Endless Night

The Endless War, Book 3

By: D. K. Holmberg

Narrated by: James Foster

Ciara has traveled to the barracks, but the promised teaching has not come to pass, leaving her worse off than before and her people without the nya'shin for protection. If she can't master the summoning, she fears the darkness will claim her.

But now that the darkness has revealed itself, Jasn must find a way to save Alena from her connection to the draasin before that connection kills her. Only then can he search for whether Katya was destroyed by the darkness or learn if he can still save her. With her shaping limited, Alena discovers a different reserve of strength, one that will be vital in the coming days.

The real war now begins. They all must learn how to suppress the danger of Tenebeth and discover and stop those responsible for summoning the dark, or none will survive.

©2016 D. K. Holmberg (P)2017 Podium Publishing

raises more questions than it answers

The story continues immediately where book 2 leaves off. Ciara struggles with controlling her new found powers and her lingering doubt. She can summon all of the elemental energies, but cannot easily repeat these summonings. Though Chassin assures her she is learning, his teaching skills are limited, simply instructing her to practice, but not showing her how to hone her skills.

Alena is now linked to the drassin egg . The continuing drain on her fire shaping has sapped her energy to the point of extreme weakness, barely able to shape anything else, and if she cannot separate before the egg hatches, she is in real danger of dying from its pull. Jasn through his link to her life-force continues to help, but this will likely not be enough. They have to find a willing draasin to take over or face the fact they will have to destroy the egg or the Barracks may lose their most capable warier.

The story continues forward much like the previous books, giving the listener more questions about the nature of the dark force of Tenebeth than real answers. More is learned about Chassin and his extraordinary abilities, but he continues to be the enigmatic and reluctant teacher and leader. His lack of information and infuriating secrecy frustrates all as they desperately need his guidance.

What felt like character development in the previous books, seems to slow the story somewhat in this volume. There is significant repetition, explaining Jasn’s inner struggle as well as Ciara’s doubt about her powers. The action is wonderful and well worth the listen, but there are spans of explanation which by this point are well known to the listener. If you enjoyed the first two volumes, you are certainly hooked, but you might find yourself asking that the story move a little quicker.

James Foster performs the story with his smooth and capable voice. He puts a wonderful emotion into his delivery, giving the listener the necessary drama that adds greatly to the narrative. He is the voice of The endless War series and you couldn’t imagine anyone else doing it by this point. An excellent performance.

Book 3 raises more questions than it answers as Ciara, Jasn, Alena and the many other interesting characters continue their fight against the growing forces of darkness. The story doesn’t really wrap up, but is more of an installment in the world Holmberg has created. Don’t stop now, book 4 and 5 are out and waiting for you when you finish.

Audiobook was provided for review by the narrator.

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