Joyeaux Charmand’s last adventure in this trilogy by Mercedes Lackey gets absolutely wild, and that’s both a good and a bad thing.
It’s hard to really categorize Mercedes Lackey’s Hunter series. It’s clear she had basically the entire urban fantasy genre in mind, but then she combined it with young adult and post-apocalyptic science fiction to get a world where slinging spells is just as common as slinging bullets. To her credit, Lackey makes this work incredibly well.
It practically bears repeating, with some bonus add-ons. Joyeaux Charmand’s world is hugely complex, with psychic-powered people fighting alongside magical Hounds. For a fan of all of these genres, reading Apex and the previous two books, Hunter and Elite, are delicious mashup treats.
However, it’s tough not to notice something a little off with Joy as a character. Certainly, she learns more about the new world around her as the three books progress, and she has a lot of insights, but more often than not, it’s something that only Joy can do. There are examples throughout the three books, but Apex might have the biggest pull from nowhere of them all. The last-minute save is a common literary trope, certainly, but when your heroine is super-special even among the literally-named Elite Hunters that serve her city, it becomes a little more obvious and grating.
The funny thing about it is she’s also still quite likable! She has a great sense of humor, which makes reading through the books a breeze—she narrates completely in first-person. Her amazing feats are still satisfying, because Joy’s a complete badass! And it’s not as though she falls into the trap of having a strong heroine always be strong emotionally. Lackey avoids that.
Moreover, it seems as though Lackey wanted to studiously keep the romance from taking over the novel, which is appreciated. Joy’s love interest, Josh, still shows up to a serious degree, but he’s less love-interest and more plot-relevant overall, with all of the attendant kissing more of a sidebar.
Unfortunately, the issue with Joy also affects the plotting of the book, as does its relative shortness. Apex clocks in at under 300 pages, and it seems as though Lackey had to pack in a lot of big reveals and more of those spontaneous developments in order to get from where Elite left off to the conclusion of the series, which ultimately means lots of action scenes, which brings us back to Joy being special. Sure, other characters come in and play pivotal roles, and it’s not like Joy comes out unscathed. However, it’s established in the first book that Joy’s Hound situation is way out of the norm, and it does not start being the norm here.
The Hounds, however, do end up still being great characters, even if some of them are basically always in the spotlight, which makes the ones that don’t get attention a touch superfluous.
Next: Reviewing Star Wars: Phasma
Ultimately, this book comes out mixed for me. The concept itself is still wonderful, and I enjoyed the read. (I’ll admit a wide range of mythologies used and referenced is a weakness of mine.) But wow, do the flaws show through here, because there’s less room to add in bits of distraction. If you’re into the series already, there’s probably not much to sway you away from finding out what happens, and if you’re into the wide range of genres Lackey draws on, you’ll likely give this series a shot.
And if you’re thirsty for a YA heroine who does not completely lose her mind at the sight of a good-looking person, Joy Charmand will do the job.