The Lair of Bones

An excellent end to this stage of the saga! Tied up most of the loose ends and yet left enough points to begin the next section of the story. He could have ended the series here very nicely, or, as he did, begin a new storyline.

I am sort of wondering why Carris was used again as the battlefield. We knew that the castle had been severely damaged from the last battle, so why did the Earth send them to defend it again? After the first battle, even an army of commoners probably could have taken the castle, to say nothing of Runelords, and of course, we saw that it proved no match for the Reavers.

Some of the other parts that honestly seemed to have little point was the whole Inkarra storyline. Maybe this is something that will be developed in future books, but Borenson and Myrimma's trip to this dark land seemed to have no point. Their army never came to fight at Carris, didn't influence any of the other characters, and the Days that came with them really didn't seem to provide any critical help in the battle.

The other bothersome part was the fact that Raj Ahten becoming a servant of fire seemed to have little effect on him other than him being able to shoot fire from his hands, and his skin seemed to change. They made a big deal of his last scene of him getting this new name, and then only used it as he was being killed at the end of the book. Furthermore, he didn't seem to be serving Fire at all, but still serving himself. Yes, you could argue that this lust for power is part of serving Fire, but he never seemed to be subservient to any Fire Master, certainly not the way Gaborn served the Earth or even the way Mymirra served Water.

Lastly, for Asgarath being so powerful, his leaving was hugely anticlimactic. Again, this seems like it could be a thread to be picked up in future books, but if this was the end point, then this most powerful evil of all seemed rather toothless.

Despite these criticisms, I did enjoy the book. We finally got to see how the Reavers lived after 3 books, with lots of speculation in the previous two. The action was fun to read, and I could really visualize the sequences, even the parts with Runelords moving at superhuman speeds. Seeing what each member of their team brought to bear, and how they and they alone fit into the battle, was excellent, and showed the limits imposed even on the all-powerful Gaborn.

I can't wait to continue my journey!