The Flames of the Immolated (Ardalia #3)

Alan Spade sent me an e-copy of The Flames of the Immolated (Ardalia #3) for review.

As the title (Ardalia #3) suggests, this is the third and final installment in the Ardalia series (I'm so smart I scare myself sometimes). Having read and thoroughly enjoyed the first two books The Breath of Aoles (#1) and Turquoise Water (#2), I was eager to read the conclusion. Mr. Spade provided an exciting conclusion to his trilogy.

The Flames of the Immolated continued the stories of several characters we met in the first books. As I said in my review of the second book, the characters continued to grow, no flat, stale characters here. The complexity of the story is incredible, balancing so many story lines and maintaining a coherent story is a real achievement.

The Flames of the Immolated is most definitely not a stand alone story. Refreshing yourself by skimming the second book would probably be beneficial, of course I didn't do that and I don't think I suffered for it. The story is so rich with unique characters both good and bad that I was left in awe of Alan Spade's imagination. That one writer could come up with such a variety of beings to populate his story just blows me away, let alone the fact that he is able to weave them all into such a riveting story.

The trilogy is a "quest to save the world" story that actually involves the whole world, not just a small corner that many of the worlds inhabitants don't even know about. Everybody knows what's going on.

The story is full of action, violence, horror, evil, good, love, romance, loss, redemption, magic, greed, dog and cats living together (okay, not that), but you get the idea. So much more than can be shared in a short (yeah, yeah) review.

Alan Spade does not spare our emotions at all. There are emotional highs and lows, no one is safe, no one can rest on their past achievements, and no one gets things the way they want them. This kept me as a reader on my toes, forget trying to predict the story.

Finally (yes I'm almost done), My favorite part of the book is the final two chapters, not because they were the climax, but because they weren't. So often quest stories end with the end of the quest. I'm always grateful to the authors who give us a strong epilogue. Even though the last two chapters are not officially designated as such, they are a completely satisfying epilogue. So, huge (YUUUGE) thanks to Alan Spade for The Flames of the Immolated. Enjoy!

Mike