As the final book in William Ritter’s Jackaby series, The Dire King had a checklist to complete. It needed to wrap up a rather busy but interesting story, tie up plot lines and character arcs, and provide a few conclusions for romantic relationships. Unfortunately, too many cooks spoilt the broth as narrative elements slipped through the cracks and faded into obscurity as the climax neared.

I brought this up in Ghostly Echoes and it is even more evident in The Dire King. Characters disappear from scenes, suddenly so unimportant that they can’t even be given movement or body language in place of dialogue to keep them alive in the interactions. Poor Charlie goes missing for six pages in a scene where almost everyone is present. As the fourth (debatably the third) most important person in the scene and one of the main characters in the series, that is simply inexcusable.

There is also the matter of characters behaving in such a way that others would and should be expecting no different. In a rather significant exchange, Abigail witnesses a character act in a certain way (a very bad way) and in the next moment of action she excuses this character for acting that way, only for them to do almost the same thing and do something horrible to another character (avoiding as many spoilers as possible here but wow I was mad upon reading this portion of the book and even madder as the pages went on). How Abigail would be so naive and blind to the character’s nature and intentions is beyond me as it seemed pretty obvious what they were going for, so much so that it’s veering toward unbelievable as a character, especially considering Abigail’s feelings and relationship with the people involved.

In terms of a final book, even as a middle-grade or young YA fantasy, this feels rushed and underdeveloped. I don’t want to compare it to Harry Potter because that has a whole different vibe going on with it, but if you’re writing a final book then it needs to be punchy and impactful. There needs to be interest and investment, conflicts and reader concerns for characters, and most importantly, there needs to be rising tension that breaks at the moment of this conclusion. I felt none of that reading The Dire King. I felt angry at how it was written, disappointed with the borderline illogical actions within the third act, and ultimately let down. It’s a real shame because I could see this series had great potential and the ending could have been handled in a much better way and still hit the beats the author wanted. It just didn’t feel right.

Maybe I’m too critical of this seeing as it is a series I consider to sit between middle grade and YA. Perhaps I want different things from it as a YA/NA reader who seeks depth of conflict and character interactions. There isn’t anything objectively wrong with The Dire King or the Jackaby series so I would still recommend it for young readers. It’s just a little disappointing for my tastes.