A fantastic finale to an outstanding series!

What a story, what a journey! What started as a simple murder mystery in the first book exploded exponentially into an ultimate saga of power, politics, justice, morality and religion.

I think this finale was near perfect. This is a pretty fast paced book with quite a lot of events happening back to back but that never hindered my reading experience. The second half had me on the edge of my seat. It was the perfect brand of close quarters combats that I love - full of tension, grit and violence.

I love the characters and I loved how the relationship development between characters happened in this book. I was a bit sceptical on the progression of Vonvolt and Helena's relationship into romantic territory because of the previous book but thankfully, that was solved pretty quickly. And at the end, I love how their relationship transformed. It made perfect sense.

What more can I say but I am really looking forward to see what the author writes next.

I'm grateful to Orbit for giving me access to an advance e-copy of The Trials of Empire to consider for review.

Well, here is the end of the Empire of the Wolf trilogy.

And. It. Has. Been. A. JOURNEY.

Not only for Helena, Sir Konrad and the rest - though they have both travelled endlessly, and developed across the books - but also for the reader, as Swan, like a magician, has revealed ever deeper layers of story to us.

To recap, in Justice of Kings we pretty much had straight fantasy - Judge Sir Konrad Vonvault and his small party of retainers travelling the Empire and administering justice. Yes, Vonvault had access to one or two magical powers, used to help establish the truth in his more tricky cases. Yes, there were machinations from the religious order the Templars, who seemed a bit too zealous for everyone's good, leading to outright, if limited, rebellion. But overall - except for a couple of incidents - this seemed like a military-oriented fantasy.

Then in The Tyranny of Faith things got weirder, with cosmic horror overtones, and some episodes taking place is a sort of netherworld - but the accent was still very much on the threat to the Empire. (From the framing of the story as the memoirs of Helena Sedanka in her old age, we already knew that it did in fact fall, the issue would be how and when).

Now in The Trials of Empire - WHAT???

Again, here, Swan seems to be pivoting this trilogy, which is now clearly about the danger of those dark magics, an existential peril to the universe from... well, I think it's probably safer not to name that entity, you never know if it might be listening? We still see the coils of politics and religious fanaticism, which are centred on the militant priest Bartholemew Claver. Fortuitously I recently read Three Fires by Denise Mina, an account of the renaissance priest Girolamo Savonarola - a man who really did take over governance of a city (Renaissance Florence) and imposed his own authoritarian rule, designed to usher in a literal City of God. The parallels between this figure and Claver - both starting out as sincere, if austere, churchmen, both denouncing the religious authorities as lax, both playing on popular disquiet with the civil powers and on prejudice, both eventually corrupted by power - are striking and I think show how Swan has really got under the skin of his rather unattractive antihero and the potential route to power of such a person. (The parallels with modern politics also write themselves).

In Florence, however, there was no Vanvault.

There was no Helena.

Both play crucial roles here, indeed Helena probably the greater one. There is a concern throughout this book that Vonvault himself will be tried beyond what he can bear and fall victim to the dark magicks which alone, it seems, can provide a means of fighting back against Claver. And indeed we see him make some evil choices and cosy up to some dubious allies. At the same time Helena has to walk her own path, and faces her own darkness. I'd felt throughout this series that she might be capable of a lot, and it's wonderful here to see her come into her own as it were, not as an adjunct to Vonvault but as a player in her own right. And not as an improbable result of a moment's choice, but as the culmination of a process of gruelling challenge has tested and strengthened her, if at some cost (at one moment in this book Helena is chained to an executioner's block, the axe about to fall, and that's rather the least of the dangers she faces in this story).

If we see Helena face danger, we also see her develop as a person, see her juggle her attraction to Vonvault and her concern for ethics and principles - something she learned from him - and grow up in the process. As well as that, she's learned to be a redoubtable fighter. All this may however not be enough when she has to confront that darkness, which she must of course do alone, the more so as Vonvault seems to have gone astray himself.

The later part of the book therefore crystallises some moral dilemmas when, confronted by seemingly inevitable defeat and unstoppable evil, the two need to consider what is and is not justifiable. And what is and is not justice.

Readable from first page to last, exciting, with twists, surprises and betrayals, this final volume of Swan's trilogy finishes the story in grand style.

