Enakshi reviews The Blazing Chief, by Matt Spencer, exclusively for Different Truths.
Book: The Blazing Chief
Author: Matt Spencer
Rating: 4/ 5
My love for closures and cliffhangers became even more after reading the third and final installment of the Deschembine trilogy. Unlike the first two books in this series, this book has a lot more action and hardly any moments of love or warmth. Terror lurks in the darkness, for every character tries hard to survive in the post-apocalyptic world. In the new world that is run by stranger-forces, all that one can hope for is surprise or shock, for every inch of the land has now become an unchartered territory.
We see Sally and Rob surviving in Frozen Canadian Swamps and Louisiana Swamps, respectively. We also see more of Jesse and Zane. Yet I missed the romance; I missed those sweet moments of self-realization. The novel has been divided into two parts: part 1 deals with the description of the setting, the build-up of suspense that will fire up the events of the second part and a peek into the origin and conception of Spirelights, Schomites, and the Crimbones; part 2 deals with the fight, the gore, and the blood spill. We learn a little more about the land of the Deschembine. This is the part where the author deftly ties all the loose ends together and presents a packet of firecrackers that are ready to blow your mind. Honestly, I found the narrative in this section a little uneventful and loquacious. But it is also true that unless one reads this part, one will not find it easy to enjoy the second part. I liked the character development of Jesse and Zane, but I missed the same for Sally. I liked delving deeper into the conglomerate land where opposite forces are forced to come together for a greater good.
Matt has this keen expertise of providing closure to every character and that is what won my heart. At no point was I left dissatisfied with the climax. The unsparing graphics, bloody action, and mind-expanding realm do not leave any stone unturned in making the reading experience enjoyable.
Matt has this keen expertise of providing closure to every character and that is what won my heart. At no point was I left dissatisfied with the climax. The unsparing graphics, bloody action and mind-expanding realm do not leave any stone unturned in making the reading experience enjoyable. This fierce and relentless story about the choices that define us is sure to make you a part of Rob and Sally’s world so much so that you will forget, for once, that we live in a harsher and crueler world. Using several dialogues that might linger long after the book has been devoured, Matt weaves a wonderful concoction of dark fantasy, mystery, love, and compassion for fellow beings.
By the time you reach the third part of this series, Matt’s writing style makes you feel at home and you end up enjoying his subtle sense of humour and verbal ironies. Often the written graphics come alive right in front of you and I think that is the plus point because if an author can make his imageries stand out, he is par the threshold of being adept at writing.
Visual by the reviewer
Enakshi is an educator, an author and a traveller. She loves to learn. Her writings have appeared in The Speaking Tree (Times of India), Woman’s Era, Alive, Infitithoughts, SivanaSpirit, Women’s Web, EfictionIndia and Induswomanwriting. She is an eminent book reviewer and she reviews books by Penguin, Rupa and Hachette India. Her stories and poems have been anthologised widely. She conceptualized two books- ‘Unbounded Trajectories’ and ‘Poison Ivy’.
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