AVATARS

The Avatars trilogy comes to a sturdy close with visits to several underworlds and the exposure of divine deception on a grand scale. The pantheons of various fading or extinct religions have set up a battle for ultimate power that requires each one’s champion to be embodied in an enhanced mortal who will fight his or her rivals to the death. Unfortunately (for the gods), four of the teens have become fast friends rather than enemies. Leaning heavily on previous episodes, the closer sends the spirit of the badly wounded Diana wandering through various lands of the dead while depositing Gus, Kali and Tigre in Africa. With the aid of sympathetic Yoruba spirits the three use the old tar-baby trick to capture the trickster god (“I cannot believe that I fell for this again,” he mutters)—who in various aspects is part of almost all pantheons and who, after perfunctory resistance, explains how to thwart the Game’s aims. Threading in revelations, dangerous encounters and tongue-in-cheek comments, Sutherland rounds out her leisurely but ultimately engrossing epic in style. (Fantasy. 11-13)