Review:  Moonstriker (The Summertide Chronicles #4) by Sam Burns 

Rating: 4.75🌈

Sam Burns fantastic series, The Summertide Chronicles, comes to an end, not with a bang but with wedding, which is attended by all the other characters and couples. 

Was it a great finale? Yes.  Sticking with the theme and incredible complexity of this series and characters, it is.  Burns may not have written a story that explosively dynamic in its entirety but its narrative is still powerful in its own way, deeply satisfying and compelling to the end.

Mt. Slate is shaking the earth, threatening to destroy the entire world, unless the four families gathering together there can find a way to make it stop.

Kit Moonstriker’s entire life has revolved around The Plan, one he and his crystal, Nikka, have made/foreseen to keep Mt Slate’s from shaking apart and the world saved.  It all comes down now to Aubrey, an orphan raised apart from the families. 

Everything about the story is so different and beautifully written. Kit’s story is further explained and more importantly, why all those decisions were made by himself are now revealed. And Aubrey’s history comes into full view, for himself too. His lack of bonding with a crystal, his family connections, and his emotional perspective on life and family. 

Having the two men working together, discussing their own lives and their misconceptions about each other, it really lets the reader into their growing relationship and intimacy. 

It’s also a slow melding of big moments and storylines as another huge aspect of this story emerges during this journey of theirs. 

Burns’ fantastic story swells to a close with a sense of wonder, many “ah ha” moments and scenes of love and joy. 

It makes sense when you have a series where the characters are not just magical people but beings who are sentient crystals and even shifters.  What an incredible series this has been.  I truly love it and could have stayed for many more stories.

It’s fitting that we end on a wedding.  A great satisfying sendoff. 

If you are looking for a beautifully crafted, outstanding piece of fantasy fiction, grab up The Summertide Chronicles by Sam Burns.  It’s one of my favorite series and one I’m highly recommending!

Love these covers too. 

The Summertide Chronicles:

• Gloombringer #1
• Dawnchaser #2 
• Sunrunner #3 
• Moonstriker #4 – finale 

Buy Link

        Moonstriker (The Summertide Chronicles Book 4)

    

Blurb 

I’ve spent the better part of a decade trying to save the world. Twice a century, Mount Slate threatens to erupt, and for my entire life, the four families in charge haven’t seemed to care about their impending doom.

So it fell to me to try to fix things.

To make peace.

Me, a man whose greatest skill is pissing people off so much that they challenge me to a duel, and then killing them in that duel.

Now the moment is here, and my clever stone is telling me that one man—a sweet, innocent, infuriating judgmental bastard—is the only one who’s capable of saving the world. And I have to help him do it.

I’m starting to wonder if the world is even worth saving.

Moonstriker is the last in a series of four books, starring one cynical not-quite-assassin, one ray of sunshine, and one very grumpy mountain. It both Aubrey and Kit’s HEA, as well as the conclusion of the overall series arc.