The Broken Sword (Dragon Spirits #3) is the final chapter in L.L. MacRae’s fabulous character-driven fantasy series, and, as it has been a while since I read the other books, I really appreciated the recap at the beginning.
The story continues with Fenn regretting opening the Shadow Gate in the previous book, now he can see the damage he has caused. The terrifying Myrish spirits are overrunning the continent, draining the life from anything they touch, so he becomes determined to stop them and right his wrongs. We gain a lot more insight into the Myr in this book, which was interesting and they prove to be an imaginatively created foe.
Each of the main characters we have been following through the series gets an end to their story arcs in this novel, some more satisfyingly than others. Torsten, the ex Master Inquisitor, deserves everything he gets after his capture and imprisonment of Apollo’s young daughter, Renys, even if she happily doesn’t seem any the worse for it. I found myself having conflicted feelings for Torsten. His kidnapping of Renys and his propensity for torture are unforgivable – but it is hard not to sympathise with his character as his beloved dragon spirit Miroth is now corrupted after many years of decline. I would have liked the pompous, controlling Lady Furyn Vantonen to be taught a lesson or two for the way she treated Calidra in her childhood.
The characters are extremely well-written and believable throughout the series, with Calidra being one of my favourites. I enjoyed seeing her coming back to herself after escaping Hassen’s curse, but unfortunately, she seemed to lose herself all over again for most of this novel. Fenn’s character matures quite a bit and finally proves his worth after a shaky start.
The pirates, Kaio and Taran, are a little bit watered down in this instalment, as is Apollo the thief. They are all behaving honourably and bravely and seem to have lost some of the ‘loveable rogue’ character traits that made me like them so much to begin with. War seems to cause everyone to reprioritise and mature.
The dragon spirits really come into their own in this novel in all their terrible glory. They are shown to have quite disparate personalities. Some of them are inexcusably manipulative, but we also see instances of their support and protection of humans in battle. Some of the humans are equally controlling of their bonded dragons, and the theme of those with power needing to be kept in check can be seen repeatedly. Another, overarching theme of the novel seems to be one of love enduring through terrible times and helping ordinary people achieve extraordinarily heroic deeds.
The epic ending really packs a punch with the sheer scale of its exciting battle, making it difficult to stop reading as the final chapters play out. I would highly recommend this series to fantasy lovers, particularly dragon lovers. I will miss its characters – it is definitely one I will reread in the future, and I would urge anyone reading this to give the series a try.
I received an arc of this novel from the author – thank you! My review is honest, and my opinions are my own.
This has been a great series so far. I need to carve out some time to read the final instalment!
Its a great ending!