The Enchanter Heir (The Heir Chronicles #4) by Cinda Williams Chima

I hate cliffhanger endings. It feels like the author didn't have enough time to write an ending so he or she stopped in the middle of action. On the whole this book was lazy from the plot to the characters. It is mostly nonstop action which is why I finished it; otherwise I would have abandoned it. There is little character development and most of the factual information comes in the form of music and guitars. If you are into Stratocaster electric guitars, Dragonfly guitars, and music then you might like that aspect of the book. I was mildly interested in this focus of the plot and liked the creativity of a person having magic with building guitars. But let me back up and give a summary.

Emma Greenwood has to flee Memphis when she finds her grandfather, a famous musician, dead. He warns her to contact a person and get out of town because her life might be in danger. She takes his advice. On the other hand, Jonah Kinlock, lived through a massacre of his city as a kid where the water was poisoned with magic leaving him, his brother, and other children who survived with one-of-a-kind magical abilities. A safe haven school was established for them run by a magician who takes care of them and has Jonah hunting zombies who are attacking humans and wizards. Jonah is an assassin because of his magical talent to kill. He is trying to uncover the truth about the massacre that happened when he was a child and figure out why the zombies are working together to kill wizards. The magical guilds are pointing fingers at each other and students at Jonah's school are accused of being responsible for the killings.

Gabriel runs the school and wants Jonah to take over but he doesn't really respect his opinions. This was one irritating plot element that came up over and over and seemed contradictory. If Gabriel respected Jonah then why would he shut him down every time he tried to discuss the motivations behind the killings? Gabriel duplicitous actions contradict him making Jonah his predecessor. When Jonah gets mixed up in the killings at Emma's house, her reactions were odd at the end. You'd think she'd realize that Jonah saved her life. I didn't get why he wouldn't tell someone about the occurrence beforehand either. The plot was forced too much and seemed to lose its focus on the zombies switching too much on the romance. It stalled on the romance and didn't give any answers. When the author forgets the overarching message and leaves a messy plot in its wake I tend to forget the book quickly.

The characters didn't really develop in an interesting way. The romantic subplot had everyone calling Jonah either "pretty" or "beautiful" with an incredible body. He's the tortured hunk who can't touch anyone because his touch is lethal. I mean that literally. Not what you call an interesting character description. She did try to show his loneliness through music and that did work to some degree. It was corny that people who died from his touch had "dreamy smiles" on their face. No kidding. I laughed at that description. At least it takes a bit of the violence out of the fact that this 17-year-old kills people for a living. A more detailed explanation of an Enchanter would have been helpful. I haven't read this series in years (I did read the first 3 books) and I couldn't remember how Enchanters manipulate people. A disappointing ending, but loaded with action. I do like action ; )

2 Smileys