A good end to the trilogy! Quite intense, and sometimes crawls with too much effort to wrap up all the consequences from acts before. Still, enjoyable with the stark ideological differences stemming from rigid religious perspectives, and the way Helena grows throughout this story, telling it like she must from the future.

3.75⭐

A satisfying conclusion.

The final installment of the trilogy was full of action, emotion, and horror. The characters are tested like never before, and the challenge before them seems insurmountable. The finale was worth all the setup.

The character work was, as always, exquisite. Helena really grew so much through the trilogy. She became her own person and not just Volvalt's shadow. As her idealization of Vonvalt is broken down, we see more and more of what kind of person he actually is. He becomes a more complex character, thanks to that. I had some small disappointments with Cleaver and the Trickster not playing as major a role as I would have liked.

The horror of the magic of this world reaches new highs. I really enjoyed the world-building as it's something really unique. As much as I enjoyed learning more about the other world, though, I also felt that it was more interesting when it was shrouded in mystery.

As before, this book asks a lot of questions about morality. For example, can someone fight evil without using the same means?

While I was a bit divided on some elements of the book, I was very pleased with the ending itself. It really felt like the story came full circle.

I received an ARC for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Review of book one: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4549213962
Review of book two: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5637938868

I have had the pleasure of reading and reviewing the two preceding books in this series (The Justice of Kings and The Tyranny of Faith), and I was excited to read and review this final volume. Based on the previous two books, I also had the hardback on order a year in advance of publication.

Sadly, this book didn’t hit the mark for me, which is a shame. Where I had been highly entertained by Justice and Tyranny, I found The Trials of Empire to be a slog. The pacing was really uneven, and for a large section of the first act it was literally the same events, just with different characters. Travel to a place, meet a person, person says “I have something to show you”, travel to secondary place, have a discussion, person says “I have something else to show you”, more travel, another discussion, then some action. Wash, rinse, repeat. I felt bored and frustrated. By the midpoint of the book, this had improved and our protagonists were infiltrating the city of Sova, which they hoped to liberate, which was an improvement on all the travel. Unfortunately, I found the rest of the book to suffer from this continued uneven pacing and I found it a real struggle, with the ending also being anticlimatic.

That said, Helena’s character arc in this book was huge, and I feel that she did a lot of maturing over the events in this story — actually, I think this maturing was triggered by the significant character death at latter end of Tyranny, but that could be painting that character in a two-dimensional light, which I don’t want to do, because they were brilliant and I really miss them. The current cohort of “heroes” doesn’t really cover the gap that character has left behind, except maybe Heinrich! But anyway — Helena. She grows both a backbone and a compass in this book and is often the voice of reason. Thankfully, a certain trope I was concerned about in book two does not come to pass, for which I was relieved.

Sir Vonvalt, though… I feel his character development went downhill in this book. He came across as more and more unhinged, and I wonder whether this was intentional — as the kingdom unravels, so does he. Intentional or not, he was a lot more self-centred and patronising in this book, and a lot more liberal with the concept of being judge, jury, and executioner versus his moral standings in Justice and Tyranny.

What doesn’t disappoint, however, is the worldbuilding. The same rich world, with all its nuances and cultures, still greets the reader and encourages exploration. However, the enemies facing our cohort — and the world at large — have become more and more eldritch and horrific, and some of the action sequences are pretty graphic. Others, however, fall flat — for instance, there is a detailed description of the travel to a battle, but then the battle itself is over within a matter of paragraphs. There’s that uneven pacing again.

Perhaps I expected too much of Trials based on how much I enjoyed Justice and Tyranny. Setting my expectations high is certainly worth considering here, and I would say that the series as a whole has been an enjoyable read. I do like the author’s prose and would definitely read more from him, but I did find this lacking.

Oh, and an extra shout out to Martina Fačová for the excellent cover art on all three books -- I hope to see more from this artist, as well.

I received an e-ARC from the publisher, Orbit, through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A strong punch conclusion of the epic trilogy. Finally we are at the end of Judge Sir Konrad Vonvalt, his secretary and apprentice Helena.
The plot is tight with so many things happening at same time. It is also relay heavily into long travelling plot and almost never ending journey to gather allies to save Sova and fight their enemy who can wield mysterious powers and psychologically war.

