I love epic fantasy but I am rarely satisfied by series endings; too often, tragedy and trauma are hand-waved off the page once events have served to shove the plot to its climax. This never fails to frustrate me; trauma is not a motivator nearly so often as it is an inhibitor, and asking me to believe otherwise as a reader takes more convincing than most books can offer. Especially frustrating to me is that there are so many more stories to tell, so many other questions to answer: How does one face world-shattering challenges and find hope? What remains, when all effort has failed? Where do you go when the world ends?

If book one was about compassion, and two about grief, book three is about persistence and perspective. Each character begins book 3 facing the endless after of reconciling their decisions and actions with the new reality of their circumstances. Some of them run; some forge new uneasy alliances; some seek to honor old paths while casting for new ones. Each must confront their own failures before they can rebuild. Each carry a deep, scarring trauma that leads them to make questionable decisions while preventing them from seeing other solutions before them, and they must find a new way forward, through their despair and tragedy, if they are to offer any hope to their peoples.

Darva and Marnej have faced the total collapse of their worlds, with no possibility of return to what they lived for. It is only their ability to create new relationships and connections that offers any hope whatsoever. And in the end, their resolutions are hard-won, justified, and consistent–but not pat, or sentimental, or too clean. Myers deftly avoids the clear and well-worn plot paths in this series, allowing characters a depth and complexity that drives their behaviors and actions. Breath of Gods was a solid, satisfying end to a fine fantasy series, and I look forward to what comes next. ( )