This book was such a freaking letdown. I really liked the first two books in the series but hated most this final installment.

The details of how the multiple realities worked was left vague previously but in this book the author tries to explain how everything works, only none of it makes any sense! The plot is also pretty muddled, I guessed all the twists, and the story doesn't have the same cohesive feel as the previous books.

Its also got a number of unpleasant scenes that seemed to have no place in the book. Animal death, animal mutilation, graphic child murder, sexual assault...and none of it dealt with well in my opinion. And even though I still really like the two main characters I find the character of AU (whose name has to be a joke right?) utterly detestable. The author doesnt seem to feel that way though, and AU takes a central role in the story.

I wanted to finish the series and find out what happened, but honestly could have done without reading this. There were a few scenes I enjoyed but overall I just dont know what the author was thinking.
( )

A dismal end to an otherwise-mediocre series. How do you explain the death of one of your main characters in a previous book? Many Worlds theory: he's not the same one as the one you're following now! You just thought he was. Couple that with the most squick-inducing dedication I've ever read (just a shade away from "To Mom and Dad--thanks for gettin' it on and conceiving me"), and, well, at least it's not a forgettable book. Pass the brain bleach, please. ( )

first line: "Naia was thirty-one and driving home to revive a lapsed tradition: to give birth to an Underwood at Withern Rise."

The introduction of several new characters to this third and final installment of Lawrence's Withern Rise series was a bit jarring; it changed the general feel of the story. Still, I think this book offers a satisfactory conclusion to this trilogy about alternate selves in alternate realities. I imagine I'll pick up the books again one day and read them in quick succession. (As it was, there was quite a hiatus between my reading of the second book and the appearance of the third in paperback.)

It may also be interesting to read Lawrence's When the Snow Falls, or Fifty-Fifty, a sort of prototype of the Withern Rise books. ( )