Joshua Palmatier

Covenant's End is the fourth and final book in the Widdershins Adventures by Ari Marmell. These are young adult books, although I didn't know this when I bought the first book. I can see why they're classified as YA, although I don't think that's a label they should necessarily be stuck with. I enjoyed them all (even if I felt that one of them wasn't quite in line with the other three).





The premise of this final book is that Widdershins is returning to Davillon, after fleeing (and yes, she finally admits that she fled) and spending some time away from "home." She thinks it's going to be grand coming home, meeting up with old friends, and picking up her life where she left off. But while she's been gone, some of her old enemies have banded together and made a few unnatural allies, and they've been waiting for her return. Even before she reaches the city, Widdernshins realizes that she isn't going to receive the homecoming she thought . . . and that her friends are in as much danger as she is.

This was a great final chapter in Widdershins' adventures. She needed to return home again, not just because of the threads hinting of it in earlier books, but because she needed to face herself and what had happened to her in the city. As Ari Marmell states himself, she needed to grow up. She thought she'd left the city after a previous adventure because it would be safer for her friends, but she really simply fled. Because of fear, because of the deaths of some of her friends, brought about by her own actions, and because she wasn't ready to face those emotions and that responsibility. But after her time away (which is the book that I don't feel fits the general thread of the series; sort of an odd man out), she's had enough time to realize that she's been lying to herself about why she left and she's now ready to face the truth.

And this is why I feel these books are so good. The main character is what carries you through them. You genuinely like Widdershins and are more than willing to go along with her adventures because of who she is, who she wants to be, and her overall spunk and fighting spirit. The books would not have worked so well without her. I don't think they would have worked at all. It's her--and her relationship with her omnipresent god as a sidekick--that keeps the books moving and keeps you reading. The world itself is more or less a basic fantasy world--medieval in nature. The supernatural elements that make it fantasy are classic as well; fae creatures with vicious natures and hideous powers. It's Widdershins that firmly roots the reader into the books. It's her uniqueness that keeps you reading.

This book brings the series to an obvious conclusion and rounds out the series well. All of the elements of the first two books return, along with all of the Widdershins friends, the elements set up in the previous books coming together in a nice plot. Would I have liked to have seen more Widdershins' books in the future? Yes. Would it have been wise to continues the series beyond these books? No. This is where the series should end. Taking it any further would have been dragging a dead body behind the horse.

So, a nice, pleasant little series that I encourage everyone to read. You'll enjoy the world, you'll enjoy the plots, you'll enjoy the rather dark supernatural creatures Widdershins is forced to face (for most of the books), and more importantly you'll enjoy Widdershins herself.