** spoiler alert ** 
 After getting burned by "Allegiant," I felt some trepidation at checking out the finale to Ann Aguirre's Razorland trilogy. A good final book is hard to pull off. 
 Fortunately, "Horde" is a magnificent ending to a solid dystopian/post-apocalyptic trilogy -- a gory, action-packed sci-fi story that never bogs itself down in contrived drama, and brings the overall story arc to a smooth ending. The biggest source of bitterness is the fact that it's all over, and we shall ne'er again see more of these dynamic characters. 
 The Freaks have changed -- they're acting with intelligence and cunning, and this may give them the advantage over the humans. They're forming a horde (title!), which is swarming over human outposts, and can only be countered by a human army. It sounds a lot easier than it is, since humans are both unwilling and ignorant of battle. 
 But Deuce knows that this is what humanity needs to survive. So she begins building the army -- known as Company D -- herself, with the help of the mentally-scarred Fade. They tear a bloody swathe through the Horde, but their greatest battle is still ahead of them: the battle to eradicate the Freaks from the world completely. 
 The Razorland trilogy is in a world of grime, blood and terror, and Aguirre doesn't soft-pedal the ending -- it would simply lessen the impact of the ending, and all that the characters do. Mistakes are made. Lives are lost. Blood is shed. There is a segment of the plot -- mostly in the middle -- where it slows down and spins its wheels, but soon it picks up again. 
 Aguirre's prose is muscular and no-nonsense ("Her eyes were bright but sunken in her swollen face"), and she never shies away from the ugly or grotesque. But she also has a talent for finding the little poetic moments woven into all the ugliness ("his skin washed red by the sunset"), which seem to shine out like beacons. It makes you want the heroes to win just so those moments will become the norm rather than the exception. 
 And the Huntress is one of the rare heroines with the strength to pull that off. Deuce is not perfect -- she makes mistakes, but not stupid ones that make you dislike her. It's her fierce will and passionate determination that make her such a vibrant heroine; she won't give up, no matter what is thrown at her. And while the focus is ultimately on winning the war against the Freaks, her relationship with Fade is a truly exquisite one, especially since he is working past his traumas while also trying to help her lead more effectively. This is a true partnership as well as a love story. 
 And the ending has a quality that reminds me of J.R.R. Tolkien -- the appreciation of simple, ordinary lives, with love and peace as the ultimate goal rather than glory and power. It makes a beautiful capstone to this trilogy. 
 "Horde" is a brilliant and very final ending to the Razorland trilogy, and while it's a bittersweet farewell, it's one that doesn't fail to satisfy in any way.