Actually I missed the part when Sir Konrad doing the mystery and procedural investigation. Book third gave me totally different character. I knew he must strengthen his mind and emotions to take over. But I also missed the chance of romance at here. Personal growth from Helena is remarkable. Although I still felt that everything feels rush. I find my self want more development from this story. The writing is addictive and filling with luscious prose. I learn alot colorful vocabularies from this series.
This is not the perfect ending I want but realistic one and brilliant enough to close such amazing trilogy. Cant wait to read another books from this talented author.

Thank you to Netgalley and Orbit Publisher from Little Brown Books UK for providing copy of this ebook. I have voluntarily read and reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Expecting Publication : 8 February 2024

The Trials of Empire is contains a satisfying end to a series that has been a breath of fresh air for modern fantasy. However, it is not perfect.

My main criticism of this book is that the first act feels rushed. We are introduced to several new characters and a new part of the world that should, in my opinion, be covered over many more pages. The way it is structured makes it feel like the first half of the book is more like side quests before we continue to advance the main plot. Perhaps this should have been a four book series rather than a trilogy. But I still enjoyed it overall.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was an outstanding conclusion to what has been an excellent trilogy. The arc that both Helena and Vonvalt have gone on is absolutely fascinating and I loved the direction the plot went in. There were a lot of forays into horror in this installment, which I really appreciated and overall, I was so impressed with how Richard Swan was able to draw all of the threads together so well. I highly recommend the trilogy and will definitely be picking up whatever he comes out with next.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Oh my God. I got the chills so many times toward the end of this book. It completely blew my mind. It managed to surpass my high expectations AND be nothing at all like I expected

Started pretty much from where it left off in Tyranny of Faith, however that said it still took me quite the while to get into it (about 30%). There was a lot of world building and scene setting but maybe overdone considering it was book 3. It ended up dragged out and unnecessary in the overall context. It was certainly not the engrossing fast pace I had come to expect from books one and two.

This instalment, as with the previous books was told from Helena’s POV which was good, I enjoyed it, but this then of course meant the perspective and story telling was limited as a result. I found myself desperate for another POV to mix it up a bit and generally take a break from the often self righteousness of Helena’s thoughts. Where Helena was perhaps naive previously, here I found her still naive but also somewhat grating with her high moral code especially in the face of dire adversity.

However it was clearer in this instalment why the POV was as such. Helena was very much key to the overall plot against Claver and the demons. The writing style also added to the mystery and a certain person’s ending, which leads me to wonder if there is more to come from this world.

One of the story lines I loved from the earlier instalments was Helena’s and Konrad’s relationship. I love a ‘will they won’t they’ entanglement and this was well done if a little drawn out. I expected it to be as it was but that did not mean I didn’t want a little bit more spice along the way. The resolution felt very much an afterthought on some occasions but it did resolve successfully if a little timid and disappointing.

The ending was very well done with time and care taken over what happened next, an extended epilogue if you like. Again, leading me to wonder if there may be more to come. Overall I loved the story from book one, the characters were well considered and had depth and some development along the way and the ending was quite satisfying.

I have eagerly awaited this third novel in the Empire of the Wolf trilogy and it has lived up to all my expectations. Helena and Vonvalt despite being outlawed by the Emperor and the Magistratum dismantled continue in their search for allies to bring down Bartholomew Claver. You can feel the exhaustion as they travel with their small party of allies from the Draedist pagans seeking troops for the war with the Kasar wolfmen. All does not go to plan and many trials beset the group, not only on the mortal plane but also the spiritual.
Delving into the spiritual aspect of the empire provides greater clarity on the root of the conflict . It also brings into question whether the afterlife is as people believe a paradise or a purgatory were souls fight for survival as denizens of the afterlife see them as food. Claver with his demonic connections wants to bring this to the material plane, to stop this Vonvalt and even Helena will have to cross the lines of what is good or ethical to save the peoples of the Empire.
The stage is set for the final battle in both Sova and the afterlife, can Vonvalt and Helena ensure that the Empire is reborn? Well you will have to read the book to find out - it is worth it.
My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for access to this ARC. All views are my own.

The Trials of Empire didn’t quite end the way I expected. I expected a battle, which I did get but then there is almost a coda at the end which is far more subdued than I thought was going to happen.

The book continues on from the previous two books, dealing with the religious nutter, Claver, as he tries his best to bring down an Empire and Vonvalt, Helena et al have to stop him.

