I really enjoyed the first in the trilogy but the following two less so. Good premise/story, but I felt there was something lacking, like the characters became flatter somehow.

The Golden City is the climax to John Twelve Hawks sci-fi Fourth Realm trilogy. The first book is easily the stand out of the three but The Golden City is a serviceable enough sci-fi romp. It delves much more into the other realms than the first two books, which may be why this is the most divisive of the three. The turn from semi-political thrillers to out-and-out sci-fi fantasy may turn some readers off.

The focus is also much more on the two brothers than on Maya, the lynchpin of the earlier novels. Maya was my favourite of the characters, which might be why this didn't stick with me as much. Anyway, all that said, it is still a fast-paced thriller with a strong message and some great lines. For what it is worth, I liked the other realms, particularly the demigods, and I thought Michael was a strong antagonist throughout.

If you enjoyed the first two, you'll enjoy tying up the loose ends, but if you weren't a fan of book two, I don't think this one will be for you. I'd certainly read more from the author.

Good book, but not as good as the second in the series. Still frightening to think how true this could be. The ending was a bit anti-climactic.

The first book, "The Traveler," is the best in this trilogy, but they're all worth a read for the warning about government intrusion into privacy. Some of the technology in these books have since been put into practice, i.e. microchipping your employees. And what else is social media but the modern Panopticon?

This is the conclusion to the 4th Realm trilogy and I'm glad to have finally read it, however it was more of a damp squib than a big bang of a conclusion. I suppose that's the point, the author wants us to realise that the problems are still there and there isn't a lot we can do about it...beware the Panoptican!

finale of the fourth realm trilogy. eh. finished it up. but nothing special. really, the first one is the only one worth reading. the ideas are good, and something to be concerned about in our day in age, but still...eh.

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I really enjoyed "The Traveler" and had high hopes for the full Fourth Realm Trilogy, but this was a terrible ending to the series. Even more than the first two books, The Golden City comes across as heavy-handed, reactionary conspiracy theory, driven by the author's own paranoia. I would be ok with this if it weren't 350+ pages of non-compelling writing lacking both elegance and presence. I was continually annoyed by the repetition of the same phrases and metaphors over and over, a problem compounded by the fact that this is the third book to use some of these hackneyed expressions. In general, this is a very dissatisfying conclusion to what began as a potentially great modern fantasy trilogy.

Final book in the series. Characters continue their quest but the wrap-up is a bit quick.

Kind of an open-ended ending. I guess he was waiting to see if his books were popular enough for a second trilogy.