Truancy City by Isamu Fukui

9/10

As a new threat arises from outside the walls of the City, the warring Truants and Educators must join forces or be destroyed. The fate of the City is determined at last in this long-awaited conclusion to the Truancy trilogy.

The concluding book of the Truancy trilogy! Now first of all I just want to mention that I am writing this review with dual thoughts. First off all, I am finally able to finish a series in a long long time. But on a second thought, finishing a series always leaves me with this empty feeling of never to be able to return in the set world. Earlier this year I started with the Truancy series with the first book written in Isamu Fukui’s earlier years. The first book was a great start of the series and the second book was a prequel to the first (Truancy Origins) showing a great feat of combining and explaining the pasts of several the characters that you met up with in the first book BUT also allowing you to place several pieces of the puzzle to fill in the blanks, and on top of it all there were still some eluding concepts that couldn’t be related towards the first book. These parts really had my hopes up for the concluding book Truancy City.

As for Truancy City. The universe that was set in the first two books of the series revolves around two opposing forces, the Educators and the Truants. The Mayor is leading the City where there is a strict regime in education which is tightly enforced by the Educators, however as you learn soon enough already in the first book is that some students do not fully agree with these tight rules. It is by these students that the Truants are formed and they fight it out against the Educators. This fight however has been going for some time now already. Truancy (the first book in the series) left a somewhat rounded story in the ending and as for Truancy Origins this book showed the background of how everything got started in the first place, so looking at these two I did not have a clue of what was in store for me in the final book of the series, only what I could make up from the synopsis on the back. Well… what can I say, “As a new threat arises and joining of the forces”, I was pretty eager to find this out.

I must say that Truancy City throws away almost everything of what I had thought would happen based on the relations set in the earlier books as well as all the events that transpired and caused grief in the protagonists. Isamu Fukui does start off the book in the trend that I was used to but then he goes in a completely different direction. Revealing the new threat that arose and is compromising both the Truants and the Educators. What he did in Truancy City is totally unexpected.

Truancy City plays more part into the events of which the first book was left in the end. Once again you have the Truants who are still fighting against the Educators with full force and not hesitating to reach their goals. As I mentioned in my earlier reviews some of the scenes are quite brutal and since this is still a young-adult series I must say that it should really be for an teen audience of 14-15 and up. Again in Truancy City there are a few scenes where Takan (Tack), the main protagonist of the first book, does something without a moments notice and that actually left me with wow… okay. That on the side I do think that the message of this book is clear with one statement, fighting the oppression that is set by the Mayor, fighting for your own right and decide what you want to do.

The story in Truancy City now focuses, in my opinion, more on a different character besides the one that were introduces earlier, like Umasi and Zen and Tack. Now it is more up to Cross to take a lead, he also has a past with the Educators and is a bit caught in between the Truants and Educators and also does not really know what to do in the beginning. I really liked the focus on his character, especially with several flashbacks to things that happened in his past and which made him the person he is today.

Just like Cross’s character, looking at Truancy City and on the whole all the characters are a big plus, they become more and more relatable. In each book you get to know different individual characters: Umasi, Zen, Noni, Edward, Cross, Floe, The Mayor, Rothenberg, Tack, the albino. These are just to name a few. Just by the first book alone you have a certain image of each one but with the prequel and especially in the concluding book there is whole picture appearing of each individual character. Isamu Fukui has created over these three books a very nice set of characters, of which some by certain events that happened will be missed.

The Truancy series is action-packed, exciting and with the last book, unexpected from start to finish. The whole Truancy series really holds a promise, the plotting already started in the first book and was greatly kept up as the story progressed, in the end there is really a nice curve ball that keeps you tense in reading this book until the final page. What Isamu Fukui managed at young age with creating the idea of the Truants and Educators is only further built up in the other two books that follow it up. Truancy is a great series for teen boys, all the action and I think the Oriental inspiration behind the book will appeal to many. The series has a great build up in the story itself and I must stress to read it in the order (I did it with the prequel in the middle), it will be much more satisfying!

