As if there were any doubt… Charlaine Harris knows how to tell a story! As the Gunnie Rose series demonstrates so well, this author is a master when it comes to creating fascinating new worlds, familiar yet decidedly other, and filling them with characters we readers can’t help getting involved with.

The Last Wizards’ Ball is the sixth and final book in the Gunnie Rose series. To provide a quick refresher/overview: The Gunnie Rose series takes place in an alternate world in which the United States fractured during the 1930s. The continent is now divided into separate, independent countries, among them the Holy Russian Empire (our California and Oregon), New America, Dixie, Britannia, and Texoma (our Texas and Oklahoma), home to main character Lizbeth Rose.

Lizbeth is a “gunnie”, a talented sharpshooter for hire who earns a living protecting people and cargo. Over the course of the series, she’s met and fallen in love with Eli Savarov, an aristocrat from the HRE and a gifted “grigori”, a term used for Russian magicians. In this world, magic is real and powerful, and while in some circles grigoris are esteemed, in Texoma, they are generally feared.

As book six opens, the world is on the brink of change. It’s apparently the late 1930s, and the rise of Germany’s new leader is causing fear and uneasy alliances around the world. Closer to home, Lizbeth and Eli are escorting her sister Felicia to the Wizards’ Ball in San Diego in the Holy Russian Empire — an event through which powerful magical families introduce their eligible younger members to one another in hopes of securing marriages that will enhance their families’ strengths, abilities, and influence. As the most gifted magician among her peers, with a terrifying talent for death magic, Felicia is highly sought after… but potentially also a target.

As the week of the ball unfolds, Lizbeth and Eli fend off threats and outright attacks — and meanwhile, Lizbeth must try to fit herself into the refined, snobby atmosphere of high society in the HRE. If not for Felicia’s sake, she’d much rather be back home living her simple life in Texoma, but she’s becoming increasingly (and uncomfortably) aware that what she wants might not match up with what Eli wants. What does this mean for their future as a couple?

Meanwhile, events of the outside world exert a huge amount of pressure on what Lizbeth had originally envisioned as a fancy mating ritual. The German and Japanese contingents at the ball seem to be plotting something, and appear to be focusing in on Felicia for their own purposes. Lizbeth and Eli must figure out who to trust if they’re all going to make it through the ball alive.

The Last Wizards’ Ball is an interesting wrap-up to this unique, highly creative and engaging series. It’s a bit startling to find elements of our own world seeping into this fictional alternative reality. There are little benign moments, such as Lizbeth ruminating that the Wizards’ Ball reminds her of the London Season as presented in Georgette Heyer’s books. Wait, Georgette Heyer books exist in Lizbeth’s world?? That’s pretty awesome.

But on a more serious note, it’s shocking to see Hitler’s rise, foretellings of the Holocaust, and the beginning of war in Europe within this alternate world. While there’s no United States in Gunnie Rose’s world, the various countries and territories that occupy this section of North America still face choices that feel familiar from our own history — who to back, whether to join the fight, or whether to stay out of it altogether and stick to an isolationist policy.

Thrusting Lizbeth, Eli, Felicia, and all the other characters we’ve come to know into the WWII build-up is an interesting move which creates new sets of stakes. It does make the series feel like it’s taking a very different turn than expected, with a geopolitical focus that’s a departure from the emphasis on competition for magical power. Still, as each character faces challenges and choices, it’s rewarding to the reader to see how what we’ve come to know about them all plays out along this new and different story trajectory.

I was sorry to see this book come to an end, knowing that this represents the end of the Gunnie Rose saga. Many characters’ future are left up in the air as war looms. We’re left knowing their general intentions, but I’d certainly like to see what happens next in their lives. I think some readers will feel frustrated or upset by certain developments in the characters’ personal lives. I don’t want to get spoilery, so I’ll just say that I understood why things turned out as they did and possibly even feel like the outcomes are the most logical choice, but still had a bit of heart-ache along the way (and a bit of a flashback to some of my more upset feelings about certain outcomes in the Sookie Stackhouse series).

All in all, I’m very happy that I chose to start this series two years ago, and I’ve loved following the story from beginning to end. The world of Gunnie Rose is fascinating, and I’ll miss it — and especially Lizbeth — very much.

I’ll look forward to whatever new worlds Charlaine Harris creates in her next book! Meanwhile, if you’re a Charlaine Harris fan, which are your favorite books or series of hers? Beyond Sookie Stackhouse and Gunnie Rose, I’ve also read the Harper Connelly books — I’m open to suggestions on which others to try!