Prosper Redding The Last Life of Prince Alastor (Prosper Redding, 2)

Last Life continues and concludes the tale of Prosper Redding, following the main cast of characters downstairs as they try to rescue Prue. Fiendish fun is a superb description of the adventure, relationships, and conclusion of this highly recommended duology.The relationship between Prosper and Alastor is fantastic, and I love that they never lose that. It is a great source of amusement and the insults between the two and in general in the book are wondrous.As usual, Bracken does an amazing job with character arcs and she'll pull you along on the roller coaster of thoughts and emotions so that we come out as better people too. There are a few moments where the feels really hit you, which is always a plus.The world-building about witches is amazing and one of my favorite parts about the books. The spells, their power source, their history - I would read a book just about them. The creatures from downstairs were ghastly (in a good way) and well-explained so I did not feel confused with all the new characters and beings. I especially liked the elves and essentially their lore and Prosper's reaction to them.There are fantastic themes of legacy and fitting in and doing the right thing, as well as history and fate and making mistakes and learning from them. There's even important lessons in decisiveness and believing in yourself and the capacity for change.The ending was great, the loose threads tied up, no deus ex machina, a realistic turn of events and shared responsibility, great twists, and a satisfying conclusion.

“A life lived by another’s book is no life at all.”4.5 STARSCW: body horror, gore, violenceBefore I dive into this review, I must tell you all of the unspeakable tragedy that befell me whilst reading this: my beautiful signed hardcover copy is a misprint.I ended up buying the ebook because when I got to page 187, it went back to 155, and then where 187 should have been again, it was at 219. A printing error, of course, one fixed by getting the ebook, but a tragedy nonetheless.A moment of silence for those lost pages, possibly wandering around in the wrong spot in someone else’s book. 😞But now that we have that out of our system, AAAHHHHHH!!! Please go read this book (and check for misprints around the middle, if you’re feeling wary buying/borrowing a hardcover copy). It’s just as good as the first book, and actually brings everything to a close in incredibly satisfying ways. Prosper gets to grow, Nell gets another chance to be the witch she’s scared to really be, Alastor is maybe now 3% good instead of only 2% (he’s still a conniving turd, don’t worry), and the family history of the Reddings comes ever closer to the light, bringing the entire story full circle in a way that had me grinning through the final pages.And yes, our favorite CatBat is back. I love Toad. He’s a very good boy, no matter what size or shape he is (though he is, of course, best in the shape of a fuzzy black cat with BAT WINGS).Also, the action really ramps up. There was some moments of slow, mundane reality in the first book that dragged just a little bit, but now that we’ve charged headlong into the Downstairs, everything has picked up the pace. We get to explore all the gruesome corners that Alastor once called home, and we finally get to meet a whole host of fiends. There’s also the question of who’s in charge, who’s doing the right thing, and who’s going to be responsible for bringing this all to a conclusion. It’s tense in all the right ways!Well, except one. I loved seeing Prosper wrestle with the nature of his character, especially in relation to Alastor, but the whole point of going to the Downstairs is that Prosper wants to rescue Prue, and…we just don’t get enough on Prue. As an older sibling, I get the pull of charging in to protect your siblings, but we barely know Prue beyond her brief appearances, and it sucks away a little of the worry we should be feeling for her well-being. We worry because it’ll crush Prosper to lose Prue, not because it’s going to crush us too.And I suppose I also had some issues with how Prosper’s grandmother was handled in this book. Maybe it’s because of the tense relationship I have with one of my grandmothers, but I really disliked the way it was presented that his grandmother was always right, all along. It doesn’t excuse the way she controlled everyone and everything, or the way she’s always made Prosper feel small and insignificant.But other than that, the character arcs of this book were wonderfully compelling, and I really did feel for our main cast, even grouchy Alastor, who is mostly a jerk but a little bit okay, and maybe on his way to being truly better. Maybe. I also loved the change in setting, and the way the stakes really came to a head. It felt like a proper way to close the duology without it falling flat OR feeling too overblown. It was just the right amount of drama for a story about humans and demons and the terrible and wonderful things they’re capable of doing.This really is a series to read if you want to mix Halloween-type goodness, preteen snark and silliness, and the wickedness of demons tempered by the stubbornness of humans. It’s a ride that’s fun from start to finish, with distinct voice and full characters, and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys paranormal books, especially ones that are MG or early YA.

