Title: The King of Carcosa (Lost Carcosa #5)

Author: Joseph Sale

Release date: November 19th, 2024

And here we are.

THE END.

It’s a bittersweet moment whenever a series reaches its conclusion. I remember when I got to the end of The Dark Tower series (PS I loved the ending) and you realize you’ve reached the culmination of all of the characters journeys. These made up ideas that’ve formed and fully taken shape within your mind as living, breathing, solid people/creatures. They’ve arrived at the end and after that, no more. Of course, in the world of fiction (and movies) they can be revived and you can visit them again, but the truth is that depending on the reader, you may or may not want to return.

There’s a fine line between creators and consumers when it comes to THE END. Look at the tv series LOST. If you watched the show, you either loved the ending or hated it. But there’s no arguing about the one fact – it was THE END. Same with Game of Thrones. The TV series obviously. Who knows if we’ll ever see the end of the book series. And for the record – I loved the LOST finale but I haven’t seen the final season of GOT.

All of that is to say, that here, at the ending of Sale’s epic retelling/reimaging of The King in Yellow mythology, we arrive at a point where there’s both physical and philosophical storylines to wrap up and if it was any other writer than Sale, it’d be a daunting task. I went into this one immediately after it loaded on my Kindle. I couldn’t wait to see how LeBarron, Cali, Cass, Petruccio and Alan’s journeys concluded. And, as I expected, Sale wrapped this up magnificently.

Obviously, if you’ve not read books one through four there will be heavy spoilers for those within this review (even though it’ll be vague), but still, pause here and stop reading if you’ve not read those and return after you have!

What I liked: The story picks up directly after the horrific events of book four. Cali has killed Alan, and taken the throne, now acting as The Demon Queen. Looking to topple Carcosa, she unleashes a tidal wave of death, her army killing without mercy. LeBarron, Petruccio and Cassilda now band together, with hope dwindling and a positive outcome fading to stand tall and fight against Cali.

While book four seemingly suggested Alan Chambers storyline had ran its course, if you’ve followed his journey through the first four books, you’ll have seen that Alan is more than just a man who sought the entrance to Carcosa and survived the trials to be allowed within. The layers of who he really is was slowly revealed and book four really heightened that. Sometimes, to overcome, a character needs to die a mortal death to be reborn as something more, and this is exactly what Sale gives us. We get to see Chambers journey, meeting those exiled as well as having an in depth discussion with The King in Yellow, whom we previously believed had been killed.

It’s all to say that Sale marvelously wraps up Alan’s mortal journey and transitions him into the cosmic conclusion of his story arc. It was emotional, impactful and action packed, making for a conclusion between Alan and another character that I never saw coming, but bread crumbs had been laid out since that character was introduced.

The ending was exactly as I wanted it to be. Good versus Evil. Overcoming substantial odds. And, with a really well done Epilogue, shows the cyclical nature of storytelling in all of its pristine glory.

What I didn’t like: I, personally, am not 100% convinced that the way Alan’s story ended made complete sense. I really can’t discuss the why, but with his ascendency and the subplot of soul, I’m not sure he’s a character that could ever have a finite ‘ending.’ But I digress.

Why you should buy this: This book culminates the EPIC five book series and the beauty of this is, I don’t think any of the books were over two-hundred pages. Mind boggling. If this had been a fantasy author writing these stories, each book would’ve been one-thousand page door stoppers, but Sale has a way with prose, character and story development and this shines through across each book and across the series as a whole.

If you’ve not started this series, you absolutely have to. Each character become one you couldn’t wait to see what happened next with, and the settings across this landscape are second to none.

An outstanding conclusion by one of the most gifted writers creating today.

5/5