The final book in the Heralds of Valdemar trilogy has Talia and Kris sent to the neighboring kingdom of Hardorn to vet a possible spouse for Elspeth. The Queen has had a friendship with the ruler of Hardorn and the alliance would be good for Valdemar. But she hasn't seen young Prince Ancar since he was a child.

Talia and Kris run into trouble as soon as they cross the border. There are nasty rumors about Prince Ancar's court which seems filled with magicians who practice the old magic. His personal habits aren't recommending him as a proper spouse for Elspeth either.

However, when they try to leave to get word to Queen Selenay about the problems in the kingdom, Talia is captured, and Kris and his companion are killed. Talia does manage to get a message out via a trader she met while she was interning. The trader manages to get a poison in to her, but she has to wait until she knows the message has reached her Queen before she dares to take it. While she waits, Ancar and his devoted nurse Hulda spend their time torturing and abusing her.

Meanwhile, the Queen and her entourage which includes Elspeth and Dirk, the man lifebonded to Talia, are making their way to the border. When Rolan arrives with the message, the Queen turns around. But Dirk isn't willing to leave Talia in Ancar's hands and manages to use his gift for fetching to snatch her out of Ancar's hands.

Gravely injured, Talia is still able to tell the Queen what she knows and assist with the battle between Valdemar and Ancar's forces.

This was a great conclusion to this trilogy. ( )

Easy enough to read and finally the trilogy found something resembling a plot.
However, no real depth to any of the villains and the battle scene was extremely short. Also not fully resolved by the end.
The whole romance saga was just annoying.
I found myself enjoying he book but on reflection I think I'm mostly disappointed. ( )

A good ending to this series and one that makes me want more. So I go on to the next book in this world. ( )

2667

Still emotional. Still has its flaws but they're not terrible. Even though this was my third read, I still teared up in places. ( )