Just! No! I can't! Why? HOW COULD IT END LIKE THAT?

Why do I keep thinking every series I start is going to be a trilogy? (Though the fact that the book was called 'Liberation' also led to my belief that it was the last book in the series. How was I to know that Liberation referred to the rescuing or liberating of ReAssignees, rather than the liberation of the oppressed world?) When is the fourth book coming out? The sneak peek at the end of book three said that it was coming out in November, 2015, but it is almost December of 2015, and even if it comes out before the end of the month, when will it come out in the US?

This book took me longer to read than it should have. I think it was because of school, and homework, and being overwhelmed by my excitement with the story, and upset by the tragedy.

If I learned one thing about writing from Harry Potter, it's that in order to make a story really resonate with a reader, to make us realize how much defeating the evil costs the main characters, it's that you have to kill at least one character who the readers are very attached to. (J.K. Rowling killed a whole bunch of characters I was really attached to.) Corinna Turner has gotten a good start on that with this book, and for all that I just expressed about how authors need to do this, I'm still not very happy about it. Okay, so Father Mark didn't make me cry the way Dobby and Fred Weasley did, it was more like my response to Sirius Black (stop reading the book in disbelieving disgust at two o'clock in the morning, only to be irresistibly drawn back into the story in the morning). I was pounding the floor in distress, asking how 'they' (the EuroGov or the author) could do that. I am not happy about Doms's death either, though my upset with that was upstaged by Margo's upset with Bane's capture. I really, really wanted to see Doms and Juwan again. I still hope we will see Juwan again, and see how he is recovering from his heartbreak over Doms.

I still hope we can see Jane again, she was such an interesting character.

Although I was happy to get to know Kyle better, the amount of fights he got in with Margo were a bit disappointing. Although most of the fights were him trying to protect Margo, giving us a delightfully strong idea of how much he cares about Margo, I was still a bit disappointed that so much of there interaction was fighting.

Eduardo is great in this book. In some ways he is (probably unintended) comic relief. He's a bit like Ron Weasley in his matter-of-fact insensitivity, and it was that characteristic of Ron that led to a lot of the funny parts in Harry Potter. I think Pope Cornelius is a foil for Eduardo.

I'm still waiting on meeting Jon's and Margo's parents. Hopefully we'll have the opportunity to meet Margo's parents at all. I hope Bane has an opportunity to see his parents again. To forgive them if he can.

Sister Krayj (how is that pronounced, Help!) and Unicorn were interesting characters. Sister Krayj seems like a feminist (a healthy feminist, not so over the top that she is sexist against men.) She's strong, capable and kind. Unicorn was sweet and brave. Hopefully we'll see more of these two in the next book.

Margo, Bane and Jon are mostly unchanged. Margo had some character growth, when she made the decision to stop coming on the liberations. Jon had some character growth somewhere in the book that I can't put my finger on, stopping the bitterness and self-pity that I was so afraid would overwhelm his character. I'm still hoping he gets a chance to be happy. Bane grew as mostly at the end I think. It's quite a difference to go from pretending to betray people to save your life (even if you're planning on loosing the people sent to tail you to find the people you pretended to betray) to giving up your life to save them. If it weren't for Margo's realization that the only reason he'd given himself up was to get on the news and be the spark that set the EuroBloc on fire, then I would have thought it was just him being his usual stupid self, crazy with guilt, trying to be brave, but just hurting Margo. But because Margo did realize that he was deliberately giving a speech to lead to the protests in the squares across Europe, I think that he may have had more character growth than either Jon or Margo.

If book four is supposed to be the final volume, how is the rest of the world going to be freed? They've gotten a decent start on Europe, but Africa is the only free state, so they not only have to bring down the EuroGov, but the AmeriGov (north and south,) the AsiaGov, AustraliGov, and the oppressive governments of any other large islands. I suppose the fall of the EuroGov could be catalyst enough to lead to the fall of the dictatorships on the other countries, but I'm still not sure that all of those places can be freed in just one book. At least the sneak peek has let us know we're finally going to get to see 'the mysterious benefactor' again.

I need book four now. ( )