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Truancy City reader reviews

from United States

Overall, I thought this was a very decent book. Possibly one of my favorites. Within the Trilogy, I would say so. I will be saying a few spoilers with my review so you've been warned. Lots of Character development to say the least but however, I have to nitpick that there should've been more of an origin within the eyes of Tack aka Takan on his first days taking over Zyid's old position. The Same thing goes with Cross on his first days of Edward's old position. Along with an origin of Floe's first days of defecting from the Truancy to the Enforcers/Student Militia and having an origin of Sepp. I feel those are some of the important factors that are missing. To my honest input, I just would love to see a spinoff that fills the gasp of the original Truancy book and the Truancy City book of How Cross got his team/squad assembled and what the early days of the war were like. I do personally think that Milady, Floe, and Sepp should've made it to the end of the book leaving the city. They were just as important characters as Umasi, Noni, Tack/Takan, and Cross. My Character Review goes like this: Joe: Quite A bit obnoxious and Selfish. Only really caring for himself. Had many opportunities in the book to be a better person but failed to do so. 4 out of 10. D- (I'm being generous with a 4 by the way.) The only reason why it's a 4 because he was in the Student Militia and as a main character in the first half of the book. Floe: Very Tomboyish. Showing she had a change of heart defecting from the Truancy in the book. If I were to guess why she joined the Truancy was she was failing school. With a stroke of luck, Cross and her crossed paths in one of most unusual ways which became a major turning point for her. She was very sweet, strong, and brave so with that, 9 out of 10! A-. Sepp: Jokes, Laughter, and Humor mixed in with being a proud kind, selfless brave and noble warrior. I Absolutely LOVED Sepp!! (My Favorite Character of the Whole Trilogy!) He should've been the Captain/Leader to begin with! 10 out of 10! A+ Cross: Man oh man, where do I begin. He came a very long way in his character growth being an average boy in Truancy Origins to being a main character in Truancy City. With Milady's help and guidance along with Floe and Sepp's help and support, He learned to become more forgiving, helping, and thinking more for himself, He's a Kind, Good, and a Brave Warrior! I really just wish Umasi would've trained him but aside from that, 9 out of 10! A-. Tack/Takan: For a Truant Leader, He's surprisely Good and Kind for the most part. His training with Umasi from the Original Truancy Book really geared and shaped him to be an elite warrior and leader. Personally, I think he should've joined the Student Militia right after defeating Zyid but with all that, I give it a good 8 out of 10! B+ Noni: Another Elite warrior trained in Stealth and Swords who was Zyid's assistant. We see a bit of more character growth from her from being Zyid's one and only number one fan girl in the book to being adaptive and open-minded with forgiveness. So an 8 out of 10! B+ Milady: She definitely had her screentime possibly even more than Truancy Origins. It was great seeing her again. Definitely had more character growth now a teacher and a mom with her young son Zen. Guiding the Student Militia on their missions as a bonus member. She was shown to be kind, gentle, brave, patient, persistent, and an a elite warrior. With that, 9 out of 10! A- Umasi: Now we come to an oldy but a goody to say the least. This Pioneer/Veteran/Legend/Master was now becoming "The Old Guard" and has been through so much throughout the two previous books. He really grew up a ton in Truancy City then we last saw him in the original Truancy book now becoming the New Mayor and discovering he's a father along with discovering he has an older half sister named Iris who is a General in the Government. I honestly wished he joined the Student Militia. He would've been a Perfect warrior. I believe that was a missed opportunity. But with All that being said, 9 out of 10! A- Iris: When I read through the book, I didn't know what to think officially as I had mixed feelings. She was definitely a force to be reckoned with to say the least. As we gotten to know her, she turned out to be kind, decent, compassionate and only wanted what was best for the folks who lived in the city. Personally, I think she should've left Cross and the Student Militia stay in power. I would've loved to see an origin story on her. I give her an 8 out of 10. B+ The Mayor: Surprisely, not much said for him. His time was coming to a close with Iris catching up to him and taking over the city. It was good that he and Umasi got to see each other for a somewhat family reunion towards the beginning of the book. 6 out of 10. C+ Jack (Tack/Takan's Dad): It was good to see him again then when last saw him in Truancy Origins. He was slowly getting much older and becoming more of an old man. Like with Umasi and the Mayor, At least he got a bit of a reunion with his son, Tack/Takan and heroically sacrificing himself face to face only again with Rothenburg. With that, an 9 out of 10! A- Rothenburg or as I like to call him, Rottenburg! Mean, Cruel, Heartless, and Selfish especially to his own son Cross. Words can not describe how much I hated him. 1 out of 10! F If I were in the Truancy Trilogy, I would definitely hands down be an Enforcer and/Security Officer. I would definitely be a mentor with the Student Militia. Fantastic series I grew up with! .
9/10 ()

9/10 from 2 reviews

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