Wargs: Outcast (Wargs Trilogy, Book 3) by D. Allen Rutherford

Wargs: Outcast 

 Wargs: Outcast is the heart pounding and gripping conclusion to the Wargs Trilogy. It’s been three years since the bloody and gruesome battle in the remote wilderness near Misty Hollow. A battle Matt believed ended the harrowing threat against the peaceful residents of Misty Hollow. Since then, they have learned to maintain a peaceful co-existence with the wargs. Meanwhile, sinister forces have been working to resurrect a program to create the ultimate transgenic human-animal hybrid, bringing possible new threats to the valley’s residents.
After receiving a cryptic message, Matt is plagued with more questions unanswered and left with a bone-chilling fear; who’s behind this dark veil and what is their connection to Misty Hollow? With the new threat looming, one has to ask, are they ready to face a new adversary? Join Matt and the people of Misty Hollow as they struggle to unravel the new mystery and thwart the rising threat before it brings more misery and death back to the valley.

The Guru's Review: 

I stated in my review of Wargs: Dominion that Wargs: Outcast would be an explosive finale and it is definitely so! If anyone thought that Dominion was the better sequel, well, this one trumps it hands down.

Sometimes the third book in a trilogy can be a bit of a fizzer and total let down as if the author ran out of ideas or just got tired toward the end, but not so in this final instalment. Rutherford has been consistent in all levels of this trilogy, plot, suspense, action, characterisation, descriptions of genetics, science and technology and animal behaviour. Even his depiction of romance never lets up. Not only does all this form a solid basis for this series but adds depth and strength as well.

One thing I have loved about this series is how it plays like a movie in your mind as you read. I guess it goes without saying that this would make a great movie. It would, but somehow, I would just like to have this trilogy the way Rutherford's worldbuilding has been captured in my own imagination. Sometimes a movie destroys this and you are never the same again, and how you saw the novel in your imagination is gone forever.

In some final instalments, the plot is mainly tying up loose ends to close the series, but in this one, the plot continues the Dominion plotlines and sets the scene for the finale in the last third of the book. The plot actually gets thicker as the saying goes, reaches a crescendo or peak two-thirds into the plot and then a roller coaster ride to the end but that ride is not so fast as to leave you with a suddenly finished book and you are wondering what happened, it all being over so fast. Admittedly, I was left breathless and panting at the end while the epilogue enabled me catch my breath and leave this series satisfied with a contented smile on my face. It was hard accepting that this wonderful tale had ended, though!

Rutherford is one author who successfully translates the knowledge of his occupations to his imagination as he poses the question what if.......? making this tale very edgy and speculative, "....former army officer and a retired international technology consultant with a B.S. and Masters degree..... taught a year as an adjunct professor and three years as a science teacher in secondary education..". He is very much suitably placed and qualified to conduct research into the themes of this series and to blend this into fiction, blurring the lines of what is true and what is not.

Rutherford held back on some plot twists until this final instalment adding to the explosive ending and successfully revealing all. I thought that some of these plot lines were dealt with in Dominion but did not see that all was not as it seems until half way through this instalment. These twists I did not see coming as Rutherford successfully blindsided me and this was a great tactic on his part. Another quality of being a master storyteller.

Throughout this novel, I kept wondering where the title came from and who would be the Outcast, and just when I thought I got it right (and I did up to that point!) Rutherford throws a twist at the end and I discovered who the real outcast is! Again, did not see that one coming, another blindsided tactic from this author! Makes sense once all is revealed.

This final instalment Rutherford has used to add a few questions that transgenics poses and I don't believe will be answered before science successfully creates the first transgenic "species". Just like other medical advances in the past, the moral, ethical and spiritual issues will not be addressed until after the fact. One these issues or themes that Rutherford investigates is whether the defining quality/characteristic that separates humans from the rest of the animal kingdom will be lost in the creation of a transgenetic/chimera species. This got me thinking too and I also considered that if we believe that all life was created by God in their own kind then what does He say about one of his created interfering with His creation? If God is Sovereign, Omnipotent, Omniscience and Omnipresent, He has created life for a specific reason into their own kind. I feel this novel shows enough to see what a minefield society will have to deal with and the severe consequences if mankind goes down this path. The latter is my own thoughts and beliefs as I don't know if the author has any belief in God but I suspect that he does due to his inclusion of God and some of His precepts and the fact that he has portrayed God favourably and with respect in this novel, including the new pastor who represents the Christian faith and God.

Although I read and review mainly Christian fiction, this trilogy will remain one of my favourites. I love Rutherford's writing and imagination. I cannot wait for his other works in progress to be in my hands/kindle! Thoroughly enjoyed this trilogy and Rutherford has definitely found his niche in life!

Highly Recommended.