Farlander’s Law by D. Wallace Peach

This is book three in The Rose Shield Series by D. Wallace Peach.  Read my reviews of the previous books here: Catling’s Bane, Oathbreaker’s Guild

If you haven’t read the first two books, maybe read them.  I don’t mean to give spoilers, but to describe the book inevitably calls for information to be given.  Sorry!

Farlander’s Law starts as Catling has baby Rose.  As expected, Rose becomes a pawn pretty quickly for those that want to control the Queen by compromising Catling as her shield, attempting to use Rose to do that.  Ultimately, Rose ends up with Whitt as he attempts to keep her safe while also righting the wrongs that continue to befall the Farlander’s at the hands of the Ellegeans.  Although the first book is still my favorite, I think I enjoyed this one more than book two, but even that’s a toss up.  Thank goodness I don’t have to choose!

Ok, as you’ve come to expect from me, a few things I didn’t love:

• The book is a little slow.  I don’t think this is actually a bad thing.  There are lots of build up, but we seem to only get bits and pieces to describe when moments come to a head.  Someone cleverly ducks out in time or the details are slightly white washed.  It feels a little anticlimactic.  I don’t mean to say nothing bad happens, Rose is a rape baby for goodness’ sake, so bad things happen… we just seem to lack the same level of detail in those items that we’re given in other things.
• The Influencer’s Guild feels a little nonexistent in this book.  They’re not really necessary to the action taking place, so I get why we don’t “see” them too often, but it feels a little too convenient to only have them show up when it “matters.”  I just don’t buy that they’re being good little children after book two.

To be honest, it was hard to come up with “not loves,” but it’s not hard to come up with loves:

• I love/hate the ending.  I can’t tell you by my own rules, so someone please read it and message me (I’m looking at you iArthichokeu).  One of the issues I had with book two is resolved, but not in the way I wanted.  Is it wrong to hope for someone to go missing or get killed off to get the ending you want? … I’m asking for a friend.
• While I just complained that there aren’t a lot of details around bad things, happy endings feel a little hard to find.  I know we go through this every so many book reviews, but the world sucks and people rarely get exactly what they want.  It feels so much more authentic to have things be long and drawn out and awful.
• The conversations are hilarious.  Tiler’s expressions are awesome.  I feel like “sock fondlers” as an angry exclamation is going to be my new go-to.
• Character development is so great.  Ellegeans are the bad guys, but not always.  Whitt is great, but he does some stuff I don’t love.  Farlander’s are victims, but also a little bit instigators.  It feels so good to feel conflicted.  It’s a sign of good writing.  Plain and simple.

What’s the verdict? Start reading the series… and then immediately let me know what you think.

Ready to hear about the final installment?  Feel free to check out my thoughts here: Kari’s Reckoning