Pixie Conclusion

When you think of the end of the world as we know it, you certainly don't think of pixies as the cause. But when they are Carrie Jones' man-sized blue pixies with shark teeth and murderous tendencies, I guess you can go with it. In the Need Series' final installment, Endure, Zara and the rest of the crew fight the apocalypse with everything they have.


Now that she has become a pixie queen, Nick won't even look at her. Never mind the fact that she became a pixie to save him from Valhalla when he died and went to the warrior's heaven. But Zara has bigger things to worry about. Her position as Astley's queen bought them some time and loyalty from his pixies, but there are worse pixies out there who have no problem usurping their territory. Now kids are going missing from town and people are fleeing. No one is sure what is really happening, but everyone knows it isn't something easily explained.


Zara knows she is the key to stopping the apocalypse, but the extent to which she must go is not easy to digest. She is torn between her love for Nick and for Astley, but the fate of the world is in her hands. When she realizes there isn't much left to do, she does the unthinkable: she begins training the humans to fight the pixie army. After lifetimes of keeping the pixie secret, you would think it would be hard for humans to accept the new boundaries on their world, but with all the crazy things they have witnessed, they are willing to accept anything if it gets them their world back. Even pixies.


Ahhhh. The infamous love triangle. Always life or death, always seemingly unsolvable, and always "undeniable, over-the-moon, love-like-no-other" love that crushes the soul and takes no prisoners. And how convenient that this love triangle is possible with inexperienced teenagers?! (ok, Astley isn't your average teenager...) I don't know why I am ranting about the love triangle in this series since it has existed from the very beginning... No, that's a fib. I do know why. I have a tough time understanding the "OOhhh I love him. No, scratch that, I love the other one. Oh woe is me, they are both beautiful with soul crushing eyes and I can't choose from the two men who love me to the point of obsession!" I have a particularly hard time understanding that IN THE FACE OF AN APOCALYPSE! If the world is falling down around you and you are a key player in the apocalypse, why exactly are you pining over guys? Knock it off girlfriend! Pull yourself together, save the darned world, and THEN you can sort out your love life. Not to mention the probability of preventing the apocalypse is pretty slim (unless you are a YA novel, of course. Then it is pretty much a lock), so why waste your time on this now when you are all most likely going to die anyway?!


But despite the absurd love triangle nonsense, I actually really like this series and really like how it concluded. The books are compact and exciting and appeal to a decent range of kids. I like Carrie Jones as an author, and this series is a good representation of her talent. Plus, blue, shark-toothed pixies? How can you not want to read about them? So if you have followed the Need series, you will be happy with this conclusion. But just be careful, the love triangles are contagious!