A slow opening act prevents the final (TBD?) chapter in the White Sand saga from being spectacular, but elevates it above previous entries.

Sequences of action and combat are genuinely engaging and suspenseful, but political scheming by the city council and religious sects serve as the main antagonizing forces. The story feels satisfactorily concluded but, of course, there is enough wiggle room for possible follow up.

As an aside, for the audio book version, there are a few....distracting instances where obvious allusions to The Force Theme from Star Wars or Concerning Hobbits from The Lord Of The Rings played in the background. This, obviously, doesn't detract from the work itself, but is distracting in an audio format.