Summary:
Alfred Kropp is the descendant of Lancelot. Yes, that one. He's got a whole lot of money thanks to his late father. He's the Beloved of the Archangel, Michael. Oh, and his blood can heal anyone on Earth, except for himself. In the third book of the Kropp saga, Alfred has more people after him than ever before. There's the son of the man he killed so the man wouldn't kill him. There's the man that wants him only for his magical heal-everything blood. And there's the Company, who wants him to give back the Seal of Solomon, which he kept himself so no one else could use it. He faces betrayal at every turn, and in the places he least expects it. Will he survive, or will any of these murderous foes kill him? Again. (Yup, he's already died once.)
Thoughts:
Not bad, though it's getting a little more predictable. I think my least favorite part is the fact that Yancey has used the countdown clock as his vehicle for drama at least twice now, drawing out the endings of the last two books for an extra 5 pages both times (I read the first so long ago that I don't remember if it used this "plot device" as well) to draw out the conclusion of the story. It just feels like he's padding the page count more than anything else. If it weren't for this countdown, I think the page count would've been more like 292 or 293ish, rather than its stated 297. That doesn't even count the extra two to three pages he soaks up in having a blank page around the "change of scenery" type pages. Kropp goes from Knoxville, TN, to Helena, MO and there's just a page that says "Helena, Montana" with a blank page after it, and then the next is the beginning of the new chapter. Lazy padding of a book, Mr. Yancey.
But I digress. I enjoyed the story, though not as much as the first two. It's a good, action-packed book geared mostly to a teenaged boy. (Kropp is 16.) It's just a little disturbing, though, that at sixteen, Kropp has become comfortable with the idea of killing someone. He does it with little remorse in the midst of this book, and it just about glosses over the fact that someone just died. Kropp's adrenaline is pumping too hard for him to feel anything, it seems, and then he never really goes back to the fact that he just killed the guy except to say that his replacement in the squad of people that are after him looks exactly like the murdered guy. Seriously disappointing. He's killed at least two people now, if not more that I can't recall, and he seems to only really feel bad about the first guy he had to off, and only because he was an Arthurian knight's descendant. Not really something you want a teenage boy to get used to, you know?
Book 6 of 50
Pages: 297 padded pages
Genre: Teen lit, action, and fantasy
Grade: B
Would I Recommend?: Good for a fanciful story, and lots of action, but the previous two were far better.
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