Wat een heerlijk einde van deze trilogie. Ik ben een grote fan van Fiona McIntosh en met deze boeken heeft ze me helemaal in haar ban. Het einde is wat makkelijk gevonden, maar wel voor de hand liggend. En er is een klein kiertje voor een eventueel vervolg in dezelfde wereld. Wat ik al heel hoopvol vind.
Haar andere trilogiën zijn wat donkerder dan deze, maar beslist de moeite van het lezen waard. ( )

It was with some trepidation and apprehension that I approached the final instalment of the Valisar Trilogy. In the year that has passed since I read the second book of the series, I managed to read the Percheron Trilogy, and found it lacking in the ending department.

Much had happened already in last 2 books, and I was expecting another action filled story. There was a sense of finality to this book - all the players were known, they were all getting into position, showing their cards, all converging to the same point.

It took me a bit to get (re)used to this world, to remember some of the minor characters and what had happened. But once I was fully reacquainted with it, the pages flew by, and I kept wanting to know what would happen next.

Like the previous two books, this one also is not for those who are easily squicked, as it provides a good example of the darkness of the human mind, and what people are willing to do to get what they think is rightly theirs. Mind you, it isn't all dark and evilness; there is a balance, with some great characters that are the reverse of that coin.

As an ending to the series, King's Wrath fills it purpose. Yet there are still some questions left unanswered (albeit only minor ones), and there is a thread left hanging in case the author ever decides to revisit this world.

I'm of two minds regarding this book. On the one hand, I really liked how my favourite character turned out, something that I was kind of expecting (since book 1), but it was quite nice to see it come to fruition. On the other hand, it all seemed a tad too easy. I was expecting a bit more struggle and uncertainty to the difficult decisions that some of the characters were facing.

I also liked that the problems and ideas I had while reading certain parts, were properly answered a few pages after - seeming like the author thought of other possibilities besides the obvious.

All in all, I enjoyed reading King's Wrath. It didn't disappoint - there was a lot action, and good characterization. Also, it didn't confirm my fears - it was a good ending to the characters' story, there is a resolution to the biggest problems, even if at points it might not be the one we wished for.

Also at Spoilers and Nuts ( )

re-posted from raygunreviews.wordpress.com

The Valisar family were the rulers of the land of Penraven, part of the Denova Set. For eight generations, the Valisars ruled, thanks to a blessing from the goddess Cyrena that gave the Valisars near invulnerability if they could find and connect with their 'aegis'. However, ten years ago, the eighth Valisar, King Brennus, had not connected with his aegis and so the barbarian warlord Loethar was able to conquer Penraven and the other countries of the Set, apparently slaughtering almost the entire royal family in the process.

However, the princes Leo and Piven both escaped death, as well as the princess Genevieve. In the first two books of the Valisar trilogy, Fiona McIntosh created a cast of dozens of characters, all of whom were working in one way or another either to maintain Loethar's reign or overthrow it. We were introduced to Stracker, Loethar's evil half-brother who lives with a perpetual blood-lust; Kilt Farris and his band of forest-dwelling robbers; Elka the giantess; Gavriel de Vis, son of Brennus's regent; and many others. Now, in the third volume, all the characters are moving toward a climactic confrontation that will determine the future of Loethar's empire.

It's hard to write a review for the third book of a trilogy without revealing too much to those who haven't read the first two books, so I will speak in generalities.

To begin with, King's Wrath sets everything you thought you knew about who were the good guys and the bad guys. After two books of following the various Valisars in their attempts to regain the throne, the reader is tipped off-balance as the closeness of extreme power changes the characters.

These changes of personality don't always work, though. I found myself extremely off-kilter in trying to figure out what was going on and reconcile actions in this book with the previous two installments. Some of those actions took on a new light with new revelations, but many of them were just plain... wrong, as if these were two different characters. Perhaps the most extreme is the change in Piven's character which is not adequately explained.

But McIntosh's writing style is so gripping, that she is still able to carry the story forward, even with such a glaring problem. However, I found the book thematically a bit... silly. Without revealing too much, there are a number of relationships where the characters go from complete strangers to madly in love in a matter of minutes or hours. McIntosh's writing style is so effective that if you don't step back to think about it, she pulls it off as believable. But if you stop turning the pages so quickly (hard to do!), you realize that she is asking for quite a leap in believability.

Still, with all its problems, King's Wrath is overall a good finish to an exciting series. Although it could have been better, I still found myself reading this book quickly and devouring it rapidly. ( )

In this exciting conclusion to the Valisar trilogy, alliances shift as decades-old secrets can no longer be hidden. The revelation that Emperor Loethar and his enemy, King Leonel, share the same paternal royal blood destroys previous loyalties. And it seems that Piven is no longer the helpless orphan everyone believed him to be. Perhaps most startling of all is the discovery that the first Valisar princess to survive in centuries is returning to the world and may well wield the famed Valisar Enchantment.
As the empire threatens to tear itself to pieces, former enemies must now work on the same side and friends become the hunted to protect the imperial line. At all costs royal blood must prevail ... even when it pitches Valisar against Valisar.
All the loose ends were tidied up neatly, although it took me awhile to get my head around some of the family history threads; and accepting Loethar could change so much was quite challenging. This was a great finish to another engrossing series from this talented Australian author.
McIntosh says on her website that she thinks she won’t be writing any more trilogies, but might instead go back to some of her previous creations for stand-alone visits. The finishing paragraphs of King’s Wrath certainly leave that option open. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see … ( )

Valisar #3 ( )