No, I haven't abandoned this series. I'm just taking my sweet time getting through it, like with so many. So let's take a look at book three. Spoilers ahead.
Dangerous hybrid creatures, part élfar and part orc, are trying to steal the most dangerous weapon to throw the country into ruin. Tungdil and his people now have to stand against these monsters.
Overall I'd say this was a solid third installment. It had me engaged throughout and, while fantasy isn't my go-to favorite genre anymore like it used to be in the past, I enjoyed this well enough. It's a solid story with plenty of intrigue and different races and factions, and interesting lore, etc.
I think one thing this book did really well over books one and two is the character development, particularly for Tungdil himself and Boïndil. Boïndil does do some stuff I of course disagree with (see below), but I do applaud Heitz for developing both of their characters. Tungdil and Boïndil weren't bad in book one or anything, but they were kinda one-note, especially the latter. Here, they feel more like nuanced, flawed characters and actual people rather than just pretty basic fantasy characters.
However, I do not like how Boïndil is portrayed here in his relationship with Goda. During this story, Boïndil takes on an apprentice (a younger female dwarf of a rival clan) and he falls head over heels for her. And this just made me raise an eyebrow. There is not only an age gap in this relationship, but there's also a power imbalance with Goda being Boïndil's apprentice. And if this had been another character, a more morally gray character or something, this could've worked. But we're throughout this story clearly supposed to like Boïndil as one of our heroes, yet this relationship is sketchy as hell and I do not like it! And Tungdil supports it, too, making him less likable as well. And, again, these are our heroes we're supposed to be rooting for.
I also don't like how incredibly sidelined Balyndis is in this story. She was a pretty major player in book two as Tungdil's love interest, but she's almost completely cast aside in favor of another female character (Sirka) who becomes Tungdil's new "love of his life". I just felt so bad for Balyndis throughout this all. And, again, Tungdil pretty much ditching his wife for this new dwarven woman makes him not very likable, when we're clearly supposed to like him.
Ah well. I guess if you like books with (very) flawed main characters, here's your thing, but for me personally I need the story to make up its mind if we're supposed to like Tungdil and Boïndil (which seems to be the intention) by writing them as less asshole-ish in their behavior, or if they wanted a more flawed duo of characters as leads who we're not really supposed to like. Because this weird half-balancing act isn't really working, at least for me.
I guess if you liked books one and two fine, you'll like this too, but it wasn't my favorite book in the series.
Rating: 3.5/5
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