The much-awaited conclusion to the series does its job very well. It answers all the outstanding questions and is still unquestionably the end of the series. No strings left hanging, no plots left unwrapped.

By now we all know that Tansen has sworn a blood feud against the Water Lords. And we all know that blood feuds don't end until every last one of the line is dead. So when he admits to himself that he loves Mirabar, imagine his devastation when she marries one. We find out why Kiloran and Baran hate each other so much, we find a new Sea King (and is anyone surprised that it's not who Zarien thought it was? no.), and we feel more torment as we put ourselves in Tansen's shoes.

It wraps up the series, putting a final stamp on the history of Sileria.

Tansen. What can I say? I feel for the guy.

How fast some portions of the story flew by. The last two books were supposed to be one single volume, but without heavy editing, would have come in over 1000 pages, which I guess the publishers didn't want to risk on an untried fantasy author. Even as two separate books, there were portions that felt glossed over and left me with the feeling that I missed something.

Cry and cheer and hug strangers, yadda yadda yadda.

Inspired.

Created an unbelievable history (not meaning that it's not believable, just that it's incredibly realistic) in Sileria. The history of the nation is almost that 'extra' character that gives the story its grand punch.

This is one of my favorite fantasy series of all time. It's unique, doesn't rip off Tolkien's ideas, has those all-important sub-plots and twists, makes you laugh, makes you cry, makes you take up a banner and march for freedom...

Well...I wasn't so crazy about the underground society of creatures whose names I just can't even think of right now. They felt like a last-minute addition to band-aid a problem Resnick was having with the plot. The kind of thing I would do in a NaNoWriMo project just to get the story moving forward again.

Read it. Read it, read it, read it. Any lover of fantasy will appreciate the lengths Resnick goes to in creating her world. She does carry over a few conventions of the romance world that I find a tad bit annoying, but those can be overlooked (for the most part--don't get me started on the whole Tansen-Mirabar-Baran thing)

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Created May 15, 2007 at 2:22pm • Submit your own review...