Phoenix Falling: A Wildlands Novel by Laura Bickle

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Content: Strong Language


 
In the Yellowstone backcountry, a merciless source of evil carries a torch for the past…

Petra Dee and her immortal husband, Gabe, have been trying to gain a toehold in what passes for ordinary life in Temperance, Wyoming—

a wickedly enchanted land founded generations ago by the alchemist, Lascaris. Petra may be adept when it comes to the uncanny, but as a reasoned geologist, Petra still can’t fathom the wildfires suddenly engulfing Yellowstone National Park, or why Gabe claims to have seen the sky explode in flames. The answers could lie in the past.

This is the last book in the Wildlands series and I felt for the most part that it wrapped up the series really well. There was just enough drama without the main villain overstaying his welcome, which I appreciated. Overall I liked this series a lot. There were some lows --I still don't care for the second book all that much -- but the characters kept me coming back for each book. I've categorized this as urban fantasy, but it's a mix of genres really. There are supernatural elements mixed with a bit of horror and alchemy. The horror is sort of "monster of the week" as different creatures are mixed into the plot, but there is also the main story line that continues throughout the series that has a more urban fantasy type feel, even though it's not super urban -- the setting is a small town in Wyoming near Yellowstone.

I've really come to enjoy reading this series every year, so now that I've finished reading the last book in the series I will miss it. I grew to really like Gabe, Petra, Maria, Nine, and Sig. After reading the previous book I also grew very interested in the character Lev. I thought there would be more time to get to know him and uncover all his secrets, but unfortunately that wasn't the case. Lev's story would be the only thing that wasn't really wrapped up as much as I would have liked. I think the author could write a whole series just about Lev and I would read it, but whatever she writes next, I'm looking forward to it.