THE DEAD. Facing a war where revenants outnumber the living, Caris Rourke must confront a future written in the stars, one she wants no part of. In order to outmaneuver the enemy, Caris must learn to trust her instincts, no matter where they lead, whether into the heart of danger or into the arms of Nathaniel, a dead man walking she should not trust, much less love.
THE WAR. Eimarille Rourke wants nothing more than to be queen of all Maricol and will do anything to succeed, even the unthinkable. Determined to claim the starfire throne for herself, she must first eradicate all other claimants. Seeking to assassinate her sister and brother amidst a war of her own making will lead Eimarille down a road of ruin from which there is no turning back.
THE LIVING. In the wake of the attack on the Warden’s Island, Soren returns to the people who made him into the warden he is today. But the past he thought he’d left behind as a child has given him a name he does not want. Far from the only man he’s ever loved, carrying a vow that could change the course of the war, Soren must decide if destroying his life is worth saving a world.
THE STARS. In the throes of an escalating war, Vanya Sa’Liandel must put his country above all else, even his own happiness. As Houses seek to betray him and the fallout of his family’s past mistakes claws ever closer, not having Soren by his side is an anguish he can’t escape. In the end, the tide of war could turn with an alliance he cannot afford to grant. But years ago, Vanya gave his heart to a warden, and some kinds of love weren’t meant to burn out but to rage like starfire.
Comment: This is the final story in the Infernal War saga trilogy. I was quite eager to read it and to know how everything would end up, and now that I have, part of me is still mourning the loss...
In this final installment, all the countries in Maricol are getting ready for full on war. Eimarille and the army of Daijal has subjugated many others, and has planned to take over the whole of Maricol and not only Ashion, as she has said before. In the meantime, her siblings finally meet and need to decide if they will join forces or not and what course of action they will take. The gods who guided them into their roads also watch from the sidelines, and whatever decision made will be approved or not by them. The problem is that not everyone can be the winner, therefore, which queen will sit in the throne, Eimarille or Caris?
This is the end of a wonderful trilogy which I have been following for the past months and that has been incredibly satisfying. Not every single detail has been great, but the overall world building was amazing and so complex that I just can't imagine how the author must have done it or how long did it take to plan, much less write, three books around 600 pages each with such a level of detail and character liaisons that still baffles me.
Simplifying things, after the other two books, all countries in Maricol are about to go into war because Eimarille, the oldest daughter of queen Ophelia of Ashion, was taken to enemy country Daijal as a child, and kind of groomed by the god Innes to go into a road in which she believed she would be on her mother's throne again one day, but not only as that country's queen. She would rule them all. Then, her younger brother Alesainder and baby sister Caris were saved by other gods and grew up with other lives. Now they are trying to save the world from her sister who, it all seems, can't see she went too far in her attempt to gain power.
This trilogy has been about playing the right part to accomplish a goal, but whose goal is more valid? I, of course, loved Soren/Alesainder and his "road", and Caris wasn't my favorite but she was clearly the good sister vs Eimarille, the villain. It's funny because in the first book I could not say there was a hero and a villain, but clearly that is not the case in this book or in the previous. There are also several secondary characters, some whose POV we can follow too, and all are part of this big scheme of things, which was a delight to follow. Some readers have said this book was kind of repetitive in parts, but when something is so captivating, minor things can easily be overlooked.
Personally, there are things I'd prefer to see different.. in a cozy cute world, instead of this being a saga about rivalry and misused powers, the siblings would unite and fight the gods perhaps, or something, instead of being at odds with each other. I think, deep down, this is a story about one's road. Each one of us has a road to walk in this life, and sometimes that road might take us into better or worse situations, and how we deal is the key. I also disliked a few situations throughout the main story line, but they do make sense in the big picture.
My favorite parts were the ones with Alesainder/Soren and emperor Vanya. I just loved how their relationship developed and grew and I saw myself smiling when they reunited and confessed their feelings... I could easily envision their HEA and they were probably the main characters that I more eagerly followed and who made it worth the time to keep reading the books. Not that the rest of the books aren't great elements done by the author, but this relationship (and one other) was key.
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