Hey, y’all. Today is Blog Tour Day, which, in my opinion, should be a national holiday. Justin, Dan, and I are tackling Legacy of Light, which is the third book in Matthew Ward’s series The Legacy Trilogy.
Dan has you covered with a Q&A with Matthew Ward, and Justin brings it with a guest post from the author, as well. I was beyond excited when I was asked to post a review of the book, which you will find below. Thank you to Orbit and Matthew Ward for inviting us on the Tour, and for the support of both Justin and Dan. You can read Justin’s Guest Post from Matthew here and Dan’s Q&A here. Teamwork FTW! Cheers!
Rating: 8.5/10
Synopsis
Warfare, myth and magic collide in Legacy of Light, the spectacular conclusion to Matthew Ward’s acclaimed Legacy trilogy.
For the first time in many years, the Tressian Republic and the Hadari Empire are at peace. But war never sleeps.
In Tregard, Empress Melanna Saranal struggles to protect a throne won at great cost.
In Tressia, Lord Protector Viktor Droshna seeks to harness forbidden power to restore all he’s lost.
As the sins of the past are once more laid bare, every road leads to war. Darkness gathers, alliances shatter and one final battle looms. What hope remains, lies within the light.
Review
Sometimes I struggle with reviews of series finales because I find it difficult to find something new to say. I have already spoken at-length about characters, plot, setting, writing style, emotional connection, etc. I try to stay away from repeating myself too much, because who wants to read that? (By the way, if you want to read my previous reviews, you can find them here: The Legacy of Ash (Book 1); The Legacy of Steel (Book 2).
In those reviews, here is what you will find: an action-packed plot with highs and lows that keep things interesting, character arcs and development that encourage an emotional connection (for better or worse), a fascinating setting that contributes to the storyline with its terrain, writing that is full of conflict and intrigue such as to make the resolution quite satisfying. And MAGIC. Everything is cloaked in gray (grey? someone corrected me on this somewhere along the line…) to the point where it is hard to find the line where the light ends and the darkness begins and self-reflection becomes a must. If you get nothing else from this review, it should be that all of those attributes combine into something unique and wonderful – a great, epic series that I highly recommend. And The Legacy of Light compliments those aspects well.
“Our darkest moments reveal us for who we are.”
I think “compliments” is a great qualifier, because I found this book to be very different from the others. I am thinking that is a me thing, as opposed to a book thing. In my opinion, the plot and character arcs took some unexpected turns. I was looking for an over-the-top action flick, and while there was some of that I think there was a lot more political maneuvering and intrigue than I thought. Maybe it is because we have been watching the John Adams series lately in my house, but this book gave me post-revolution America vibes: people vying for power, boundaries being drawn and redefined, peoples searching for identities. Do not get me wrong, there were definitely some action-y scenes and war-type things, it was just not as grandiose as I thought it would be. When I say it is “a me thing”, I say that because I when I look back at how Legacy of Steel (book 2) ended, honestly, it makes sense to go this route with the plot. I just did not anticipate it, but I think it was the right move.
Whatever malice Viktor had borne elsewhere, that morning he was again a saviour.
As characters go, everyone has evolved so much since the beginning of book 1, and it is almost like watching your kids grow up: it happens in gradients so slight that you do not even notice until you pull up a picture from 5 years ago. That is quite an emotional swing in itself, character arcs not withstanding. I have raved about Viktor in previous posts, because, in my opinion, the story is really centered around him and the decisions he makes. He is very morally ambiguous, always preaching about the greater good but often willing to sacrifice for it – be they sacrifices of his or those of others. Viktor lives in that gray area I spoke about earlier; in fact, some might say he thrives there. His story was one that surprised me in the finale, as well, and I really enjoyed the direction it.
“Glory in victory. Fortitude in defeat. Honour always. Whatever the price.”
Everything works up to a very rewarding ending, of course, and I think the quote above really describes were most everyone ended up: whether they accomplished their goals or not, honor was always first and foremost front of mind. There was glory for some, victory for others, still yet defeat handed out to a few. But, in the end, honor was awarded most. And, I think that proper given the circumstances.
Legacy of Light is a fitting conclusion to a fabulous series. The Legacy Trilogy is contemporary epic fantasy at its best. I strongly recommend it for fans of the genre.
Be sure to follow along with the remainder of the Legacy of Light Blog Tour. The schedule is as follows:
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