The conclusion to the Hollow Earth trilogy by John & Carole E. Barrowman. Matt is stuck in the past with his father, Malcolm, who has gone insane during his time being bound and will stop at nothing to open Hollow Earth and let out all of the monsters confined there. He has seen his sister and mother burned to death by his father and has no way back to his own time and any form of help until he stumbles onto Solon, an animare from that time's Abbey, and Carik, a girl left there by the Vikings who attacked a few days ago. Somehow, they must try to stop his father or the entire history of the Earth will be changed and not for the better.
Meantime, back in present day, Emily and her mother are fine having actually escaped Malcolm and are trying to figure out a way to help Matt without endangering everyone and everything. Jeannie goes back in time to do what she can as a descendant of Albion but no one is convinced it will be enough, especially not Emily once she has been contacted by Albion's ghost and given visions to draw. Things get even more interesting when Malcolm's mother shows up and she will do whatever it takes to make sure her son is successful.
Other than the addition of Malcolm's mother, I felt like this did a great job of wrapping up the series in a fulfilling way with all the basic questions being answered and no gaping holes screaming out to be filled. Malcolm's mother being added in this late in the game bothered me. I felt like she didn't add much to the story besides a brief explanation into Malcolm's obsession with Hollow Earth and her scenes didn't really move things along but were more like filler. I think if she had at least been in the background throughout the series it might have worked better but she felt shoehorned in and not for any particularly good reason plot wise. In all, I found the series nicely imaginative and I hope John and Carole do more collaborations together in the future.
Page count: 321p/15,657p ytd/230,591p lifetime
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