Merciless by Robin Parrish

At the end of Fearless, Grant Barrows fell into a chasm deep under mountains in Turkey. At the beginning of Merciless, Grant climbs back up as Oblivion, an evil gray creature who does not breathe and whose touch is death.
This is perhaps the most original villain idea in the history of fiction.
Now he walks the earth, destroying everything and setting the planet afire. He is the ultimate culmination of the Secretum of Six's plans. They have unleashed him, and now he is beyond their control.
The Loci have no choice but to hypnotically follow him and use their powers for his purposes. But Lisa and David are not Loci, and therefore the fate of the world rests in their hands. Though Morgan is now dead, she left behind a DVD of instructions for them to follow.
Once again, the characters stay true to their personalities, a rare feat for a trilogy.
Not only does Merciless explain who the Secretum of Six is and what their plans are, but it also tells why Grant Barrows had to be the Bringer. All explanations are well thought out and ingenious.
The end of the book is, of course, a showdown with Oblivion. It's not what you might think it is. There are no literary trash sayings or false death scenes. What Robin Parrish does at the end is something that had to be done, despite what others might think. This was the only way he could have ended the trilogy well.
The Interregnum no longer depict the Secretum of Six, since they have already been introduced to the reader. Instead, it shows what happened to Grant when he fell into the chasm.
Oblivion is not your typical villain. He isn't ridiculously gross or disgusting. He's not a monster and he's not overplayed. He is something very real, something mentioned in the Bible several times.
If you were tired of characters dying, than hold on. There are more key character deaths in this one.
Robin says Merciless is his favorite idea ever, and for a good reason. I know of several authors who have tried to use this idea but have failed. Robin Parrish has succeeded.
Parrish has changed the face of Christian speculative fiction with this series. He has showed us that this genre can have good characters and original plot ideas. He has made all other speculative series look ridiculous. They all pale in comparison to the Dominion Trilogy. The Dominion Trilogy has taken the world of Christian fiction by storm. It's the best thing since the Chronicles of Narnia.
This makes me excited to see what direction Robin Parrish will take his writing career next.
5 stars