smith and his creepy time-aberrant henchman, Soren Johansen, are determined to weaponize Couzen’s creation, forcing evolution upon the planet. “I realized when I was eight years old that [this] wasn’t a world I could live in,” Smith confesses. “I decided to tear it down and build a better one. To pen a new history, one written in fire.” The two people standing between Smith and the end of the world are government agent Nick Cooper and his partner in heroics, Shannon Azzi, who must pit their own gifts against the world’s villains one more time, even at terrible cost. That said, it’s not all so grave. Locked in combat with one of Smith’s deadly henchmen, Cooper has a nice Indiana Jones moment: “All you need to do is tie him up long enough for the others to—Wait a second. You’re carrying an assault rifle.” This entry isn’t the best jumping-on point but serves as a thrilling reward for loyal readers and those willing to take the ride.

A bombastic final entry that combines larger-than-life futurism with convincing ultraviolence to deliver a satisfying, open-ended finale.