I am back with another book review, today it is the last book in the Generations Trilogy, Alone by Scott Sigler.
Do you ever finish a series and just look back at all the progress that was made? I've never really thought of it before, but after finishing this book, all I can think about is how much the characters have grown and how much has changed since the series started with Em waking up in a coffin.
The story picks up around where it left off, Em and the gang are leading the humans, Barkah is leading the Springers. Recently, there have been some issues with groups of Springers who decided to fight against the group. The Birthday Children are becoming more and more aggressive as the days go on. Em starts to wonder what is really going on, surely her friends don't actually want to kill each other? Soon the group spots several spaceships coming towards the planet. Torn between figuring out the issues on the ground and protecting their home, Em has some difficult choices to make.
This book has been on my TBR list since the pre-order arrived because I had recently finished book two and was excited to finish the series. But I was a little nervous for a couple reasons: 1) The book is massive! It clocks in at just under 550 pages. I don't mind long books, but I was worried that things would unnecessarily be drawn out, and 2) After Alive, the series took a more sci-fi turn than I was expecting. I was a little nervous that things would go over my head because I'm not usually super into sci-fi.
Thankfully, my concerns weren't necessary. Despite the book's size, each part goes by quickly. I liked how it wasn't just one big battle at the end of the book, but a series of action throughout. I had to keep reading to see what would happen next. There are quite a few science-y moments throughout the book, but Sigler did a good job of explaining things that were important to the story but not necessarily common knowledge.
I wasn't a huge fan of the romance element of the book, I think Em is fine on her own, she doesn't need 'a man' as she so often liked to refer to him as. I almost felt like we had too much going on, that a romance and a convoluted love triangle weren't really necessary. I don't think it took away from the story, I'm just not sure it added anything either.
I appreciated the depth into Matilda's backstory, the reasoning behind why the Birthday Children were created, everything with the Founder, etc. but it almost felt too little, too late. I was past the point of sympathy for Matilda and her backstory felt like a random grab at the heartstrings. Of course, I am sympathetic, and what happened to her was horrible, but it just felt like that didn't justify what she had done for centuries.
I liked the little epilogue, some of it was a bit shocking - um BISHOP?! But I liked how things were wrapped up and I could definitely see a spin-off series from this one.
I think, overall, this was a good conclusion to the story but I just feel like it's missing something.