The final instalment of this series.

I read this series once a year for a few years in a row when I was much younger (high school and into early college). I'd spend a whole weekend just reading about Fionavar. I would become so immersed in the books that I wouldn't dream when I slept (a rarity) and that I would resent any human interference in my reading and immersion. The books moved me and made me weep every time I read them.

Between then and now at least 10 years have passed in which I have read little fantasy, my tastes have shifted in many ways, and I have grown up a lot. I had fond (really, far more than fond) memories of reading the books and wanted to experience that immersion and emotional release with them again. I was terribly afraid to return to them after so many years. I was afraid they would be weak, derivative, incapable of moving me in the same way. And so I avoided them for a long time after the desire to revisit them arose, only now giving in to it.

These books are amazing. They definitely hold up over time and continue to move me. There are minor things in the language that sometimes pull me out of the story that didn't when I was a younger reader, but I love the characters, I love the world-building (the way Kay combines multiple mythologies to tell a story that is both familiar and new is wonderful), I love the emphasis on choice, and I am still devastated by the ending. I am so glad that I re-read these books and I will read them again and again in the future.

I'd give this one six stars if I could. This final book in the trilogy is 100 times more emotional than the other two. The characters become much more complex, even the so-called "bad" ones. There are some characters that I'll always miss (I won't hide this for spoilers because come on, it's a classic fantasy book- its gonna have a big epic final battle and people are gonna die). An incredible number of plot twists and ups and downs.