Wall Street Journal bestselling author Jeff Wheeler’s epic Harbinger series comes to a breathtaking conclusion as two women are swept into a battle that could destroy two worlds.Rescued from a world of poverty, Cettie Pratt has avoided a bleak destiny—until now. Deceived and manipulated, she has been groomed for the ultimate betrayal: to destroy her best friend and stop peace from uniting two … peace from uniting two war-torn worlds. Her path leads her to a mysterious underworld where appearances can be deceiving.
Sera Fitzempress knows the value she has to her enemies. As heir to the empire, she must keep her foes at bay and prevent them from unleashing a being of unspeakable evil upon the world while fighting a brutal war. But her enemies are more cunning than Sera expects, and the key to their plans is none other than her best friend.
Neither woman knows what to believe. Neither one knows if she can trust the other. Both Cettie and Sera have made decisions that have irrevocably changed them. But the decisions they have yet to make will determine the fate of their world…
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I’m so glad I finished this series after all! As before, I can’t really review this book without spoilers, so be forewarned…
While I understand that Prism Cloud had to perpetuate the conflict if the series was not completely over, I REALLY didn’t like the conflict it created, and it led me to believe that my favorite character was hopelessly irredeemable. Thankfully that was not the case: it did not take very long for Cettie to become disillusioned and for the proverbial scales to fall from her eyes in this book. But because she had betrayed so many while she was still deceived, she felt that she could never truly be forgiven, which created a new conflict that lasted until the end of this book. This was a conflict I could bear much better, though. I loved how Cettie’s story also intersected with some of the main characters from the Kingfountain series, and how, like Trynne, she too becomes an Oath Maiden. I’m so glad Cettie’s power and skills are fully realized and put in service of goodness.
While Sera does get to marry Trevon, they are separated before they can consummate the marriage, and it looks as though all hope is lost for them as well, even as she takes on her role as Empress. She also learns at the end of Prism Cloud that she has been the subject of a dreadful prophecy, that she will do something which will essentially trigger the apocalypse. This raises the always fascinating question of whether or not one has true free will, when a prophecy foretells what one will do? In this case, it is resolved in a very interesting and rather unexpected way, and what transpires appears to be more or less a retelling of parts of the biblical book of Revelation.
That said–the story ends with a happily ever after for everyone involved, at least “for now.” I fully expect another series from Wheeler, set in the same world, but about 1000 years in the future for the final installment!
My rating: *****
Language: none
Sexual content: none
Violence: fantasy only
Political content: fantasy only
Sad that this is the last book in the series. I want more adventures involving Cettie and Sera!
I really enjoy Jeff Wheeler’s books. There is definitely some Christian allegory here embedded in the fantasy, but the author also draws richly from history as well, so as an agnostic myself, I’m okay with it, as this series ends up being a richly drawn story of two worlds with flawed but lovable characters.
This author is one of my favorites. His worlds are so well thought out that I have no trouble at all suspending my disbelief! Please, keep writing and as long as your books are available on kindle unlimited, I will definitely keep reading.
A powerful conclusion to a story to heartbreaking at times in it’s real world emotions and spellbinding epic in it’s creativity. It gives you the ability to draw from the characters’experiences, both seemingly right or wrong, and bare the consequences with them; feel their emotions as they live with choices that are as much a part of their world as ours. As painful and hard to move forward it seemed to be at times, as a reader, these characters’ strength was so engrain as part of the complexity of them that it seemed almost laughable for them not to pull themselves up and move forward despite the dire outlook. I must say, it was harder for me to read about poor Cettie than it was about Owen in the KingFountain series. I almost lost hope and just left the book half finished. I’m glad I didn’t.