The Immortal Heights

by Sherry Thomas

Summary from GoodReads

In a pursuit that has spanned continents, Iolanthe, Titus, and their friends have always managed to remain one step ahead of the forces of Atlantis. But now the Bane, the monstrous tyrant who bestrides the entire mage world, has issued his ultimatum: Titus must hand over Iolanthe, or watch as his entire realm is destroyed in a deadly rampage. Running out of time and options, Iolanthe and Titus must act decisively to deliver a final blow to the Bane, ending his reign of terror for good.

However, getting to the Bane means accomplishing the impossible—finding a way to infiltrate his crypt in the deepest recesses of the most ferociously guarded fortress in Atlantis. And everything is only made more difficult when new prophecies come to light, foretelling a doomed effort....

Iolanthe and Titus will put their love and their lives on the line. But will it be enough?

With The Immortal Heights, Sherry Thomas brings the acclaimed Elemental Trilogy to its breathtaking conclusion.

Thoughts on the Book

Pretty much my only thoughts on the book were "omg, it's here, it's out, omg".  Needless to say I've been anxiously awaiting this book since I finished The Perilous Sea.

My Review

This is the conclusion to The Burning Sky and The Perilous Sea.  It followed Iolanthe and Titus into an epic battle.

Shortly into the book I realized that no one was safe.  I still had hope though, I hoped desperately that Titus' mother's interpretation was totally wrong, but then the second prophecy...I almost thought it was George R.R. Martin-esque.  Oh, you have a favorite character? DEAD! Oh, you have a new favorite character? DEAD!  But no worries, Thomas isn't nearly as bad as him (seriously, is anyone going to still be alive in A Dream of Spring?).

Like with the first two books this was full of action and adventure.  Even though you kind of knew what was coming with the prophecies, you had no idea how they would come to be.  Pretty much everything about this book took me by surprise, an impressive feat especially when you're told essentially what will happen.  A few times I had to stop reading, out of fear of what would happen to the characters, not being able to handle what they were going through, a brief respite of sheer relief, a brief respite to process what had just happened to a beloved character.  These breaks didn't last long because the "how? when? why?"s running through my head due to the prophecies.

The characters in this series are so great, they're solidly written characters who stay true to their nature and really shine through.  It's one of the reasons why I needed to process, I usually don't get so completely attached to characters, but these guys, man, you really just feel for them and all the shit they have to deal with.  I also absolutely love that while there is a romance, well, two...sort of three romances going on they're not all encompassing.  They're there, they're in love, they need to go on fighting.  It's refreshing to read a series like that.  The drama that happens isn't petty, the tender moments are like a deep breath before all hell breaks loose again, and while hell is loose just the little bits of comfort they give each other, both as friends and romantically, is so well done.  Just a quick glance at each other before entering battle, a nod to a friend to show solidarity.  Fantastic, all of it.

Even after everything was all over and done with it wasn't a "and they lived happily ever after" end to the story.  The epilogue was great.  Eton was a little silly, but it was really nice and gave good closure.  The first part of the epilogue though, I was kind of flipping out with even more "where? why? WHAT???" before it was explained. 

I absolutely love this trilogy, it was completely epic and awesome, and why isn't there a huge fandom for this?  Seriously, such a phenomenal story!  

I give this an 11/10. The conclusion to the series was utterly fantastic, I seldom read such a great ending (the only other one that comes to mind is His Dark Materials).  There's absolutely nothing more satisfying than finishing a story going what a perfect ending, there is no other way that could possibly have gone that would have made it any better.  If you haven't already - GO READ THIS SERIES!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously.  Do it.  Now.