The Sun Sword

It's a shame more people haven't had the chance to enjoy the beautiful world West has crafted. The characters She has created are nothing short of astonishing in their complexity and the intricacy of their relationships. If you enjoy epic fantasy with wonderful characterization and eloquent prose akin to Guy Gavriel Kay, than read this series.

# Michelle has sold three books to Luna under the Michelle Sagara name * Cast in Shadow (already written and due to be published in Aug 2005) * Cast in Courtlight (already written and likely to be published a year later) * Unnamed These books are quite different in tone from her Michelle West books, which is why she is publishing them under a different name. # Michelle is currently at work on House War (about 1/2 way through as of October), which covers the events involving Jewel and the succession to House Terafin. The story will also provide more information about the beginnings of the Den. This will be a two book series (honest!). # BenBella books is reprinting the Sundered series! More information as it becomes available. # Meisha Merlin is publishing a collection of Michelle's short stories.

A lot of people complained about the fact that Jewel's story wasn't finished. After all, Jewel has played a major part in the battle for the Dominion. However, not to worry. I read in her home page that Michelle West was writing a stand-alone novel called House War that is about Jewel, the house war, and the den.That aside, I would like to concentrate on the book. This is the conclusion to the series about the Southern war, and it was beautifully written. I thought that the character development with Diora and Kiriel was well done and believable. What truly touched me, however, was the new revelation about Auralis and Anya. By the end of the book, we see some changes in Auralis that are, I believe, for the better. What I liked about these books was the fact that the author doesn't put in a bunch of shabby sex scenes between characters that detract from the story. Instead of romantic relationships, we see more of parent-child relationships. Such relationships include Teresa-Diora, Isladar-Kiriel, Sendari-Diora, Alina-Valedan, and even, to a lesser extent, Isladar-Anya. I also enjoyed reading the first meeting between Valedan and Diora, and continuing to watch their slowly growing relationship.Some reviewers claimed that the final duel between Alesso di'Marente and Valedan kai di'Leonne was an anti-climax. I do not believe that this is entirely accurate, because it seemed to me that the real climax of the story was when Kiriel was battling the Great Beast on the battlefield, not when Alesso and Valedan dueled. I can also appreciate the fact that the author makes all of her characters seem real. Even the so-called bad guys made me want to cheer them on. Each character is not completely evil, not completely good. On both sides of the opposition, you see characters who are on a particular side for their own goals and values. No one character is black or white, but shades of gray instead. In the conclusion, no loose ends in the SOUTHERN WAR were left dangling. They were satisfactorily resolved. Jewel's story wasn't meant to be resolved in this book because her role in the southern war was finished. And I will repeat: Michelle West is writing another book for Jewel called House War. Just hang in there people!

This book is a satisfying conclusion to the Sun Sword series as it has been developed so far. Okay, there are some indications of fatigue on the author's part--West's prose style, while it can be dramatic and moving (check out the last scene with Diora at the end of Broken Crown) is often torturous and convoluted, and it wears a little thin by this point in the series. Also, some have complained that the battle between the forces of the North and the South seemed strangely anti-climactic, and I can see their point.*However.*The author's *strengths* in this part of the series are completely on display as well. I believe I've mentioned in other reviews of her work that Michelle West has a real gift for characterization. This is *certainly* the case here. Her characters are so well developed that they feel almost *four*-dimensional. Her themes of childhood and parenthood continue to be present in the work; in particular I was rocked by the line about Kiriel, something like: "Ashaf was the mother of her heart.But she had always had two."Without giving away spoilers I'll just say that for me, this line made a moment that could have come across as completely contrived and out of nowhere, not only suddenly make sense, but also carry significant emotional weight. Some have complained also because they feel the story was not finished, in particular that of Jewel and Avandar. I actually found that to be a *strength* of the series, as strange as it may sound. Perhaps it's because I came in not having read Hunter's Oath and Hunter's Death, so I wasn't getting the whole of Jewel's story to begin with, but it seemed to me that this ability to "let plot threads go" actually contributed to the feel of the series as a whole. I mean, heck, it was always clear that the main story of these books was that of Diora, Sendari, Teresa and Valedan; Jewel may have had a part to play, but this wasn't her story, and now that she's finished with that, having gone "south if south calls," it's time for her to go back to the cares of the rest of her life. Just like in the real world, there are no endings, because nothing ever really ends. The interplay of the two different cultures, South and North, both fully developed and contrasted with each other, is on display here as well, and Valedan's ability to draw on the strengths of both is fully realized. The meeting of Diora and Valedan and their slowly developing relationship is portrayed as only West could have done it, and Anya and Kiriel, Kiriel and Isladar, Kiriel and Ashaf's village, Elena and Telakar--wow. The only thing I can think of that would have made it better would have been if she had found a way to work the cradle song into the conclusion. While that is the only song in the series, in my opinion it represents the best use of poetry in a fantasy series since Tolkien, in that it encapsulates what I see as one of the primary themes of the entire series. Having begun more or less with the cradle song in

Yeah, finally Diora and Valedan meet! If you haven't started at the beginning of the series do not start with this book and even start at the Hunter series to see where the author is leading us. Obviously, the story is not finished and a new series of books will come out as the final battle has not started. The battles in this book are just more preludes to the main good versus evil battle. There are many story lines and subplots and the author does a good job of tying many of them together. We learn more about Havalla and the Empire's mages and even about the summer and winter seasons. Unfortunately, we do not find out more about Jay and Avandar. Hopefully, the next book will cover more of this. The author did a good job of ending Valedan's quest, maybe we will seee more of him and Diora in the future. But still questions remain. I can't wait for the next book!