I really liked this book, much as I liked the trilogy as a whole. I enjoy Helena’s narrative and the book is well written. You only see Vonvalt from Helena’s perspective but he always comes across as a compelling and principled character and I have enjoyed following him around as he dispenses judgement.

Even though the ending was a little more subdued than I was expecting, it was a very good ending. It fits perfectly with the overall tone of the book and it is a fitting end for all the characters involved.

The series definitely ends with the potential for more stories to be set in that world with the characters you’ve come to know and love but it rounds the series off in a very enjoyable fashion.

Another fantastic series that our students have loved so far and I have no doubt that in this book - the grand finale - they will have another all time favourite.

It's another astounding series! Swan's world and characters are superb and captivating. The dark and eerie vibe of the premise made it more engaging. I can say that Swan should plan the whole finale without a rush or add another book rather than congesting all the scenes and happenings in one book.

Looking forward to Swan's upcoming books!

Following events in The Tyranny of Faith, Konrad Vonvalt is now a disgraced and powerless ex-Justice. With the Imperialist Magistratum disbanded, and by the order of the Emperor, Vonvalt and his band – Helena Sedanka, Vonvalt’s protegee and the narrator of our tale, female knight von Osterlen, and Sir Radomir, the former Sheriff of Galen’s Vale in The Justice of Kings – are still determined to make the Emperor see the impact radical Bartholomew Claver could have upon the Sovan Empire. Despite being under threat of death, they secretly travel north to Seaguard to hopefully find the Emperor’s missing son, Prince Gordan Ksosic, and the 16th Legion. Rumours of their total destruction were given in the last book.

At Seaguard, Vonvalt finds nothing but an eerily empty city, as a result of Claver’s use of the Draedist arcana. Vonvalt realises that the Empire needs more allies, and so travels south, to the Southern Plains beyond the Empire, where he meets the Kasar – basically a race of wolf-like humans – to persuade them to help Vonvalt against the global threat that Batholomew Claver has become. Further aid is sought from other places, previously enemies to the Sovan Empire, such as the Kova Confederation to the east. This is not easy, as the Empire, the Confederation and the Kasari have been at loggerheads with the Sovans for years, but Claver’s determination to usurp the Emperor and destroy the Empire means that he is a threat not just to the Empire, but to the other states and even other worlds as well.

Although much of this otherworldly element, and in particular Helena’s connection to it, has been visited before in The Tyranny of Faith, in Trials of Empire, its importance here is ramped up. The group find themselves not only embroiled with Claver on the mortal plane but fighting him and his demon overlord in the afterlife, from where horrific creatures wish to escape and subjugate the world of the living. At times, the opposing numbers seem unstoppable, and major mistakes are made by all along the way, which makes the outcome uncertain.

Helena is in particular affected by such things. As a young woman in her twenties, experiencing the horror of battle would be bad enough, but she also has to deal with the graphic nightmares sent to her by demons from the Other Realm. It nearly breaks her, and part of the novel that most convinces is the physical and emotional toll things have upon Helena as she recounts the story.

To complicate things further, Helena’s emotional relationship between her and Vonvalt is still unresolved and unclear. Both have feelings for each other as shown in the last book, but are wary of taking it further. As dream-like journeys in the afterlife become more and more frequent, both Helena and Vonvalt are affected.

In the mortal realm Vonvalt returns to Sova in secret to find the emperor besieged. With Claver’s army due imminently, Vonvalt has to take control of the city, using soldiers once seen as his enemies before facing the approaching Claver and his zombie army powered by the secret magic of the Draedist arcana. The city becomes the mortal world’s setting for a final battle between Claver and Vonvalt’s smaller army, with further challenges in the spirit world of the afterlife.

“The world is changing. The Magistratum is disbanded. Even if we are successful in our mission, I do not think it will be reincorporated. I do not think there is a place for Justices any more. People do not trust us. The power we wield. It is too much for one person.”

With such a title as The Trials of Empire and foreshadowing throughout the books so far, clearly this is a time of challenge in the Empire. Vonvalt is an advocate of the principles of the Empire, even if he doesn’t always agree with its methods. The idea that the Empire might fall is not new – the fall of the Empire was foreshadowed at the beginning of The Justice of Kings. But it is alarming to see how such small events can lead to such catastrophic global changes.

