Dispel Illusion by Mark Lawrence

Quote of the Book

“I had left that boy behind in my wake, just as we all abandon the children we were. Slow or fast, the years pull us apart from them, sometimes in one savage yank, sometimes by degrees, like the hour hand of the clock, too stealthy for us to perceive its motion and yet when you look again it is no longer where you left it.”

Blurb

Sometimes being wrong is the right answer.

Nick Hayes’s genius is in wringing out the universe’s secrets. It’s a talent that’s allowed him to carve paths through time. But the worst part is that he knows how his story will end. He’s seen it with his own eyes. And every year that passes, every breakthrough he makes, brings him a step closer. Mia’s accident is waiting for them both in 2011. If it happens then he’s out of choices.

Then a chance 1992 discovery reveals that this seeker of truth has been lying to himself. But why? It’s a question that haunts him for years. A straw he clings to as his long-awaited fate draws near.

Time travel turns out not to be the biggest problem Nick has to work on. He needs to find out how he can stay on his path but change the destination. Failure has never been an option, and neither has survival. But Nick’s hoping to roll the dice one more time. And this new truth begins with a lie. 

Personal notes

I’ve got an uncorrected proof copy through Netgalley. Thanks to 47North and Mark Lawrence for the opportunity.

Song of the Book

Man, I really didn’t make this easy for myself… I just can’t pick a Michael Jackson song for this one, so I’ll have to break my own rule. This time I picked a Foreigner song, As Long As I Live.

Review

Everything has to come to an end, and so with Dispel Illusion, we have to say goodybe to the Impossible Times trilogy by Mark Lawrence. I know I said this before, but I seriously didn’t expect to get hooked on this series so much. It’s YA(ish), has a lot of sci-fi elements, one plotline is about these kids playing D&D. Nothing here says YOU ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO READ THIS and still, here I am, trying to get my thoughts together, but I don’t think I’m ready to let Nick, Mia, Simon, John, Elton and Demus’ hand go. It doesn’t happen often lately that I actually finish a series, so I totally forgot how bittersweet it is to do so.

I will try to keep this review as spoiler free as possible, but if you are not familiar with the events in One Word Kill or Limited Wish then it might spoil those books for you. So, read with caution, as I want you to experience this story for yourselves.

We are six years after the events in Limited Wish, just as Nick, Mia, John and Simon start their adult lives with their first jobs – well, for Nick he is still in his first job, working alongside Dr Creed and Professor Halligan to make time travel possible in the very very near future. They are on the verge of a break through, and Mr Guilde – supported by Charles Rust – is really adamant with getting on with the experiments. For which they have their own reasons of course. While One Word Kill and Limited Wish only focused on a narrow timeframe, in Dispel Illusion we jump forward in time to 2006 and then the dreaded year 2011. These glimpses into the future help to understand how Nick reached some of his decisions and generally how his and his friends’ lives went. And of course those episodes where they play D&D give depth to “real life” events as they happen.

“How that sense of belonging had felt, of discovering that there were in the world people whose minds were like mine, open to something more than reality, ready to follow imagination wherever it went.”

As I hardly ever finish a series lately, I forgot how it feels nearing the end. I wasn’t ready for it, even though I was eagerly waiting to read Dispel Illusion to be released. I was curious how the story will end. I mean, we kind of now that – or at least those who read One Word Kill do – but I was also sure that a twist is waiting for us somewhere. And even though I did expect it, I still wasn’t ready for the hit. When a book makes me tear up, then that means the author did something right, because damn, that’s hard to accomplish. But Lawrence is generally good at balancing the serious moments with some humor or emotional moments, which helps you feel less helpless while you try to wrap your mind around the scientific stuff going on – I have a hard time with this, but I never been into sciences, so there is that.

“Sometimes knowledge isn’t power. Sometimes it’s just a burden.”

I only complaint that Simon, John and Elton didn’t get more spotlight in the final book of the trilogy. I know that strictly speaking this wasn’t their story, but they gave the life and heart to it. Actually, Elton caused the most emotional moments for me and he had the least role in the books.

“Memory and time, time and memory. The universe doesn’t care abou time. We care about time. Because we remember.”

Dispel Illusion brings a most satisfying ending to the Impossible Times trilogy. The threads are closed seamlessly and there aren’t unanswered questions left. Maybe a few smaller ones, but in general, you can’t have much complains. I had high expectations for Dispel Illusion, and it didn’t disappoint. Just as full of heart, and life lessons as the previous books. I highly recommend the whole trilogy if you’d like to dive into a tale about time travelling, love, friendship, decisions and second chances.