McIntosh manages to pull all these threads together in a credible manner to achieve a satisfying ending to the series. In fact, I had thought she was going in one direction when she pulled it neatly together in another and then gave a wonderful twist in the end. The series was well done and very readable -- I think the hardest part of this trilogy was waiting to read the complete story. While each book had an ending, they weren't really satisfying and left you hanging - waiting for this final volume. As a reader, I felt that this was one story and while the length necessitated the three book division, it really broke up the narrative arc and to a degree lessened the impact. However, the characters, situations, and writing were engaging enough to keep you reading and wondering between books about what would happen next.

Throughout the story, Wyl Thirsk has had to learn to control his impulses, to think through the ramifications of his actions. He also learns much about being an outsider. For most of his life he was a favorite of the King, trained for leadership of the Legion, and a place at the right-hand of Morgravia's Prince Celimus. That Celimus had other plans for Wyl once he was King, set in motion the events that lead to Wyl's journey throughout the land to seek to find himself, save his people and lands from their new king, and to end his curse. Wyl learns that there is more to being king than ruling, and more to being a person of worth than your name -- it is who you are when no one recognizes you. Wyl changes bodies with each death but he is at core himself and he must come to terms with who he is and what he believes.

Recommended.