Book Review | The Immortal Words by Jeff Wheeler

About this Book

To defeat an immortal evil, a young warrior must enter the land of the dead in the spellbinding conclusion to Wall Street Journal bestselling author Jeff Wheeler’s epic Grave Kingdom trilogy.

As kingdoms fall, brave young warrior Bingmei fights to fulfill a prophecy and save what’s left of the world from the coming darkness. Should she fail, Echion, the diabolical Dragon of Night, and his queen will hold sway over the next thousand years. With Echion comes his unstoppable army of dragons—powerful, vengeful, and under his control.

Accompanied by her loyal friend Quion, Bingmei journeys toward her last hope. It lies among the savage beasts just beyond the ancient Death Wall—an uninhabited realm from which no one has ever returned alive. Bingmei’s mission is to find the phoenix shrine and learn the Immortal Words that will allow her to harness eternal magic. With Echion and his legions in pursuit, Bingmei must choose her words wisely to break Echion’s spell and accept her fate.

Bingmei knows what she must do. She must join the ranks of the dead as well. For a fearless and selfless warrior, it’s the ultimate sacrifice. But Bingmei is about to discover that even in death, the greatest sacrifices are yet to come.

Goodreads Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Immortal Words is the conclusion to The Grave Kingdom trilogy. Or is it? Wheeler left an opening at the end to revisit this world, and I, for one, would be incredibly happy if he did decide to do just that.

What I Loved

I loved that I got to know Bingmei on a much deeper level in this part of the story. The whole first half of the novel focuses on her and the ever-loyal Quion, as they battle their way to the Phoenix temple on the Graveyard side of the wall. I learned more about her hopes and fears, determination, and thoughts on what the future holds. She is a fantastic character with such layers of complexity; you can’t help but admire for the hero she truly is. She is a character that makes mistakes, but you never doubt her even for even a second. She has a compassionate heart that is loyal to a fault, and that quickly learns from mistakes that she makes. She will go out fighting even if she believes that fate has decreed she will not win. This is just who she is, and I love that she does not give in to self-pity, even when she would like to do nothing more than just that.

I loved that the story plucked at all the right heartstrings in this conclusion. There are unexpected losses, and there are incredible victories, and your heart rises and breaks as the story plays out. The sacrifices that had to be made as the story wound its way to the conclusion touched me profoundly, and I ended the book with an overall satisfying feeling -though, in some cases, in a bittersweet way. I love it when a story is not afraid to make the hard choices, and this one delivers.

I loved that even though the first half was a journey story focused on two characters and outside the primary battle, the action still never once let up. I experienced new creatures and landscapes and learned new historical facts about how Echion and Xisi became immortal. I was happy to get all of this back story, and in a way, that felt like the plot was still moving forward. I love the whole Phoenix and dragon battle symbolism and the beauty of the reality. Because, though they are fierce beasts, they both are quite beautiful, very deadly, and have incredible strength.

What I Wish

One of my pet peeves is when a book ends on a cliff hanger, and though the trilogy tale has concluded this novel did end with a cliffhanger, which leaves me asking, as Jeff Wheeler’s wife did, is there another book? I would love more books with the surviving characters, but I’m not sure how I felt about the book being left with a cliffhanger.

To Read or Not to Read

DEFINITELY read this trilogy! I can’t say it any stronger or plainer than that.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.