ISBN: 0-451-46082-0 Order from: Amazon.com
A satisfying conclusion, with good worldbuilding, lots of suspense, and good characters, with a bit of distraction due to multiple narrative threads.
Reviewed by David on May 26, 2007
Genre: Fantasy
Synopsis: Reisil, a former healer now given magical powers, is now on a mission to save the world. A combination of incurable plague and a magical blight threaten to affect everybody. Of course, there are those with political and magical ambitions that neither believe nor care about the threat—and would do anything to gain power.
Full Review: This is definitely the third book in a trilogy, and is much less satisfying if read by itself. As a conclusion to the series, it works very well, and has a number of positive aspects. Reisil is still under a lot of stress, but she has both allies and significant power. Her distress, responsibility and emotional attachment keep her from becoming too powerful, and the balance of strength and vulnerability make her an effective and appealing protagonist.
The world is full of magic, and some of the elements are both novel and consistent with previous material, making for exciting discovery without overwhelming the reader.
Other suporting characters are colorful and often sympathetic, although some of the adversaries are very lightly sketched.
Some of the problems include the multiple view switching, which detracts from the focus and emotional involvement with any single character. Another, minor issue is the lack of rest or other positive periods for the heroine or her friends; distressed characters make for good plots, but lack of contrast often reduces effectiveness.
Finally, while all the threads are tied adquately, the ending of this long book seemed a bit rushed.
Overall, this is an effective and satisfying conslusion to a good trilogy, and has all the major aspects of an enjoyable fantasy: colorful worlds and magic systems, likable characters, and lots of tense conflict.
Overall: 6.5; Plot: 6; Characters: 6; Style: 6; World-building: 6.5; Originality: 6.5;
Copyright date 2006, Penguin Group (Roc), May 2006, Mass-market, 452 pages
ISBN: 0-451-46082-0 Order from: Amazon.com