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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