I've always enjoyed series stories more than standalone ones. Even as a kid, I remember coming to the end of a novel, and, even though all the plot threads were neatly wrapped up, I still wanted to know what happened to the characters afterwards. That may be due to a sitcom-filled childhood; I don't know. No series needs to go on forever, though; as enjoyable as numerous tales (of any kind and/or genre) within the same universe can be, it usually gets to a point where it "jumps the shark," and is all downhill from there. What's especially disappointing is when a popular series has a long-awaited installment that is disappointing. That was the case with "The Phantom Menace"; as much hype as the first "Star Wars" prequel got, many people (NOT including me) were not happy with it. I did find "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" to be an utter travesty, though; to me, it seemed like J. K. Rowling just rushed through it so she could say, "Here; now, leave me alone!"
You may wonder what any of that has to do with "The Spear of Tyranny". Well, I'll tell you: Like "HP7," it was a completely blasé finish to what had been an excellent and intruding saga up to that point. Some may quibble with Ms. Hunt and Mr. Jeffrey's depiction of end-times events, but that wasn't an issue for me. What was an issue was the writing style, particularly the stilted dialogue. Having a married man repeatedly called "husband" by his wife, as if that were a title like "Mom" or "Dad," made things quite clunky. Add an underwhelming ending that left me hanging, as well as some rather gruesome sequences involving people being violently attacked, usually by animals, and "The Spear of Tyranny" has got to be the most disappointing literary finale I've read since the last adventure of "The Boy Who Lived."
