Children of the Serpent Gate: Book 3 of the Tears of Artamon

Starred Review. At the start of the rousing conclusion to Ash's fantasy trilogy (after 2004's Prisoner of the Iron Tower), King Enguerrand of Francia has the five Tears of Artamon, the magical jewels that give their possessor claim to Novaya Rossiya. This means a crisis for Novaya Rossiya's Emperor Eugene, particularly since the Francians have kidnapped his chief magus, Kaspar Linnaius, and are going to burn him at the stake. Eugene makes an alliance of convenience with Gavril Nagarian, Lord Drakhaon of Azhkendir, who goes to Kaspar's rescue. Meanwhile, Gavril's prematurely aged lover, Kiukiu, must travel just as far in the opposite direction to find a cure; Eugene's pregnant empress, Astasia, runs away to Francia; and Eugene's daughter, Karila, has to go into hiding from would-be usurpers. The large cast may be hard to follow for new readers, but is uniformly well-developed and convincing, as is the whole world of the trilogy, with its vivid 18th-century European flavor and fallen angels who evoke Paradise Lost. Lovers of big, complex fantasy sagas (think Robert Jordan or George R.R. Martin) will be well pleased.
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Gavril Nagarian's Drakhaoul daemon, Khezef, has lived among humans long enough to be taking on human characteristics. But Khezef is no longer the only daemon-dragon roaming the world. Four other Drakhaoul are free and plotting to gain the Tears of Artamon, which together will open the Serpent Gate and free the Drakhaoul prince Nagar from the Realm of Shadows. Then they will destroy the world. Meanwhile, the royal children of New Rossiya's five princedoms are growing sick and weak, and the Spirit Singer Kiukiu dreams of other, terrified children trapped in the Realm of Shadows. The connections between the shadow children, the royal children, and the Drakhaoul aren't clear to Kiukiu, but she knows that helping them all is critical. Finally, Kiukiu may have to discover deep magic within to heal the seemingly insurmountable evils threatening her world. Themes of redemptive transformation, a labyrinthine plot, and the spectacular Drakhaoul memorably conclude the Tears of Artamon trilogy, begun in Lord of Snow and Shadows (2003) and continued in Prisoner of the Iron Tower (2004). Paula Luedtke
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