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Welcome to my tour stop! Read my review below...
Calling of Light
(Shamanborn #3)
By Lori Lee
Young Adult Fantasy
Hardcover, Audiobook & eBook, 352 Pages
April 16, 2024by Page Street YA
Summary
In this epic conclusion to the Shamanborn trilogy, Sirscha must destroy the Dead Wood and defeat the Soulless before his magic consumes them all.
Queen Meilyr is dead, and a tenuous peace has settled over Evewyn. King Meilek's acension has ended his sister's oppression of the shamanborn, marking a new start for the country where Sirscha, once a prisoner, has been elevated to a position as the King's Shadow. Yet, beneath the surface, tensions between shamanborn and other citizens remain high. Conflicts rage at Evewyn's borders. The Soulless still lurks in the darkness. And while some might call Sirscha a hero for allegedly killing the Queen, to many she's a monster―a soulrender just like the Soulless. Sometimes Sirscha even believes that herself.
But Sirscha recognizes the Soulless as the world's common enemy, and she is determined to hunt him down to prevent yet another war. As the Soulless reemerges and both his power and the Dead Wood grow, Sirscha knows time is running short. She'll have to trust in her true friends―and her own power―if she hopes to end the Soulless's hold over the land for good.
But when defeating him requires a sacrifice too terrible to conceive, Sirscha will have to decide how far she's willing to go to save Evewyn.
(Affiliate links included.)
My Review
CALLING OF LIGHT is the conclusion to a young adult fantasy series where a trained assassin must choose her future and the part she will play in defeating an evil ancient magic. It's set in a lush fantasy world with likable characters and an interesting magical system. Those who have or would enjoy Leigh Bardugo's The Shadow and Bone series and YA fantasy will enjoy this book and series.
I think the best part of this book and series were the characters. I adored Sirscha, Saenta, Meilek, and Theyen. I especially loved the friendships and banter and teasing, but also the sweet moments between them and the dangerous ones when they fought to protect and save. I also really enjoyed seeing Sirscha slowly come a bit more into her own along with the rest of these characters who step up as they face danger and to protect Sirscha and their different peoples. I also really liked the magical world with the different types of magic and an ancient lore. I liked getting to journey with these characters through different lands and people. I liked that Sirscha was a trained spy and assassin but a flawed human as well. The ending was quite well done and very gratifying.
There were some pretty decent words of wisdom throughout this book. Here is one such piece of wisdom:
"But I've long since decided to stop allowing others to define who and what I am."
I really enjoyed this series and this final book. I would have loved it more if I felt it didn't feel a bit too much like The Shadow and Bone series from Leigh Bardugo. This won't be an issue if you haven't read that series. There were also action parts that didn't work for me because what the words described didn't visualize correctly (or written out on paper) didn't work, so I think those scenes needed to be worked through better. There were also some hints to different things but some that never came into play or led to anything. Sometimes Sirscha wasn't consistent with her character. I liked that romance wasn't a big part of the story and there were no love scenes (thank goodness!), but I also had some issues with parts of how that played out as well since it didn't always make sense to me. I also got frustrated with so much inaction on Sirscha's and others' parts.
In the end, was it what I wished for? This was an enjoyable ending to an enjoyable series. I wanted a bit more development in some areas, but I fell in love with these characters and this fantasy world. I'll definitely be checking out this author's next book!
Content: Some suggestive references, LGBTQ+ relationships, and violence that is a bit gruesome in parts, but would consider this clean.
Source: I received a complimentary copy through TBR and Beyond Tours, which did not require a positive review. All opinions are my own.
Other Books in the Series
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About the Author
Lori is an avid writer, reader, artist, and lover of unicorns. She should probably spend less time on the internet (but she won’t). She considers herself a unicorn aficianado, is fond of talking in capslock, and loves to write about magic, manipulation, and family.
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Have you read any of the books in this series? What do you like about it or about Calling of Light?
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