Beyond the Shadows

Beyond the shadows ends all of the ongoing story arcs, and it even sneakily puts in a jumping of point for the next series set in the same world. There's some world building mostly in the part of learning a bit more of the history of the world, and there is a fair bit of character growth as well. It's definitely a fun read although reading the previous two books is kind of a must, but that should not be surprising as this is the third book in a trilogy.

Almost 4.5 stars, but then not quite. Which is a shame. I loved the first book of the trilogy, enjoyed the second despite some qualms, and really enjoyed the 3rd one as well. Just not enough to click on the 5th star here on Goodreads.

In Beyond the Shadows, the series moves away from what I loved about it in the first book (young assassin gets training in a fantasy city full of intrigues) to large-scale epic fantasy. Which is something I usually highly enjoy, but here, it was a bit much. Armies of thousands, multiple nations involved, at the pinnacle a conflict resolved at Black Barrows, the former home of Acaelus Thorne, better known to the reader as Durzo Blint. Some stuff about this resolution didn't even make sense to me, like the whole deal with the Wolf, and Ezra's Wood. I didn't get it 100%. Because there was so much content to fill the pages of the books, some stuff seemed rushed. I would have loved to spend more time with Vi and actually see her grow. She went from rebellious wetboy to accomplished battle mage in the blink of an eye. I wanted resolution for Durzo and K, and what about Uly? Yeah, not tied as neatly as I would have liked.

Regardless of all my dislikes, it's fast-paced, rife with action and lots of magic, and I was moved by it. That's quite a lot of good things to get from a fantasy series.