This proved to be a delightful, expansive, and satisfying end to the Prosper Redding Duology. I have struggled with some of other Bracken's stories and series but Prosper is one I will cherish forever. It was just the right amount of whimsy and fun one could ask for. Yes this book was long but it didn't hinder the experience.Exploring the Downstairs was great. It was rich with history and danger. But it also gave us some wonderful new characters in Flora and Zachariah. The chemistry between all the characters was executed extremely well. I never once felt like anyone was a waste to the story. Each and every character had a purpose all the way to the final page. That was so refreshing to see.I am so happy with this series and thank you Alexandra Bracken for bringing Prosper, Alastor, and the rest of the gang into my home.

I love this book...couldn't put it down...would love to see it continue on...

I will be seeking out more works from this author, as I absolutely loved her writing style. Great story, written very well. I didn’t want it to end!

A great sequel. The writing style is fun and always entertaining. I'm typically hard to impress, but this book grabbed my attention and held it.

Thank you, great shipping

As always Alexandra does not disappoint with this awesome story!

The sequel to "The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding" takes our characters to the underworld, home to the demon Alastor, who still inhabits the body of Prosper Redding. This keeps resulting in hilarious internal dialogues between the two, but in my opinion, Alastor could have been even more bombastic and sarcastic (but perhaps I wanted to compare him too much to Murray, the demonic skull from the computer game "The Curse of Monkey Island").That underworld is not as I expected. It is rather a kind of parallel fantasy world inhabited by types of creatures that try to live together in an ordinary village with streets and market squares. It is truly a separate realm that was once created for reasons you will discover later in the book.We are put immediately in the middle of the action, so this book cannot be read without knowing what happens in the first part. But it loses some quality. Some elements remind me of "The Neverending Story" (a "void" that slowly destroys the world) and "His Dark Materials" (parallel worlds). In the first book I noticed that Alexandra Bracken also pays attention to nature and the senses to make her story richer, but we hardly see any descriptions like that in this book.Sometimes it seems as if Bracken wants to put in too much. The story could have been a bit simpler, making it less chaotic. Often so much happens in one scene, with so many characters in one place, that I lose my bearing. They are cool characters in themselves: a human being, a demon, a witch, an elf, and then all the different creatures from the underworld. And especially Flora, the elf, has a great role that I would have liked to see more of. But this is the second time when it comes to Bracken that the sequel cannot match the original (the first time was with "Passenger" and "Wayfarer").

Alexandra, I LOVE how you refuse to be limited to one style of story or story-telling. You will not be typecast as a fantasy-dystopian-romantic YA author, and that's great. But you lost me with this one--too complex, without helpful reminders of motivation and sparks to the conflicts and the characters. I couldn't believe that the protagonists, Prosper and Nell, were the ages stated--their behavior and dialogue skewed much older--and Alastor's quasi-likeable-while-evil persona really bugged me. I kept losing track of the vast variety of monsters chasing the heroes. and whose sister was whose, and whether a force for good or not. The writing was pleasantly witty; the story in both "Prosper Redding" and "The Last Life" not as entertaining. Looking forward to your next...different...novel.

