3.5 Stars This was a powerful, tragic conclusion to Jacqueline Carey's strange, clever re-imagining of the Lord of The Rings in which the forces of evil are the protagonists and cast in a more sympathetic light. The first 2/3 or so of this book was very slow which made is a slog at times but the last 1/3 was action-packed and emotionally charged and provided a great ending to this series.Review of the first book here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...First of all I want to give Carey credit for crafting one of the most elaborate love triangle (square? hexagon?) plots in history. Fianna the archer (who I would have liked to see more of in this book btw) is in love with Blaise the Borderguardsman who is in love with Lilias the sorceress who is in love with Altorus the King who is in love with Cerelinde (the Lady of the Ellylon/Elves) who is kind of in love with Tanaros (the general of the forces of evil). YA authors take notes, this is how a master does it.The first part of this book was pretty slow which is the main factor driving down my rating. It seemed that half the pages were devoted to the Yarru's journey in the mountains trying to avoid the Sunderer's minions pursuing them (this series' counterpoint to Sam and Frodo's journey to Mordor). While there were some cool sequences in these sections I thought most of these parts could have been dropped as the Yarru were just way too dull to take up half the book on their own. When they finally got to Darkhaven at the end their sections became pretty interesting but by then they were overshadowed by the battle.Lilias' parts were also a grind although for the opposite reason. While Lilias herself was an interesting character she spent the entire novel in captivity not doing anything interesting. Her interactions with Blaise and Altorus made for some really interesting verbal sparring sessions but these parts were outnumbered by her internal, philosophical monologues. Her part at the end was both surprising and moving however.The best parts of this book throughout were the schemes, machinations and preparations for the final battle being done at Darkhaven as well as by the forces of good and the final stretch of this book payed off those preparations in epic fashion. Tanaros the general, Vorax the glutton and quartermaster, Speros the young man who found his place among the forces of "evil" where Tanaros treated him as a son, Cerelinde the conflicted Lady of the Ellylon and Ushahin the bitter mage who was crippled by the cruelty of men were all great characters and their interactions as well as their schemes and plots were the best parts of this book. The forces of good seemed to have less screen time in this book than in the last which made them less sympathetic as they came across more arrogant and self-righteous. The last stretch of this book featured an exciting back and forth battle with lots of interesting sub-plots surrounding it. As much as I liked the ending it also bummed me out as Carey made good on her promises to deliver a tragedy Especially if you're a fan of the bad-guys like me. The deaths of Vorax and Speros made for a gut-wrenching 1-2 and the death of Blaise afterwards felt like a hollow victory. Hyrgolf's death was another blow as I was really hoping he's survive. By the time we got to Satoris' end I could see the writing on the wall and Tanaros' last stand shortly afterwards made for a tragic finish to the series. This was a relatively short series by one of the best fantasy authors working today that despite some pacing issues had a strong cast of characters, a very strong ending down the stretch and an interesting plot-line that uniquely re-imagined some of fantasy most familiar tropes.