Such events are not entirely achieved through political diplomacy. Along the way desperate methods are used to get information – people are set alight, given as sacrifices, eviscerated, tortured and skinned alive in order to get what each side needs. When the opposing armies meet in Sova, Swan does not spare us the gruesome details of battle. There’s limbs hacked, throats torn out, eyeball squishing and bodies crunched upon as they are stepped on. Such violence may seem gruesome and extreme, but it has a point, to show us the desperation on both sides and the extreme measures each are willing to take in order to win. But it must be said – this is not a book for those faint of heart – it is one of the most grimmest Grimdark books I’ve read in recent years.

Some may find the beginning of the book slower than expected, and even occasionally nothing more than irrelevant detail. I must say that the beginning was a little slower than expected, but it does in the end serve a purpose. I’m pleased how it is all been thought out from the beginning. Although the end is expected and known, it is how we get there that is the fascination. There is resolution after enormous discord and after facing near-impossible challenges, without resorting to creating a convenient ending seemingly out of nothing makes the conclusion a strength.

The journey that the characters make in these books is both effective and life-changing, and as readers we accept the changes. The books throughout have shown a broadening of scale, with each novel building in detail and complexity on the earlier books. The Justice of Kings was relatively local in Galen’s Vale, The Tyranny of Faith showed life in the city of Sova and introduced us to the complex politics of the Sovan Empire, this third novel shows us global impacts. Unlike The Tyranny of Faith, this one works best if you have read what has gone before.

The sign of a good series for me is that you want to go and read it again, to pick up the clues that have been carefully laid out throughout the series. This is how I felt about this trilogy. Although it is perhaps too intense a read to do so straight away, I suspect it is a series that will repay a rereading.

As Epic Fantasy goes, The Trials of Empire and indeed The Empire of the Wolf series, ticks all of the things I would hope for in an Epic Fantasy. Although you may think you know where The Trials of Empire is going, it keeps you guessing to the end. It manages to combine deep philosophical and moral questions with multi-faceted characters that evolve over the length of the series, and it is not afraid to show us, through Helena, the potential horrors that could happen in such a world to such characters. In short, The Trials of Empire is the effective culmination of one of the best Fantasy series I’ve read in recent years.

Recommended.

I’ve loved both the previous novels in Richard Swan’s Empire of the Wolf series, and was worried this might not live up to the last two, but was delighted to find a brilliant finale for this trilogy.

Helena and Vonvalt’s relationship with one another is pursued brilliantly, there are some brilliant (and brutal) set pieces, and the moving pieces that Swan is able to bring to play - many laid down in the first novel - are fantastic.

It’s one of the best fantasy series I’ve read in a long time.

While I absolutely loved and admired the first two books in the Empire of the Wolf trilogy, this final instalment was sadly a miss for me.

This might have been due to the fact that I was simply not in the mood for a book quite this dark, but a few days after finishing it, I find the book has already completely slipped my mind.

While The Justice of Kings was almost written like a legal thriller with fantasy elements, the sequel added some Gothic horror elements to it. In my opinion, those elements really added to the story and I didn't mind them, especially since we still had a mystery to solve. However, this final book dove headfirst into the horror genre, and had the reader wade through a sea of gore and body horror. It is definitely not for the faint of heart and I found myself severely grossed out several times. Medieval splatterpunk was not what I expected from this book and I have a hard time evaluating how I felt about it. Figures in the demonic realm that were set up to be important ended up not mattering all that much and I felt like the entire plot-line around the demons was wrapped up too easily. While having cool, albeit gross, visuals I found myself overall dissatisfied with the demonic story arc.

The book's biggest fault by far was the pacing. The beginning felt really slow pacing-wise and yet, many plot developments happened too fast. Half of the book can be summarised as Gathering the Allies for the Big Fight and travelling between places. Now, I don't like travel sequences. If there are enough obstacles to overcome and dialogue, I don't mind them. But here, so much dreary travelling was done, it felt like I was walking every single mile with the characters. And damn, I hate hiking.

To me, neither of these places or people we travelled to had enough depth or importance to even be considered real allies. Moreover, those settings felt inconsequential since our main characters were back in Sova by the halfway point. I feel like this book should have really been split into two volumes to give those characters the depth they deserved. Moreover, the emotional core of the first two books - the friendship between Helena, Sir Radomir and Bressinger - was sorely missing in this installment and the addition of Severina van Osterlen couldn't fill that hole.

