Sunday, March 11, 2018

The Archer’s Heart Book 3


Astrid Amara
Completed 3/11/2018, reviewed 3/11/2018
5 stars

What a terrific series!  Book 3 lived up to its predecessors, Book 1 and Book 2, making a great ending to the trilogy.  It is full of tragedy, war, betrayal, and of course, love.  It’s epic in scope and an exhausting read.  I loved it.  And as I mentioned in the last review, if you continue on with this review, there will be spoilers to the previous books.


The story picks up with the Paran family in the service of a nobleman.  Keshan has a vision that his lover, Jandu who is cursed to live one year as a woman, is in danger from one of the family’s enemies.  He intervenes which breaks the terms of the exile, giving aid to the family.  When the family returns from exile and Jandu is turned back into a man, the Parans present themselves to the king who rejects their penance, demanding three more years of exile, and casting Keshan to the untouchables caste.  Jandu’s brother, who should be king of half the kingdom, rejects the exile and declares civil war.  Can Jandu and Keshan’s love survive the despair and war?

The world building of the series is tremendous.  It creates quite a world of this nation, the rivalry of two clans of the same family, the caste system, the magic, and the demons (who I think I called gods in the last review).  The magic and the demons really come into play here during the war, after there not being as much in the first two books. 

The character development is also tremendous.  The main character, Jandu, who is cocky and rather obnoxious in Book 1 becomes a paragon of virtue.  Tarek remains obsessed with the straight king rather than turning to the man who could fulfill him.  Keshan goes from being so strong to so unsure.  It’s all so well done and if I go into any more detail, I’ll give too much away.

I give this book five stars out of five.  It’s sort of a delayed five-star award for the whole series.  I really loved it.  The ending is actually bittersweet but ultimately incredibly satisfying.  It’s a short book and I read it on a Sunday.  It was literally hard to put down. 

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