‘Out of all the death and destruction has come the freedom to be who we really are.’A hundred years after the world was devastated by the bat fever virus, the UK is a country of agricultural communities where motherhood is seen as the ideal state for a woman, new beliefs have taken over from old religions, and the city of Blackthorn casts a threatening shadow over the north of England. Legacy … Legacy travels backwards in time to link up with the characters from Tipping Point, Lindisfarne and UK2.
Seventeen-year-old Bree feels stifled by the restrictions of her village community, but finds a kindred spirit in Silas, a lone traveller searching for his roots. She, too, is looking for answers: the truth behind the mysterious death, forty years earlier, of her grandmother.
In 2050, Phoenix Northam’s one wish is to follow in the footsteps of his father, a great leader respected by all who knew him…or so his mother tells him.
In 2029, on a Danish island, Lottie is homesick for Lindisfarne; two years earlier, Alex Verlander and the kingpins of the Renova group believe they have escaped the second outbreak of bat fever just in time…
Book 4 of the Project Renova series rebuilds a broken country with no central government or law, where life is dangerous and people can simply disappear…but the post-Fall world is also one of possibility, of freedom and hope for the future.
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The ending that makes sense of the whole set. I absolutely loved the first three books, and this one completes the series perfectly with its collection of stories spanning a century and more after the initial Fall (when bat fever wipes out the majority of the population). I had to read the whole book to appreciate how cleverly it is crafted and if I’m honest, I was wondering where it was all going for quite some time as I couldn’t see the point of the ‘century hopping’ initially. But it is brilliant. I won’t go into storyline details but the beauty of this final book is that readers not only find out what happens to all the characters they have grown to love (and hate) but also what happens to their offspring and the long term consequences of their actions. It is both chilling and heartwarming in equal measure. From the terrifyingly brutal city of Blackthorn to the idealism of Lindisfarne and the warm imperfections of Five Villages, we see what can happen when human nature is left to itself with no governance or rule of law. Weakness or courage seem to be the main determiners as to which way it will all go, and there is plenty of both. Thankfully, the book ends with optimism in the future. Bree and Silas’ in particular. Like other readers, I was thrilled to find out how the members of the old Lindisfarne community fared, especially Lottie, but it was good to know that the future is not only in the hands of the past. And as always with Terry Tyler’s books, she ends her tale with something to leave us thinking on. Highly recommended, but I would definitely recommend reading books 1 to 3 of the series first. It is such a complete and magnificent series!
I did enjoy the book but it was not a comfortable read. I did not like the hopping backwards and forwards in time, and as I read it on my kindle, it was difficult to map who, was where, and in which century. I thoroughly enjoyed the first books in the series, and check out the synopsis which was handy as it has been a while since I read the earlier titles. I became confused sorting out the connections in the family generations especially when they dropped down 3 or 4 generations. Ms Tyler does draw her characters well but we did not stay with any one of them long enough for me to connect with a particular hero or heroine. The ending was very satisfying.
I read the last one of this series, UK2, nearly a year ago so I was pleased to get back to it and even more pleased to find that Tyler had put in a helpful The Story So Far section to scan through just to refresh who was who before I got going.
After the trilogy this is the story of what happens next, although it is also a completely new tale as it is about Bree, a girl from a village in Norfolk who’s been nowhere, and Silas, a traveller, who rarely settles anywhere for long.
I thoroughly enjoyed watching them and their relationship grow as they developed around each other. It is through them that we get to revisit Lindisfarne and see how that community has matured. I liked the way certain moments of history had been erased, despite great care being taken to record it, as parts of this story are about the way it can manipulate and affect those that came after.
I thought the Phoenix chapters were very well handled. I loved the total obsession with his father and the way he tried, and failed, to be the man he thought his father was before being told the rather confronting truth of the man.
There are some short chapters that cover what happens to the group that escaped UK Central at the end of UK2 and we get to see the return of a popular character. We also see the horrible reality of Blackthorn when Bree and Silas end up there and I know there is another book out by Tyler with this title so that will be an interesting read I’m sure.
As well written as ever the reader is drawn comfortably through this book which feels like a goodbye to some well-loved characters and is an excellent and fitting end to this superb series.