Kari’s Reckoning by D. Wallace Peach

Ok, guys… I finally did it. I actually stretched out a book series. Granted I spent a probably embarrassing amount of time thinking about Catling, Whitt, and even Kadan, but who cares. We all know we get into a book or series, read it way too fast, and then are super sad when it ends. I decided to try and break the cycle with The Rose Shield series and feel I did moderately well spacing out the books. The first step is admitting we have a problem, right? Anyway, if you’re new to these books, you can read my reviews of the first three here: Catling’s Bane, Oathbreaker’s Guild, and Farlander’s Law

We all know by now that this journey started with me reading the review iArtichokeu’s (side note: my hubby and sister both love this username) review of Catling’s Bane, book 1 in the series. If you haven’t checked it out, you totally should. If my gushing over three books so far hasn’t convinced you to read these, their’s totally will.

Onto the actual review, the final book in the series follows our friends as they move on from settling disputes between the Ellegeans and Farlanders into a navigating a world of political intrigue as the Cull Tarr set their sites on conquering Ellegeance to gain land, slaves, and expansion for their faith.

I feel like while this sums up the book, it doesn’t really at all.  I know in the past books I reference a slight lacking of sustained action.  Where those may have lacked, this book more than makes up for it.  This book is action from cover to cover.  Truly.  Onto some details, no spoilers, I promise!

• I wish we had checked in with Jafe just smidge more.  Him and the others in the swamps helped out our various friends a lot throughout the book.  So knowing exactly how they faired as a whole would be a nice to have.
• There’s a scene where Whitt is talking to Catling on a boat, he’s about to tell her something and Catling tells him to wait until after the war.  I don’t think we ever circled back to what he was going to say!?!  I’m embarrassingly invested in this relationship, so I have this thought stuck in my brain.

Ok, so what did I love?  Probably more than you want to read about, so I’ll try to get it down to just the highlights.

• The series is about so much more than just our friends.  I really feel like there are important themes that stick out throughout the book like power, who owns it and how is it used; environmental commentary, how are we treating the world around us and what is the impact for our future generations; love/emotions, there are so many different forms covered in the story and how it impacts various characters, even the same kind may have a different impact in a different situation.
• The ending.  It was maybe a touch happy for me, but I feel like the alternative would be soul crushingly awful.  I’ll save any more details for those smart people who pick up the series and read it. 🙂
• Whitt – I just can’t get enough of him.  He was adorable and endearing in the early books, and what I can only picture as totally sexy and self-assured as the series continues.  When people talk about book boyfriends, he might be mine… despite my constant reading of romance novels.
• Character development – much like Whitt’s transformation, all of the characters feel like somewhat new people having come out of this journey.  It’s definitely realistic and so well done that it happens in small pieces, not obvious chunks… like it does in real life.

I’m gushing, I know.  I’d say I’m sorry, but I’d be lying.  I always give my summary at the end, and this seemingly endless post definitely needs one.  So here it is: D. Wallace Peach, can I totally fangirl and ask to do a Q&A with you about the series?  … Sorry, I digress.  In summary, you should read this series.  Right. Now.