Legacy: The Girl in the Box #8 by Robert J. Crane

I will be the first to admit that Crane drives me absolutely bonkers because he is such a master weaver of plots.

I get all smug and feel like Sherlock Holmes on a high when I think I have figured out exactly where he is taking the story. Then it’s Wham Bam Thank you for playing Sherlock, as he throws a spanner into my well laid explanation.

So let’s see where we are at the beginning of the eighth book in Alone (The Girl in the Box #1) Sienna has been delegated to top dog at Omega, which sort of happens when the leadership team falls prey to a series of unplanned fatal accidents. This also means she is in charge of what is left, ergo the straggling limping remains of the Unit.

After all the excitement in Enemies she decides to hop on a plane all footloose and carefree, except she doesn't realise that her feet aren't exactly loose any more. The powers that be have other plans for her. They also have some surprises to spring on Sienna, some of which are less than enjoyable.

Without revealing any of the major events in the story I want to at least try and discuss some of them in a way that will omit any revelation. Did you get any of that? No neither did I. It sounded way better in my head than it does on screen.

Mama Bear Sierra turns up out of the blue and I can honestly say for the first time in eight books mother and daughter manage to connect on a level which is less than vitriolic. Somewhere along the line I think one of them needs to accept that they are more or less re-enacting family secrets, problems and schemes devised by third parties over and over again through the generations.

Sierra is Sienna and Sienna is Sierra, add on grandmother and great-grandmother and you have a whole lot of orchestrated events tumbling over each other and the direction of their personal history. They think, especially Sierra, that they have changed the course of fate, when in fact other people have been pulling the strings in the background when it became necessary or convenient. Some of that becomes evident during this book.

I really want to get my teeth into Sovereign.

By the middle of this story I had come to the conclusion that there must be a time travelling element involved. The flashbacks to specific Meta, who had interacted with Sovereign, made me wonder whether he knew exactly who or what she would imbibe, which would explain his killing some and letting others live.

Did I mention the author and his propensity for spanners?

Book eight is the calm before the storm, the eye of the hurricane and so eerily tranquil that I know the last two books are going to just implode.

Sienna is walking the last stretch of the mile towards fulfilling her destiny, even if she is completely unaware of what that might be exactly but I am guessing from the ending in this book that she isn't in the dark any more.
Sienna has broken free of the constraints of that box and she is finally getting a glimpse of what she is and what is expected of her.

However it is Sienna, so if I know one thing for sure it is the fact that what everyone expects is never what she ends up doing.

As always this was a fantastic read.
I received a copy of this book courtesy of the author.