The Poison Song

And so one of my favourite fantasy trilogies of recent years comes to an end. I will blow any suspense right at the opening of this review by saying that Williams knocks it out of the park here. This is the climax I was hoping for, one that builds on the previous two books and surpasses them. There are epic widescreen battles, expertly choreographed, and quieter moments where character comes to the fore. There is stomach churning body horror and there is grace and heroism. There's love, acceptance and tolerance, and there is brutal bloody combat that doesn't always end well for our cast. Most of all, there's an imagination and originality that lifts these books far above the ranks of grimdark cliche or identikit LOTR/D&D knockoffs. The cosmic horror of the Jure'lia is almost Lovecraftian in scope, while the camaraderie and banter of our heroes never falls into smug cosiness. Yes, there are some loose ends and dangling questions (what did happen to the Yuron-Kai party that Tyranny decked the leader of? Have I forgotten something from the end of The Bitter Twins?) but this is a triumphant conclusion, one that is so far from dropping the ball it's doing a load of keep ups around bemused defenders and then volleying into the net from the halfway line. Superb stuff.