Lockwood 5 Review

What I liked: I know you think that the Lockwood and Company series was a trilogy, but it is actually 5 books long. This is fortunate because it makes for a much more satisfying conclusion to the story and more of the plot is resolved. I liked the ghosts. There were some delightfully creepy ones. My favorite was the escape artist: the ghost would just Houdini around making it tricky to catch. I also liked that the bad guys waited patiently for their cue to advance the plot. Just like the velociraptors who never attack until the main characters remember that there are velociraptors that should probably be in a cage, the various menacing forces wait to implement their nefarious plans until the main characters remember them. I liked the way that all the characters got their time in the limelight, the team really came together in a disfunctional suicidal teenager kind of way. The best way to read this book is alone in the dark in the middle of the night. Preferably, not in your bed. Ideally somewhere where you have to walk past a large bank of soulless dully reflective windows on your way to your bed. 

What I didn't: I was a little disappointed that we had to spend so much time working out the main plot. Yes, yes, giant evil conspiracy, can we just get back to the creepy ghosts? There were a number of ghosts with real potential that didn't really get to shine or spread destruction to their full capacity. The characters are still surprisingly slow on the uptake. I get that when you fight ghosts you aren't particularly good at the stealth thing but you would think they would be better at recognizing blatant clues. Despite resolving many of the questions left open by the 3rd book there were still a number of things that were left completely unexplained: How did the stilts work? what were they doing with the thermoses? Why does no one have burglar alarms? What did the doctor think about his new roommate? What kind of insurance policy does Lockwood have? For a book almost as full as foreshadowing as it is full of dismembered body parts I was wrong about a surprising number of plot turns. Some of these were things that had a more creative or more entertaining turn of events. For some of them I think that my version would have been cooler. I am disappointed that there were no dinosaur ghosts. There have been apparitions in the form of all different animals including a giant evil octopus in book 4, it seems like velociraptors would be a good addition to the line up. Not only can their ghosts open doors, they can also go through doors.

Who should read this: People who have already read the first 4 books. People who have read the first two books and are dead set on this being a trilogy.

Would I read it again: Yes.