So kudos to the author for creating that kind of emotional swell that is so effective, even if it was a draining experience for me! This one sat heavily on me for the week or so that its taken me to work through it. Its rare I get that swept up emotionally in a story and man, this was a damned heavy one to experience. Now that makes it sound awful :) And its not at all - but I found myself feeling all those emotions, while listening along and also after pausing and going about my day before going back to start a new chapter when I had the time, at night. The overall tone in the last half of the book was heavy and sad and riddled with loss and regret, longing, wistfulness and death. Given the supernatural themes surrounding the afterlife, I felt like Peter's arc could have ended differently and yet still have him accompany Amy to give her that loving time together with him. To become something he hated so much and was always so strongly convinced would be the worst thing to ever happen to him - and for Amy to make that happen it seemed very jarring to me. But I wish I knew more about what Michael found and saw and I found Peter's ending to be a bit upsetting, to be honest. Its just my ponderings after having finished the book. I highly recommend it, in fact and none of this is a criticism. I don't have any real gripes and will undoubtedly read/listen to this book again someday. *SPOILER ALERT* Do not read ahead if you haven't listened to this book yet. It was a satisfying ending to an epic story, spanning more than a thousand years and a central cast of a good dozen, plus a supporting cast of dozens of smaller characters, Too often the third act gets condensed too much for my taste and I'm left at the end wishing for a lot more. I do note that his approach to storytelling has changed over the three books and I can't tell if that's genuine and genius, or whether accidental and a sign of perhaps, his exasperation with this epic story he has no doubt spent, many years making and is possibly completely exhausted from. It suits the world he has built, the characters within it, although it takes some getting used to. The first time you read (or listen) to a book in this series, you'll probably think 'wow, where was his editor during all this', as he really does seem to meander along and at times you'll think the whole thing needs a good literary haircut. The author's writing style is highly unusual, to me.

Overall, I highly recommend the series to anyone looking for a long story to really sink your teeth into, no pun intended. I've read the first two books in this series a few times but finally got around to the last, The City of Mirrors and did it in audiobook instead.

Justin cronin the city of mirrors