A VERY satisfying ending to the Lord of the Isles:Crown of the Isles series.
Garric and Co face the invasion of 'new' gods since the Change did away with all of their old familiar gods. So of course, they break up into groups and go fight. And by the end, Ilna, Cashel and Sharina end up Ascending and become the new Sister, Shepherd and Lady.

Pretty cool. I had a good time reading this. The writing, while familiar, didn't grate on me like Mirror of Worlds did. It seemed a bit fresher, more polished. Really enjoyable and a good, happy ending. ( )

My default review for this series is three stars, just over the border into positive territory, and this, the final entry in the series, did nothing to set itself apart from its fellows. First, to review this book by itself, and then the series as a whole.

There's nothing new between these pages. The usual cast of characters confronts an array of problems threatening the kingdom. Through their own innate abilities, they overcome each situation as it arises and restore peace to the Kingdom. It is popcorn fantasy, fun to read but without any lasting impact. If you're reading the last book, it's probably because you got SOMETHING out of the ones that came before it, so I'm not telling you anything new.

How did it hold up as the end of the series? Unless I had been told outright that the story ended here, only the last ten pages would have told me that it was a conclusion. Seriously, I did not get a sense of events of any greater or lesser import than any other volume. Sure, their adversaries were gods, but how are those antagonists different from any of the other supernatural beings encountered in the other eight books? We were never shown that they had power outside the usual. And given how readily our heroes triumphed over them, perhaps they didn't have such power.

SPOILERS: The ending felt tacked on, a way of giving a happy ending to all of the main characters in a way that also ended their stories. All along I had complained that they were all just too perfect; I guess godhood suits them. The most glaring omission was Tenoctris, who received no sort of closure whatsoever. For a character who had been part of the story since the beginning, and whose appearance was actually the trigger for all of the events that followed, that treatment was inexcusable.

This series was never an epic fantasy series in the vein of "The Wheel of Time" or "A Song of Ice and Fire," in which each volume tells part of a large, overarching epic story. It was pure pulp serial stuff, as formulaic (and with as little regard for continuity) as any of your Flash Gordons. Approach it with an idea toward having fun, but not thinking too hard, and you'll probably enjoy it just as I did. ( )

After the great victory especially over the Palomir Empire, our team of heroes thought they would have time to mentally and physically heal from their ordeal. They believed that to the winners go the spoils; in this case Garric ruling over the united isles – and that they had worked hard enough to merit this otucome. Instead, there is no rest for the weary as their Palomir enemies refuse to accept the last defeat should have meant the end of the war.

Instead the Change that led to the trio's win also brought radical change to the pantheon of the Gods. The Old Gods have vanished while other divine beings replace them. In this context, the desperate Palomir turn to their forbidden deities with prayer and rituals culminating with human sacrifice. Their Gods listen and send forth the horde of Rat Men. At the same time, the Sky God heeding brings forth the Worm devourer of entire villages. Adding to the victors' woes is the hypnotically powerful mysterious Scorpion King.

Without giving away the plot, the characters are consistent both in the story and the longer series – and there are some nice twists at the end.

However, after such a long series, I felt a bit let down by the ending which seems a bit weird, bringing in Gods when there really wasn’t a lot of mention in the preceeding volumes.

Nonetheless, it seems to me a door has been left open for us to learn more of the these interesting characters. I’d certainly come back to revisit. ( )

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