Sovereign (The Books of Mortals)

This is the third and final book in the "Books of Mortals" trilogy.

It was a nice wrap-up and was consistent with the world that Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee created. That is important, because there have been a slew of trilogies that ended with major, illogical plot twists.

Without giving too much away, the world is saved, and a new light of hope washes over the world by the end.

If you read and liked the two previous books then you will likely enjoy this book, and it is worth the read.

If you are new to the series then you could start with book two and enjoy this book, but you might have a hard time following the plot-lines without the context of books one or two.

*spoilers follow*

At the end of the second book, Jonathan, the new Messiah in this world, was killed by the evil brother of the Sovereign. The several thousand followers of Jonathan had split into two groups, the Mortals (those that injected blood from *dead* Jonathan and maintained their peaceful, full emotion mortality) and the good vampires (not the books' term), the Immortals, who refused to inject the blood of the dead, and for their faith received immortality upon Jonathan's death.

The main opposition group to both was the original Sovereign who was resurrected as a Dark Blood (bad vampire) who created a legion of evil vampires.

Jonathan is speaking to his followers through dreams, but things look grim for the emotional full, mortals (confusingly also called Sovereigns through most of the book). The Sovereigns are hunted by both the good and bad vampires (again, my description, not the books').

This book begins with the death of one of the most beloved characters in the series, and by the middle, Rom is captured and turned into a Dark Blood, and Jordin is captured and turned into an Immortal. The Sovereigns are down to less than three dozen.

In the next few chapters, the Sovereigns are down to zero -- or so we think. Then, Jordin injects herself with Sovereign blood, and we find out ...

HUGE SPOILER

Somewhere off stage, between books the evilest of the evil, the vilest of the vile, Saric has become a Sovereign through direct divine intervention by Jonathan.

Together Jordin and Saric are able to use mystical forces to overcome a legion of Dark Bloods and convince Feyn, the leader of the world Sovereign to inject herself with Sovereign blood and become a fully mortal, fully emotional being.

The end.

Except that at the very end, one evil alchemist has escaped with a vile of Dark Blood vitae presumably to start the whole cycle again.

Yeah, but, no that makes no sense in the context of the rest of the books.

So, you can safely skip the epilogue without detracting from your reading pleasure.

A good series, that I enjoyed reading. Has lots of twists and turns, and an interestingly different take on a reality. I really don't want to expose much of anything, because part of the enjoyment is discovering things as they unfold in the book. I'm pretty picky, but this book set will remain in my library.

This trilogy is addicting.
Sovereign stunningly pulls all the pieces together.

Came in good condition!

I've read just about everything Ted Dekker has written. His use of imagery and symbols is why I'm drawn to his writing, The Sovereign, and the two books preceding it, captured my imagination and make me think about what he says thru the language of symbols and metaphors. I may not agree with all his interpretations, but I've never been disappointed in reading his books. I would love to see this series turned into a trilogy a.k.a. Lord of the Rings style, to offer the world something higher than Harry Potter!

Good price.

Thank you!

Sovereign did not fulfill my expectation of a fitting end to the Book of Mortals trilogy. Yes, it was well written and conceived. Excellent authorship no doubt.

Book of Mortals as a whole is a superior dystopian story (nearly) on the level of Alas, Babylon, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, and The Giver. Sovereign was a weak ending more along the lines of Lord of the Flies, The Hunger Games and the Divergent Series.

Frankly I was turned off by the repeated seroconversions and trying to interpret what each one meant to the individual character, the flow of the storyline, and furthermore its Christian allegorical implication. I had the same impression after reading Dekker's The Circle Series and trying to establish what exactly the meaning of the different bathing in water meant.

Was one conversion not sufficient? Is it a requirement to have multiple conversions in order that one truly comes to knowledge of the one effecting the conversion. If so would that not mean than any one conversion is not valid? Consider two of the main characters an their following "state of being":

Jordin: Corpse-> Mortal -> Sovereign -> Immortal -> Sovereign v 2.0
Rom: Corpse -> Keeper/Mortal -> Sovereign -> Dark Blood -> Sovereign v 2.0

One wonders if they didn't truly understand their primary conversion from Corpse to Mortal (especially Rom who had the Ancient blood benefits) then their conversion from Immortal/Dark Blood back to Sovereign would be just as suspect. I can see where the important distinguishing factor is Jonathon and his presence (internal) after his death however I question why it was necessary to go to great lengths to describe their prior transformations but then dismiss them as invalid later. Altogether quite confusing unless, of course, one thinks that multiple baptisms are necessary.

The writing, regardless of the theme, was very well done. I suspect this is due to the second author's role.

Could not put it down!

A good wrap-up for his series