I’m really looking forward to the Next book which will finish Part Two
But I’m almost certain it will end with Dusahn and Nathan fighting each other in one-on-one combat. We’ve seen so many scenes of them both sparring and talking about their respective skills at hand to hand combat, and there’s all that stuff and Nathan’s new reflexes and predictive abilities etc.
Things just seem to be heading straight for the oh-so predictable and cliched “fight to the death” guff.
Please don’t do something so predictable. Subvert expectations. Please.
Unless I miscounted (and I did take my shoes off because it was larger than 10), the next book will be episode 14. Each series should have 15 books which makes the next book the penultimate.
@Mike, you are 100% correct. There are two books left to wrap up Part 2.
I second this. The writing in P2 has been pretty terrible and I might abandon the series regardless, but if P2 ends with this fight, I definitely will, in addition to personally apologizing to everyone I've gotten to pick up the series.
so Ryk, after all of the buildup between the fighting skills of Nathan and Lord Dusahn for the last few books is now expected to come up with a completely different way of concluding the series?
Maybe Nathan could just tell him what a terrible example of humanity he is and he will expire in rage, shame and humiliation. That would be very satisfying and certainly appeal to the collective world view of a very few readers. (sarc off)
@oldsailor Its called misdirection. Ryk's already done it once with this very idea by killing off the Dusahn General before he could organise the "duel". And you're own response to this topic perfectly outlines why the duel is a bad idea: "after all of the buildup between the fighting skills of Nathan and Lord Dusahn for the last few books is now expected to come up with a completely different way of concluding the series" Absolutely come up with a better conclusion. Its been crudely shoved in our faces at random points in the series that this would happen. And not in a good way that fits in with the story. Every couple of books we get a couple of pages of Nathan, completely out-of-the-blue, sparring with Telles or Jennifer. Duhsan is sparring with multiple opponents every day as part of his morning routine and has been doing so for his entire life, Nathan's had a couple of sparring sessions and a cloning upgrade, has otherwise shown zero inclination for hand-to-hand combat throughout pretty much the entire series, and that's supposed to be a suitable way to tie-up the 2nd chapter?
I have no problem with the writing so far, the story is engaging, characters are well fleshed-out and the plot is fun and keeps bringing me back for me. But the "duel between leaders" concept is cliched, unrealistic and frankly is totally at odds with the entire story up until this point. Nathan isn't an action hero, duking it out with the bad-guys like an 80's action movie star. He's a tactical and strategic genius. His strength isn't that he's a bad-ass punching dude. Compared to the epic self-sacrifice of Part 1's ending, ending Part 2 like a Rocky movie will just feel misplaced.
Ryk can do better than that, and I still hope he will. If he doesn't, I'll be disappointed but I won't quit in disgust or anything.
