Legacy of Kings (The Magister Trilogy, #3)

The plot basically centers on Gwynofar, Salvator, Kamala and Colivar as preparations are made and plans hatched not only to confront and finally vanquish the Souleaters that have trespassed the Wrath, but to come to peace with their past, their beliefs, and their future. It is mostly this group whom we follow through the novel, thought now and then we fortunately get glimpses from Siderea, who now stands in direct opposition to them. 

As the last book in the trilogy, LoK is supposed to be the climax in terms of plot and character development. However, for the most part what we find are overused words (Dark, for example. I get that magisters are dark and what-not, but there is really no need to describe every third damned thing any joe does with the word. ), overlong phrases, needless viewpoint characters, and awkward pacing and resolutions. In short, the book is a veritable letdown when compared to the first installment or even the second. And that in itself says a lot, because neither Wings of Wrath nor Feast of Souls were perfect.

There is also the fact that, at times, characters seem to speak in too modern a way. The use of words like ex-lover only make this more noticeable and jarring. (To be precise, my grip is with the ex part. Why not say former,  or any other synonym, instead? Ex has too much of a modern air about it, even if its use is technically valid.)

Oh, and remember the random viewpoint chapters I mentioned in the review of #2? They are back, too. And as useless. One could argue they each have a purpose, be it to flesh  Colivar and Nyuku's past, or a certain other situation. However, the author mostly fails to add weight to these events. Nyuku never rises above being wall-paper pretty but flat at best, and the situation with the stolen babies and the souleater queen is barely even fleshed badly, the characters Hedda and her husband never again mentioned, making it doubly bad.

But the worst offender, by far, was the way the story just... ended. There was no true climatic confrontation, no memorable passages, no excitement. Just Siderea acting terribly out of character, apparently forgetting all she knew about magisters and protecting her reputation as if she truly had need of Nasaan, thus getting killed in the most stupid, unbelievable way. Siderea knew how magisters thought. I find it impossible to believe she had not at least considered the utter probability of one of them uncovering her tracks.  

Yet I suppose it is not fair to say, and thus I won't pretend, it was all absolutely bad. I thought Salvator's characterization was really good, for example. So was Colivar's deconstruction, thought the latter's thoughts did get repetitive at times. If someone were to ask me, I'd probably say the best parts of LoK were the ones that developed either of these two characters.

Thats it, I think. It was probably inertia and the desire to complete the series that kept me reading this to the end.