I will say Helena's character development here was phenomenal. While technically Vonvalt is the "main character", Helena and her relationships with the other characters have always been the heart of the books. This book is no exception as Helena's already fraught relationship with Vonvalt - which I still find extremely creepy by the way - is at its breaking point. I never liked Vonvalt much as a character and was wary of Helena's hero worship of him, and this book confirmed all my negative feelings regarding his character. Yet, I found the development of Helena's feelings towards him very emotional. Helena truly grows into her own person here and is in many situations the moral compass of the group. She has come a long way from the first book and is truly the star of the show in this finale.

A fascinating aspect of this series has to me always been the depiction of the fall of an empire. Most of fantasy media either concerns itself with the building of an empire or fighting an evil empire. Not many have main characters that are part of the empire and are watching it fall apart. In a similar vein, I found the author taking inspiration from the Holy Roman Empire interesting. However, those elements couldn't make up the glaring faults of the book.

All in all, I do still like the series and I love the characters of Helena Sedanka and Sir Radomir, which I would happily read about in another series. Also, Heinrich is the best boy in all of fantasy, I said what I said. I was honestly more invested in what happened to the dog than the plot. I do think Swan is a fantastic writer and I'm excited to see what he does next. 3/5 stars.

Thank you to netgalley and publishers for the e-arc.
I can’t help to feel divided in this conclusion to what I hoped to be one of my favourite series.
The first half of the book was hard to get through due to….monotony. For me, it felt a lot of fillers were inserted in every aspect and scenario: geography, travelling, conversation, even the politics.
The second half the pace definitively picked up and I was sucked in to the eerie and dark atmosphere that I adored on the last two books. This series peaks with the politics and the necromancy aspect although this could have been developed differently.
I do feel that everything got resolved too easily. There was a massive build up and heighten responsibility in Helena’s role in the last epic battle and it felt deflated when the action finally came.
I am not a massive fan of the attempt of romance between the main characters. I would have preferred if it was a mentee-mentor relationship and I think the series would have benefited from it.
Overall, it was a satisfying conclusion to an epic saga and I am interested in reading more from the author.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher Orbit for the digital ARC, it has not affected my honest review.

TW: injury, violence, references to suicide and torture, gore, murder, body horror, death

“The Empire of the Wolf” is one of the best fantasy series I’ve read and its final book is no exception. “The Trials of Empire” picks up months after the ending of the second book with Sir Konrad Vonvalt, his assistant Helena Sedanka and former sheriff Sir Radomir on the run from the same Empire they’re trying to save from the rot within. To save it, Vonvalt and Helena must turn to the rivals in the south and north- a group of furious pagans driven out by religion and a legendary race of wolfmen- to return to Sova and take it back. However, justice and law have vanished and their new allies would benefit from Sova collapsing entirely. At the same time, their enemy- the magically gifted and religious zealot Bartholomew Claver- uses the gifts granted to him by the demonic patron that has raised him to the level of ruler for many. Lacking allies and mourning the loss of one of their own, Helena and Vonvalt need more than just mortal help; relying on forces and friends beyond the veil, they face battlefields on two sides and a heavy price is paid on all of them. Vonvalt’s belief in the justice system where he is judge, jury and executioner is no longer enough, and his relationship with Helena- which had begun to be romantic- grows more complicated as she communes with gods and he pushes the limits of the law further than ever.

I absolutely adore this series, and I’m so glad that I went back and read “The Tyranny of Faith” before starting this one. These have been powerful, bleak and haunting books with incredibly strong, morally grey characters that you can’t help but love despite their flaws. One of the highlights has been that the entire series is from an older Helena’s perspective, writing years later, and she admonishes her younger self even as she despairs at the grim events happening. The relationship between Vonvalt and Helena has never been more complicated than at the end of the second book- almost romantic partners, Helena is his student and beholden to him as an apprentice while Vonvalt mourns the loss of his former partner- and here it takes a backseat except for some truly vibrant and tense scenes. I loved the new characters and the return of the old as well as the widened world and further expanded afterlife. The first two books had a mystery to solve but this one didn’t need it, all the threads of the previous stories were beautifully wrapped up in a heartwrenching, gorgeously written finale- I hope this isn’t the end of Richard Swan’s time with Helena and Vonvalt.

This was a very satisfying end to the trilogy although not quite as strong as the first two in the series. The first half was very slow and I wasn’t feeling very inspired, but the second half made up for it. Many thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book.