When you have a series spanning nineteen books—particularly an epic space opera series like this that has become so huge in scope—you would probably expect any form of finale to be proportionately spectacular.
Duality certainly doesn’t disappoint on that front. If you thought your mind was blown at the end of Chaotica, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
The last few pages of Chaotica hinted at kind of a calm before the storm, and it was refreshing to have Duality open that way after the…well, chaos that was its predecessor. This left time and space for some of the secondary plot threads from the last few books to reach resolutions: Malcolm and his personal convictions, Enzio Vilane and his cartel shenanigans, Eren and Nyx (lordy I love them) and their thwarting of assassination plots, Joaquim and Cassidy dealing with what it means to be alive…just to name a few.
That’s not to say the rest of our primary heroes were doing nothing this whole time. Deep, meaningful character interactions were plentiful as Alex, Caleb, Miriam, Nika, Dashiel, et. al. came to terms with everything the impending battle would require of them. Not only would they all have to make sacrifices, but there was no telling when exactly they’d need to make them. As the reader, I felt like I was holding my breath for half the book, just waiting for the inevitable final showdown with the Rasu.
And that final showdown was space opera at its finest, fast-paced and shifting masterfully between action-packed battle sequences and high-stakes character-driven scenes. You know the good guys are going to win—they just have to—but given all the factors that have been at play for the past several books, you’re not quite sure how they’re going to pull it off, and it was a lot of fun to see that all unfold. And it wouldn’t be high-stakes if there weren’t moments where some characters’ fates were called into question.
But when you get to the end of that sequence and see that there’s still an entire section + an epilogue left in the book, you can pretty much guess you’re about to get another bombshell dropped on you. I won’t go into any more detail than that—you’ll just have to experience it for yourself. I will say that I never would have predicted said bombshell…at least before this book. There was an exchange of dialogue about halfway through that made me go “hmmm,” and then once the big reveal hit, so many things made sense. In Chaotica, I was suddenly stricken by an observation about the relationship between two long-time characters, and it turned out to be a major factor in the revelation. Out of context hint: light and shadow.
It should come as no surprise that this isn’t truly a finale, just like Requiem and The Stars Like Gods weren’t. The final battle with the Rasu set our heroes’ sights on yet another enemy—a very ancient and powerful one—and even some of the sub-plots that got resolved opened the door for future conflict. But I’m particularly excited for the next few character-focused installments in this universe. How or if they’ll tie in to the overall storyline, I don’t know, but I can’t wait to find out.
And here I thought this review might end up being shorter than some of my others…
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ABOUT G.S. JENNSEN
G. S. Jennsen lives in Montana with her husband and two dogs. She has written sixteen novels and short story collections, all published by her imprint, Hypernova Publishing. She has become an internationally bestselling author since her first novel, Starshine, was published in March 2014. She has chosen to continue writing under an independent publishing model to ensure the integrity of her series and her ability to execute on the vision she’s had for them since their genesis.
While she has been a lawyer, a software engineer and an editor, she’s found the life of a full-time author preferable by several orders of magnitude.
When she isn’t writing, she’s gaming or working out or getting lost in the mountains that loom large outside the windows in her home. Or she’s dealing with a flooded basement, or standing in a line at Walmart reading the tabloid headlines and wondering who all of those people are. Or sitting on her back porch with a glass of wine, looking up at the stars, trying to figure out what could be up there.
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