465 pages
English language
Published Aug. 5, 2009 by Ace Books.
The savage Vord are on the march, and Gaius Octavian, first lord of Alera, must lead his legions to the Calderon Valley to stand against them--using all of his intelligence, ingenuity, and furycraft to save their world from eternal darkness.
The world and character building across this series is pretty darn spiffing. This one seemed a bit disjointed in some of the tactical and battle elements compared to the prior books, but was overall good fun.
Epic conclusion to Tavi's journey from boy to man, politics and intrigue, and Alera's quest for victory in the face of the enemy.
I felt this book was the weakest in the series, although I still very much enjoyed it. I was so invested in these characters over the course of the previous 5 books, and there was so much focus on the Vord that we did not get much time with the characters who had made this such a remarkable series. Still definitely worth the read, but the narrative would have been better served if Butcher had split this 550 page novel into a seventh book, allowing more time to understand each character's perspective to the world of Alera at war with this new enemy. I did appreciate the epilogue, and am very glad he left them in a good place, with resolution and hope for the future.
Just …
Epic conclusion to Tavi's journey from boy to man, politics and intrigue, and Alera's quest for victory in the face of the enemy.
I felt this book was the weakest in the series, although I still very much enjoyed it. I was so invested in these characters over the course of the previous 5 books, and there was so much focus on the Vord that we did not get much time with the characters who had made this such a remarkable series. Still definitely worth the read, but the narrative would have been better served if Butcher had split this 550 page novel into a seventh book, allowing more time to understand each character's perspective to the world of Alera at war with this new enemy. I did appreciate the epilogue, and am very glad he left them in a good place, with resolution and hope for the future.
Just read it and immerse yourself into the world of Alera. 3 1/2 stars.
Finally through this series. Now this isn't a bad book, but it just doesn't work for me. I shan't list all I find wrong with it, if you don't notice the flaws yourself, or don't find them annoying, I won't spoil things for you, but to me they were enough to slow this read down to a crawl and make the resolution more than a bit anti-climactic. It's time to read something completely different!
