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3.5 AVERAGE
3.5 AVERAGE
4.0-4.5 Stars
I have thoroughly enjoyed the story & journey of The Frozen Flame series from start to finish, and I'm glad to see it have a satisfactory ending.
However, I did have some small criticisms about three minor pieces to this final story [spoilers!]:
1) The trade agreement with the Dwarves in the opening chapter - better-crafted goods & plate armor for food, and a mutual defensive pact - seemed pointless, as they played no part in the final fight, no mention of new armor on the Therengians. It would have made more sense to have a few companies of dwarven shield warriors in place of the new orcish glaves.
2) The "Shadow Kingdom Beast" that attacked the group in the wilderness... what was the point? I'm fine with it having "migrated" from the rumored 'Kingdom of Shadow' to the far north, but it added nothing to the plot. Natalia losing an arm was of no consequence thanks to healing magic and the 10-day delay of her recovery changed nothing.
3) The long-lost hidden city orcs & their queen - now in concept, these were a fun addition even in a finale book. However, while the casual warning of 'Oh the queen plans to conquer some lands thanks to your teaching of the arch spell' could have been an interesting twist during the final fight, it became irrelevant by never summoning the aid of city-orc mages who had volunteered, only the glaves - thus I repeat from 1) they could have used dwarves instead.
*I will note that if these items are meant to be main-story related in future series, or are part of an existing series that I haven't completed yet, I generally have no problem with them for world-building, they just seem odd additions to a finale book.
*Two additional small criticisms:
4) Not really a big deal, but it seems a missed opportunity to have included the lost Therengian enchanted banner relic that was found in the previous book (Torrent).
5) No important main or supporting characters died in the final fight, even though events in that fight and preceding build-up dialogue made it seem that was a real risk. The two obvious examples (1) Belgast gets "pierced" in the chest/stomach by a large ice shard... but he's pulled to safety and later healed; and (2) before the final fight, Natalia's father figure, Stanislav talks about his plans to settle down & marry post-fight... in most writings, that could be a "death flag" which, in this case, could have had Stanislav sacrifice himself to help the heroes escape by grappling with the evil head mage to ensure they're both crushed by the collapsing building. This is a pretty important 'underwhelming/disappointment' for a big finale - supposed to be high stakes - battle, which undermines the overall stakes of the battle & series finale - not terrible, just underwhelming.
I have thoroughly enjoyed the story & journey of The Frozen Flame series from start to finish, and I'm glad to see it have a satisfactory ending.
However, I did have some small criticisms about three minor pieces to this final story [spoilers!]:
1) The trade agreement with the Dwarves in the opening chapter - better-crafted goods & plate armor for food, and a mutual defensive pact - seemed pointless, as they played no part in the final fight, no mention of new armor on the Therengians. It would have made more sense to have a few companies of dwarven shield warriors in place of the new orcish glaves.
2) The "Shadow Kingdom Beast" that attacked the group in the wilderness... what was the point? I'm fine with it having "migrated" from the rumored 'Kingdom of Shadow' to the far north, but it added nothing to the plot. Natalia losing an arm was of no consequence thanks to healing magic and the 10-day delay of her recovery changed nothing.
3) The long-lost hidden city orcs & their queen - now in concept, these were a fun addition even in a finale book. However, while the casual warning of 'Oh the queen plans to conquer some lands thanks to your teaching of the arch spell' could have been an interesting twist during the final fight, it became irrelevant by never summoning the aid of city-orc mages who had volunteered, only the glaves - thus I repeat from 1) they could have used dwarves instead.
*I will note that if these items are meant to be main-story related in future series, or are part of an existing series that I haven't completed yet, I generally have no problem with them for world-building, they just seem odd additions to a finale book.
*Two additional small criticisms:
4) Not really a big deal, but it seems a missed opportunity to have included the lost Therengian enchanted banner relic that was found in the previous book (Torrent).
5) No important main or supporting characters died in the final fight, even though events in that fight and preceding build-up dialogue made it seem that was a real risk. The two obvious examples (1) Belgast gets "pierced" in the chest/stomach by a large ice shard... but he's pulled to safety and later healed; and (2) before the final fight, Natalia's father figure, Stanislav talks about his plans to settle down & marry post-fight... in most writings, that could be a "death flag" which, in this case, could have had Stanislav sacrifice himself to help the heroes escape by grappling with the evil head mage to ensure they're both crushed by the collapsing building. This is a pretty important 'underwhelming/disappointment' for a big finale - supposed to be high stakes - battle, which undermines the overall stakes of the battle & series finale - not terrible, just underwhelming.