The conclusion to the series! Spoilers ahead!
The battle for the Dagger of Koronos has begun, and Hylas and Pirra are in the middle of it. Will they manage to get it from Telamon and bring peace upon the lands? Or will they fail and will the Crows win?
A solid conclusion to this series. I honestly do not have a whole lot to say about it. It's just...good. Not great, not bad, just rather solid but it also didn't stand out that much to me. The world-building and lore of the world still feels grounded and believable with a slight fantastical touch to it, the characters are still lovely (even my favorite Akastos returns this time!), the stakes are higher than ever and it all leads to a thrilling climax.
I am still a tiny bit distracted by the similarity of the characters of Hylas and Pirra to those of Paver's other series, Chronicles of Ancient Darkness, as I have brought up in a previous review. However like I also said in said review it doesn't ruin the books for me. But it does stand out that our protagonists for both series do share quite a few similarities especially personality-wise.
I do really like how this book handles Telamon. I was wondering if they were gonna pull a last-minute redemption for his character, with him being old friends with Hylas and all, but they didn't and I'm glad they committed to the "Telamon is a villain" bit. I could've bought a redemption for him maybe around books two or three, but after book four his actions were really too heinous for me to just accept a redemption arc for him. However, I do like the fact that Hylas regrets killing Telamon (or more like, leading him semi-directly to his death). It feels realistic and shows some depth for Hylas, even if he hates Telamon's guts for all the terrible things he's done in the past two years.
One thing about these books I did pick up on is the pattern of the crew picking up a new animal companion pretty much in every book which isn't inherently bad, but it does become a bit of a predicable pattern after a while. Book one had Spirit the dolphin, book two Havoc the lioness, book three Echo the falcon, and this book has Jinx the horse. I think book four is the only exception of the bunch that doesn't introduce a new animal sidekick. Again, this isn't bad or anything but it does become a bit predictable after a while.
So yeah, solid book, solid conclusion to the arc. Not outstanding, but satisfying.
Rating: 4/5
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