There are some authors out there that I will read sight unseen; that is, no matter what genre they're writing, I'm going to give the book a try. One of those authors for me is Julian May -- I've been a cheerful addict of her books ever since her magnificent Pliocene Saga.

Now she has wrapped up a new three part saga set in the fantasy world of the Boreal Moon. With the third volume, Sorcerer's Moon, there has been a long period of relative peace for a fledgling empire. For sixteen years Conrig Wincantor has the Sovereign of High Blenholme, hiding his own dormant magical powers that would disqualify him for kingship, and ruling in a particularly ruthless, if efficient way. And with two sons that are eligible to follow him, it doesn't look like things are going to be changing in the near future.

And as for Deveron Austrey, the narrator of this tale, he's vanished after the events in Ironcrown Moon , and lives an uneasy exile. But the woman he abandoned, Iduna, has come to him, not out of love it seems, but to bring Deveron back into the schemes of the Source, a mysterious being who is conducting a great plan to rid Blenholme of the Beaconfolk, the shifting lights in the northern skies.

And now, it seems that a new set of players have entered the game. Conrig's heir, Orrion, has no desire to marry the girl his father has chosen for him, and climbing to the top of the mountain known as the Demon's Chair to beseech the Lights or Demonfolk to help him get out of the deal. Let me marry the girl I love! he cries out -- and looses his right arm in the process, an action that disqualifies him to be king, and makes his twin brother, Corodon, heir. Corodon, who's a bit vain, and not nearly as thinking as his brother, is pleased as could be to be his father's successor, but many fear that he's not going to be up to the task.

The Beaconfolk, able to grant supernatural powers in exchange for human suffering, use moonstones carved into sigils and shapes for their magical doings. Deveron, who has a few gifts of his own, knows all too well what sort of suffering can be exacted for the use of the moonstones, for he has two of the great powers in his own hands, and does everything that he can not to use them.

New characters and old ones are coming to play in this final volume as well. The Salka, monsterous, magic-using, amphibians have taken over the kingdom of Moss, endlessly planning how they can destroy humankind, and waging a never-ending guerilla war against King Conrig. But the exiled Conjure-King, Beynor, thought to be long dead, makes a return, and it seems that he's matured a bit in the years -- he's nearly, likeable. And a young woman, Casya the Pretender, has been putting her forth her own claim to be Queen of Didion. Finally, the first wife of King Conrig is anything but dead, and Princess Maudrayn has her own ambitions in play.

It's a complicated, detailed story, full of politics and double-dealing, as well as the more usual battles and spellcasting. One of May's strong points is that she is able to give the reader characters that are complete, that is, they each have their own motivations and sufferings and internal lives, and she's not afraid to give them a twist or two for fun. But she also knows her science and puts that to good use in creating a magical system that has its own limitations and abilities, with the result that it doesn't have the hokum that I usually find in most fantasy novels -- here there are real consequences to actions, and magic is something rare and dangerous, not just a do-everything tool.

Her work is geared more for adult readers rather than teens, but that's another selling point of her work. The plot lines are complicated, and require that the reader pay attention to who is who, and what is going on. But the payoff is worth it, as there is certain to be justice paid to those who richly deserve it, and a certain satisfaction at the end. For those of you out there who want a sophisticated fantasy series with plenty of action, true emotions, and some truly devious monsters and players, this set of books should do very nicely.

The previous two books in the series are Conqueror's Moon and Ironcrown Moon. I do recommend that the reader be familiar with these first two titles, as May does not provide much of a synopsis in this one to give a hint of what has gone on before. While this does avoid explainitis, it also can make the story a bit confusing. But that's only a momentary problem.

On the whole, this is a grand, epic adventure, where there are surprises and new twists on the entire fantasy genre from start to finish. I do hope Ms May keeps writing, as both her science fiction and fantasy novels always have new ideas and plenty of good storytelling to recommend them.

If you liked the first two books of this trilogy, you'll like this conclusion. In retrospect, what Ms. May is basically stating is that "power corrupts, ambition corrupts, the two combined are deadly, and only the responsible, restrained use of power in the most noblest of circumstances is worthy."

This is a different kind of fantasy. A solid story, not especially convoluted. We fans of the genre are used to more fantastic, more outlandish, more emotional. We are used to seeing characters suffering undue emotional and/or physical hardship. In many cases, we are used to bonding to a handful of characters and getting to intimately know them.

Instead, we have a well-written story. Ms. May jumps to and from the major players throughout once again, telling a story. The writing flows easily, and there are moments of very nice word choice that make me sentimental for Ms. May's older style. The characters grow somewhat, but we still never get to know them all that well.

Consistent. This trilogy opened as the memoirs of the exiled Royal Intelligencer Deveron Austery sought to "rewrite history" to more accurately convey "what really happened." The message, again, was that the existing monarchy had retrospectively sought to alter what had really happened to put forth a more palatable facade. Since we have never seen the altered history of this fantasy world... something is missing for the reader.

Ms. May tells the story perspectively from how Deveron might choose to write a history text-- but this trilogy is typical third person narrative. In terms of organization, it is actually quite typical of Ms. May books-- but we lack the extreme, living characters we are used to from her. Don't get me wrong, below-average for Ms. May is above-average for most fantasy authors-- I never question the decisions of the characters as inconsistent. But they lack the life, the intimacy I look for. But she writes just enough to convey the events and motivations, without any "eye-candy".

Even the climax occurs almost too quickly-- perhaps the editors made her meet space limitations. I don't know. And the epilogue is wholly unsatisfying, albeit not that we really care in the long run. The final sentences say it all:

"And for my dearest Induna... (Deveron's love and wife)?
My memories of her are none of your business."

Problem is, he is our hero and his love, ultimately, and we want *some* details of how they lived together status post saving the world.

Whether intentional or not, I don't think Ms. May's choice to undercut the heroism of her characters (e.g. Ullanoth's self-sacrifice) works well for the story. If Ms. May is trying to say how too many heroes go unnoticed in saving the world, I think she should have made it a bit more obvious, if only by lettign us get to know them first, before they die.

Still it kept me interested, the pages kept turning, and I finished in a fairly short amount of time (if I am still reading a book at 3 months unfinished, then it's not keeping my interest enough to read more than 3-4 pages at a time).