Shadowrealm, by Paul S. Kemp, is the conclusion of the Twilight War series, set in the Forgotten Realms. While it shares most of the traits of the first two books, I liked this one both more and less than them. If finishes the story of Everis Cale, the Chosen of Mask and his dealing with the Shadowstorm as prophesied. I'm still not happy about the focus being shifted away from Everis and his friends to deal with lots of the new characters who, for the most part, are even larger pawns in the game being played by gods and powerful spellcasters, and don't have a lot of impact on the story at large. I do see how the paladin of Lathander's fall links thematically with Everis' history, but the entire subplot throughout the series still seems tacked on. I'm also still disappointed that the inclusion of Talmin and his seduction by the worship of Shar - I don't see this in his character from the previous books he was in, nor do I buy the rest of his powerful family accepting being written off scene the entire series and not doing something about the situation.Those complaints being said, I did enjoy this book more when it focused on Everis and his friends, in part because it spent more time on them than the previous ones, and in part because, despite their power, it did an amazing job of showing how incredibly powerful beings like them could still face threats that were beyond them, and felt epic in scope and danger. In addition, there was a good page count left to deal with the fallout of defeating a quasi-demi-god, to wrap up lots of loose ends, such as saving Magadon's soul, dealing with conflicting promises to a god and an arch-devil, and other miscellany. It's always a disappointment after finishing an epic series to have the last two pages say "and they rode off into the sunset...the end." As a final comment on the series, the very last bit of the epilogue confirmed that many of the elements I didn't enjoy seem to stem from Wizard's of the Coast's decision to blow up the Forgotten Realms and advance the timeline 100 years. This gives me faith that one of my favorite FR authors didn't stumble on his own terms, but instead was following the dictates of a (in my opinion) flawed corporate overlord. I'm happy to say that Mr. Kemp will be writing in the Pathfinder universe, and can't wait to see what he does there (especially with the much looser hand of Paizo not interfering with the stories he wants to tell.) So far, his book hasn't been officially announced, only that it's scheduled for sometime in 2011. This book, the last in the trilogy, both thrilled and disappointed me. It continued the huge action and big battles from the first two books, but it got to be a little much. Clearly, the author wanted to focus on internal struggles and moral ambiguity, but there were half a dozen characters going through their own version of it and it was a little like bashing the reader over the head with it. One or two characters would have done. Also, the ending actually upset me. The whole trilogy was building up toward these Realms shattering events and then the author sort of skimmed over the result(s) of said events. I would have liked a more clear explanation of what exactly happened in Sembia following the events of this novel. Maybe he's leaving room for a future trilogy, but it left me hanging and feeling a little disappointed.
What do You think about Shadowrealm (2008)?
That ending. How insignificant your life is when viewing it from the span of millennia.
—Jax13
A fantastic conclusion and I can't wait to see what comes next during The Sundering!
—tazzy
