Parents' Guide to Lightbringer: Empirium, Book 3

Longer than it needed to be, this trilogy finale reveals all the truths, twists, and turns between the Sun Queen and the Blood Queen that readers have been waiting for since Furyborn. Even though it has only been a year since the previous book was released, it was difficult to remember all of the details and characters that pop up, so the passages that work best concentrate on the main characters from each timeline: Rielle, Audric, Ludivine and Corien in the past and Eliana, Simon, Remy (and the Emperor) in the future/present. Plenty of secondary characters make appearances and have their storylines resolved, but readers are tuning in to see if/when Eliana will confront her out-of-control mother, Rielle. That, and to figure out which of the various couples will be left standing (and in love) when all the magical dust (and blood, so much blood) settles.

Final books of beloved series are usually unputdownable, but this one is occasionally a slog to read, particularly in Rielle's timeline. She doesn't do much more than burn/ache/rage, and it gets tiresome. Even Audric's and Ludivine's pining for her starts to feel repetitive. It's Eliana's story and character arc that really saves the day in this book, as she rises to meet the challenge set before her, with (and without) help she neither imagines nor fully understands (until the end). Despite getting bogged down in side stories that makes one wonder if author Claire Legrand will return to this fantasy universe via another character or kingdom in the future, the final quarter of the book is terrifically paced and plotted. The stories converge and the queens (and their loved ones) have their glorious moment together. The author knows how to end a book, full of precious, if bittersweet, hope and love.