The Last Life Of Prince Alastor is the follow up to The Dreadful Tale Of Prosper Redding which tells the tale of the black sheep of his highly successful Founding Father family actually owe generations of success because they made a pact with a demon then reneged horrifically on it.without spoilers. Prosper has to go to ‘The Downstairs’ the demonic realm on a Labyrinth meets Neverending Story style quest to battle another demon who has usurped Prince Alastor in his absence. But he must make a pact to follow through the mirror bridge between realms.On his journey the duo find a changed ‘The Downstairs’ now under threat from the Void which is eating away the realm as it has squandered the magic but the new leader Intends the demonic realm to spill into and take over our world.This is a massive change of pace and setting from the first book instead of brooding and discovering truths about the self there’s a lot more action and the hero’s quest to follow. But I actually kinda loved that, Prosper really comes into his own in this book and it explores the consequences both in plot and in personal development of when he feels temptation to ‘do bad things in the name of the right outcome’.Overall a satisfying end to the series but probably not what you would expect coming in from book 1!!

I think this book works best if you read it straight after the first story (The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding). It starts right where that one left off, so there’s not much room for a recap, especially as the action heads immediately Downstairs into the realm of the Fiends.It’s a strange tale and there’s lots going on as Prosper and Alastor travel through the troubled realm, learning about all that has happened since Alastor was last home and all the disasters that have befallen his people. There’s a fair amount of social commentary beneath the French Revolution-style upending of the corrupt social order and a lot about friendship, forgiveness and learning to believe in yourself, but it also feels aimless. Prosper’s whole reason for being Downstairs is to save his sister, but he has no plan and the characters bumble about from place to place in a vague hope of finding her and somehow making it back out alive. It’s a very hand-wavy scheme, relying on convenient happenstance and fortunate accidents, which after the first couple of times removed all sense of peril.It took me a lot longer to read than it should have done and I struggled to keep going at times. It’s not boring, but it’s not as exciting as it could have been. The Fiend Realm is fascinating and fun in places, but a lot of the detail felt like filler to make up for the fact that Prosper and Alastor were getting nowhere.The relationship between the two of them was definitely the best part of the book, especially when Prosper became a little less like himself, and Alastor also began to change. There’s a lot of soul-searching to be done by both, and I will admit to getting emotional at the end.Overall, it was okay. It’s nothing like as fast, fun and twisty as the first book, but it does try to be interesting as well as different. The last third was pretty haphazard, throwing in a lot of new concepts as the pace suddenly picked up towards the end. Again, a lot of convenient things fell into place at precisely the right moment, and I don’t feel like justice was fully done in some quarters, but meh, it just about works.If you loved the first book, you’ll probably still enjoy this one. Just don’t expect it to be as good.

Second and final volume in the 'Prosper Redding' series of young adult novels.This is not really a jumping on point, so new readers should start with the first book 'The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding.' This picks up from where that left off.As with the first book, recommended reading age would be thirteen and up. There's nothing really gory or scary here, but it's just the level of the story that wouldn't be suitable for anyone younger.It runs for three hundred and ninety pages. There are thirty eight chapters. Plus the occasional interlude, that fills in details of Alastor's past with the Redding family.At the end of book one, Prosper had no choice but to make a bargain in order to get the chance to save his sister. So now, he's gone into Alastor's world to find her. With the demon still trapped inside him. A dangerous quest through dangerous lands await, and will he ever manage to be free?The writing style of the first book continues nicely here, the viewpoint jumping between Alastor and Prosper when required. They are a duo with a lot of chemistry together and the relationship is a particular highlight of the story. Prosper does get into some good interaction with a couple of other characters as well, and all grow and change as a result. But that's all I can say about those without spoilers.It's a book to read slowly though, because whilst the world building here is very effective and imaginative, the sheer level of detail demands your full attention to get the most from the descriptions.It does manage to justify it's length nicely by going off in a slightly different way in the final quarter in order to wrap things up.Which it does, bringing the story to a close in a good way, although some of what happened did feel as if it came out of left field for me. So maybe I wasn't following my own advice about reading speed.There's a good last chapter though, ending it in a way that will stick with you for a bit.A good read, and a good end to a decent little series.