I enjoyed this conclusion to the Jackaby series, though I was a bit overwhelmed at times by the sheer quantity of characters and names. Also, while there was a lot going on, at times it felt like nothing was actually happening... I think this book's biggest flaw, though, is that it got so much more serious than the first two installments of the series. Yes, this is war between the good guys and the bad guys, and yes this is possibly the end of the world, but the change in tone was a bit sad, since the humor is one of the things I enjoyed the most about the first two books.

(Addendum: I started listening to the audiobook version of this book, but had to switch to the ebook. The narrator has several moments where her inhalations sound like intentional gasps, but given that some of them make no sense in context I had to conclude that it was at least partially places where the editing team did not edit out the narrator's breathing. Instead of trying to determine which breaths were supposed to be gasps and which were merely breathing, I checked out the ebook from the library to finish the book. My review does not include this annoyance as part of the rating, but unlike the prior books I cannot fully recommend the audiobook for this specific installment of the series.) (audio = first 1/3, ebook = last 2/3) ( )

A solid ending to the series. I do enjoy Ritter’s writing, especially his dry sense of humor, and this was good on audio. I’m not sure I liked how Nicola Barber did Jackaby’s voice, but she’s a perfect Abigail, and I liked her other character portrayals.
There was a moment when I thought my rating for this book was going to be all five stars ripped to shreds and hurled like angry confetti. The “supplementary material” chapter saved the review from this fate, but I’m still mad about Charlie’s initial death. Instead, the only drop in stars was because I felt the last confrontation was too drawn out, and I had a hard time swallowing at least one aspect of the final resolution.
Overall, I liked the book, and I would highly recommend the series.

( )

So, here we are with the last book in the Jackaby series. It was both thrilling and bittersweet to read this book. It's always sad when a series end. I would recommend reading this series from the beginning and not read this one without having read the previous three books. In many ways is it one story that has taken place over four books.

What I loved about this book and the whole series are the quirky characters, the humor, and the mysteries. The Dire King has several funny moments, often thanks to Jackaby, who in many ways reminds me of a younger Sherlock Holmes. Which makes Abigail Rook his Watson. And, yeah she does play her sidekick role very well, adding balance to Jakaby more eccentric ways. Storywise is this book just as good as the previous books and I quite liked the twist at the end of the book. It felt very suiting like everything has been leading to this and I do hope, despite this being the last in this series, perhaps to see the characters in a new series one day? *puppy eyes*

The Dire King is an easy-going and well-written book and I recommend it warmly!

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review! ( )

Less of a mystery this time, more of an ongoing fantasy denouement. Still wonderfully readable -- flows across the page, hard to put down, I will miss these characters. ( )

I really enjoyed this as a conclusion to this story! I'm glad I've finally wrapped up this series but I'm also sad to see it go. I know this author has a middle grade series that I'm kinda interested in but I hope this author will continue to write interesting stuff.

There's a lot going on in this book. They basically have to fight a war in this book so this definitely moved away from simple mystery solving, which I was a little sad about because I really like that part of these books. I also generally don't enjoy reading battle scenes, even if they are really well written. However, I understand the need for a bigger conclusion for the finale of the series and I thought it was pulled off well. This plot did feel a bit chaotic at times but really I thought that fit the general tone of the rest of the series and I really enjoyed seeing all the pieces get pulled together.

The characters are still great. Charlie's family is introduced in this book and his sister Alina ended up playing an important role but I do wish we had gotten to know her better outside of the action scenes but it was nice to see more of Charlie's background. I liked the way that all the characters plot lines wrapped up as well, even if it was a bit harrowing. I'm a romance reader, so I love happy endings, but I do think it was a good decision to use the Twain to bring Charlie back, even if it was pretty predictable

I'm sad to see this series go but I liked how it wrapped up. Honestly, I think this is super underrated as a series. Charlie is honestly one of my favorite love interests ever and I would really encourage people to give this series a chance. ( )