Book Review: A War to End All (Manifest Delusions, #3) by Michael R. Fletcher & Clayton W. Snyder
ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Cover art illustrated by Andrew Maleski
A War to End All by Michael R. Fletcher & Clayton W. Snyder
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Series: Manifest Delusions (Book #3 of 3)
Genre: Fantasy, Grimdark Fantasy, High Fantasy
Pages: 535 pages (Kindle edition)
Publish date: 18th September 2023 (Indie)
A War to End All is a philosophical and tepid conclusion to a brilliant grimdark fantasy series.
“The Old Gods were broken by wars and plagues of the mind, left reeling like the most bloodied veterans. Infected with horror at the cost of their actions, they retreated into dementia. Insanity as escape. Seeking to free themselves, they fled to a world of delusion, a world uncorrupted by jealousies and psychoses. And yet, in the end, even this they would pollute. So deep their need, so desperate their flight from their bitter past, they ignored the one truism all must bow before. Belief defines reality.”
This will most likely be an unpopular opinion, and to Fletcher and Snyder, if any of you are reading this right now, skip reading this review. Let me begin this review with this. To say I’m feeling conflicted right now is a massive understatement. No one is sadder about this rating than me. When I finish reading a book, I will usually write a review for the specific book immediately or wait at least a day or two before I write the review. But in the case of A War to End All, it took me a week before I sat and wrote my review for it. And believe me, writing this review does not give me any sense of pleasure. It actually made me feel like a jerk because I requested a review copy of it, too. For that, I will have to apologize. But as always, honesty must always be given in every review. A War to End All, the third and final book in Manifest Delusions, is not only one of my most anticipated books of this year, but it is also one of my most anticipated grimdark fantasy novels in the past 7 years. I absolutely loved Beyond Redemption, The Mirror’s Truth, Swarm and Steel, and I even did a reread of them in preparation for this concluding volume. And as a big fan of the Manifest Delusions series, I am happy this has reached a conclusion. Unfortunately, I cannot deny A War to End All is my least favorite installment in the series.
“Happiness is an affliction of delusion. You can wallow in misery one moment and, at a wink from a handsome lad, be gloriously happy in the next. In reality, nothing changed. Misery, however, is sanity. You know this to be true because misery always returns as the delusion of happiness fades.”
There are two major reasons why A War to End All did not work with me as much as I wanted. The first one is how different it is compared to the previous books in the series. Having the refreshed experience of going through the twisted world of Manifest Delusions from the beginning again made me feel this is a totally different kind of book compared to the previous books in the series. The story in A War to End All takes place immediately after the end of The Mirror’s Truth, and the badass cover art illustrated by Andrew Maleski and the epic title pulled me into expecting A War to End All will repeat and upgrade the magnificence of The Mirror’s Truth. But it did not turn out that way at all. A War to End All barely have any epic convergence moments. It is filled with philosophical, travelogues, and somber dialogues. This is not to state these did not exist in the previous installments of Manifest Delusions, but the balance between them and memorable battle scenes with ramped-up intensity were handled wonderfully. To put it simply, in results, The Mirror’s Truth felt like the real climax sequence of the series, and A War to End All is the long meandering anti-climatic epilogue of the series. I cannot help but feel the book is longer than it should be.
“People say, ‘Violence never solves anything,’ but it’s immediately obvious to any historian that every single major change in the world came about due to violence. Violence is the only way to make real, lasting change. Armed revolution is infinitely more effective at toppling governments than strongly worded letters.—Geschichts Verdreher, Historian/Philosopher”
At the end of the day, though, the biggest reason why A War to End All did not work was due to the decision to sideline the main characters of Beyond Redemption and The Mirror’s Truth. The main trio of Bedeckt, Witchtig, and Stehlen is one of the strongest factors of the series. Although Bedeckt earned his relatively satisfying closure, Witchtig and Stehlen are sidelined for the majority of A War to End All. And I was not a fan of this decision. Generally speaking, it is one of my pet peeves when the last book of a fantasy series starts introducing many new POV characters and focuses the narrative on them instead of the main characters of the previous books. Raven’s Shadow by Anthony Ryan did this. The Books of Babel by Josiah Bancroft did this. And A War to End All follows a similar method. Witchtig and Stehlen are sidelined into secondary characters, and Morgen and his doppels take the central stage. Despite the dysfunctional relationship of the main trio of Manifest Delusions, they were relentlessly compelling. I did not get that with Morgen’s doppels. And unfortunately, the narrative in A War to End All is dominated by them. The good thing about all of these is that Witchtig’s character did develop throughout the trilogy, and his story was easily one of my favorite parts of Manifest Delusions. It was definitely the best part of A War to End All, as few as it was.
“What is a tyrant but a man who expects results, and not seeing them, takes matters into his own hands until satisfied?”—Denkendis, Gefahrgeist Philosopher
I am unsure whether reading more of Fletcher’s other books in his other series would enhance my experience of A War to End All. I have not read the second and third books of Obsidian Path and the last book in City of Sacrifice series by Fletcher, but I know his books are related and connected in one universe. There is a slight chance I would enjoy this more if I had finished reading Obsidian Path series. But comparing my experience with reading Fletcher’s other books, it really felt like Fletcher struggled in writing a conclusion for Manifest Delusions. I felt that as I was reading the book, and in the acknowledgment, Fletcher mentioned that without the contribution of Clayton Snyder, he would not be able to finish writing it. But these are all my assumptions. And as I said, based on the reviews I have seen for A War to End All, I am clearly in the minority.
“Love is a double- edged sword, primed to cut anyone holding it.”
Despite my disappointment with A War to End All, Manifest Delusions is still one of my favorite grimdark fantasy series. I’m glad it has ended, and I will continue to recommend this series to those who love reading grimdark fantasy with exceptional world-building. Just remember to set your expectations accordingly and be prepared that the third and final book of the series is a philosophical book about Morgen and Konig rather than an epic concluding volume centering around the trio of Beyond Redemption and The Mirror’s Truth, and I think you should be good. This is the first series by Fletcher I finished, and I look forward to reading the remaining books in The Obsidian Path trilogy as soon as I can.
“It means we see the world based on how we feel about ourselves. When we’re kind and giving, we see that in others. When we’re cruel and distrustful, we assume everyone else is the same.”
Series Review:
Beyond Redemption:4.5/5 stars
The Mirror’s Truth: 5/5 stars
A War to End All: 2/5 stars
Manifest Delusions: 11.5/15 stars
You can order this book from: Amazon | Blackwells (Free International shipping)
The quotes in this review were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.
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