Rating: 5 out of 5
It’s only recently I managed to catch up enough with the Wars of Light and Shadow to be ready to wait for this last instalment. As ever, I did not have to be disappointed although—and this might be considered a spoiler so please beware—I had been expecting a much more painful ending to this series.
Having come so far from the early days of Lysaer versus Arithon, the story is also much more convoluted. Who is against whom? The alliances and betrayals the reader has seen throughout the course of this story are almost untold with several characters supporting both sides at different points. Hence a moral assessment of the two is very difficult to make, even as the spurned Crown Prince would be the more obvious one to support. Instead, especially in the recent volumes, the suborned Lysaer had become more worthy of the reader’s support. It was clear that that, as with so many other arcs by this author, that could not last.
I think Ms Wurts has, in her way, crafted two superb characters. One’s main fault is the inability to accept loyalty for fear of pain and the other cannot extricate himself from his desires and fears, being dominated by ancient grudges. Both get their comeuppance though perhaps not as the reader would like: the author’s historic sense of free will through even the darkest moment brings a close to the series that I would not have expected.
Who shines? Elaira and Daliana most of all. Ms Wurts’ strong independent female characters are an absolute blessing to this story, allowing them to complement the stubbornness of the men. Wiser for less years, this story wouldn’t even be close without them.
And, of course, the dreadful Koriathain, enemies of free will and proponents of their own domination, stand out as the enemy that slowly appeared through the first few books and never really changed. Perhaps another look at the beginnings would confirm them also as more vicious and vile at the start of the arc though indeed their power was much more limited then.
Overall, this was a very interesting story to experience from start to end.
