The Conformity (Twelve-Fingered Boy Trilogy Series #3)

by John Hornor Jacobs

Overview

Mr. Quincrux is dead. Armistead Lucius Priest, founder of the Society of Extranaturals, is now seated uneasily in his protégés flesh, and though Priest's powers are not inconsiderable, the Conformity will not settle for the second-brightest flame in the etheric heights. It will confront Shreve.

But it will have to find him first. Under the protection of Mr. Negata, Jack, and the rest of the Irregulars, Shreve retreats to the wild to face his demons and prepare his mind for one more battle. The Conformity is the breathtaking conclusion to the acclaimed Twelve-Fingered Boy Trilogy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467779012
Publisher:	Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/01/2015
Series:	Twelve-Fingered Boy Trilogy Series , #3
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	312
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

John Hornor Jacobs is the author of several critically acclaimed novels, including The Twelve-Fingered Boy 

and The Shibboleth. He lives in Arkansas with his family. 

Editorial Reviews

"The Twelve-Fingered Boy trilogy has been uncommon since the first page, and Jacobs sends it off in kindred style. The action is immediate: Shreve and his gang of 'extranaturals' at last attack the humanity-devouring Conformity. It materializes as 'soldiers,' giant human-shaped golems built from thousands of tormented people and reminiscent of Clive Barker's landmark story, 'In the Hills, the Cities.' As baddies go, they're pretty awesome to behold, and soon our troop retreats with a comatose Shreve. With our protagonist gone for much of the book, Jacobs splinters the narrative among the side characters―a fortuitous circumstance, as the rock-'em-sock-'em stuff, filled with shouting sidekicks, is a bit hard to follow. The resulting plot treads water somewhat, but as a multiple-character study, it's a fine read, with Jacobs perpetuating his fascinating proclivity toward tumbling, sensory, sometimes puzzling, but always resonant prose: 'I became the green fuse that drives the flower. I became electricity itself.' The finale, as you'd hope, is in the spirit of the entire series: obstinate, brash, and even transcendent."―Booklist

From the Publisher

02/01/2015
Gr 9 Up—The conclusion to the thrilling "Twelve-Fingered Boy" trilogy (Carolrhoda Lab) has it all: explosions, romance, mental telepathy, hellish creatures comprised of living humans, and a crazy religious cult. This final installment opens immediately after its predecessor ends with little summation of what has lead up to the opening scene. The nation is being attacked by horrifying creatures made up of swarms of terrified humans, controlled by the Conformity: an evil, bodiless entity that feeds on the psychic energy of those with special abilities. Shreve and a small band of "extranaturals" are faced with the task of saving humanity. Like the first two books, there is plenty of action, mature language, and a darkness that pervades the work. The narration is told from several perspectives, which enhances the storytelling and help develop the lead characters (particularly giving insight as to why the young adults have become so jaded). This conclusion wraps up quickly and is not as concrete as the previous entries. For the story to work, readers must be willing to embrace the notion of Shreve using his astral body to perform supernatural feats. VERDICT Fans of the series will be satisfied.—Sherry J. Mills, Hazelwood East High School, St. Louis, MO

School Library Journal

2015-01-20
Telekinesis, flying teens, reinhabited bodies, giants and more: The Society of Extranaturals returns for the conclusion to the Twelve-Fingered Boy trilogy. Right from the get-go readers are plunged almost too quickly into the action of Jacobs' finale. Awakened by a din of screams and crashing trees outside their bunker, Shreve and Jack, heroes of the previous two installments, rally their troops to battle the Conformity, a conglomeration of thousands of innocent human victims fused together into a brown, jellylike bipedal mass by "some massive and unknown telekinetic power." The Conformity stands stories tall, wreaks havoc wherever it walks and sucks up other humans into its body as it goes. Not only is the action hard to follow from the first page, but it's interspersed with confusing, often unattributed dialogue that is either spoken or telepathically sent, the latter set apart in bolded italics rather than with quotation marks. Just when readers have almost wrapped their heads around the flying teen heroes, strange communication signals and extensive back story and have settled into this otherwise fairly fast-paced third, Jacobs confoundingly switches gears midway through and adds multiple narrators. All this said, the novel isn't without genuine action and exciting thrills, it's just hard to penetrate through the ether to get to the good stuff. A finale that requires homework of its readers. (Supernatural thriller. 13-15)

Kirkus Review