Kadomi reviewed The Night Of The Swarm by Robert V. S. Redick
Review of 'The Night Of The Swarm' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
A fine conclusion to an all-in-all very different kind of fantasy quartet. The last book is massive, but brings the story to a fine, and mostly satisfying conclusion.
The epilogue in particular made me quite sad, which is a good thing, because a series is only great if you truly care about the characters. By the end, I cared deeply about the fate of Pazel, Thasha, Felthrup, all the other wondrous and unique characters introduced in this long series.
The book strangely reminded me The Fellowship of the Ring in many places. The first half of the book details the story of the conclusion to the quest to retrieve the Nilstone in Bali Adro, and the parallels to LotR are a bit overwhelming, with the selk replacing the elves, to the point of being stopped by a balrog, or rather demon, with Gandalf aka Ramachni saving the day. But once …
A fine conclusion to an all-in-all very different kind of fantasy quartet. The last book is massive, but brings the story to a fine, and mostly satisfying conclusion.
The epilogue in particular made me quite sad, which is a good thing, because a series is only great if you truly care about the characters. By the end, I cared deeply about the fate of Pazel, Thasha, Felthrup, all the other wondrous and unique characters introduced in this long series.
The book strangely reminded me The Fellowship of the Ring in many places. The first half of the book details the story of the conclusion to the quest to retrieve the Nilstone in Bali Adro, and the parallels to LotR are a bit overwhelming, with the selk replacing the elves, to the point of being stopped by a balrog, or rather demon, with Gandalf aka Ramachni saving the day. But once the crew has returned to the Chathrand and the voyage finds its conclusion, the book returns to its more unique flavor.
In any case, The Chathrand Voyages is an excellent and unusual quartet, the only weak point being the sluggish second book. The series could have done with some more editing because it was a bit on the long side, but I thoroughly enjoyed my time.