After a break while I focused on a beta read, I resumed reading a series I started in July. And it took me just a week to read the third book.

At the end of the second book, Shanti and her small group narrowly escaped The Hunter and left for the island where a group of Shanti’s kin resides so that she could participate in their trials and hope to gain their help against the enemy bent on dominating the world.

Now that they’re arriving, it’s clear that things won’t be easy. And not just because of the trials. The Inkna and Graygual have already reached the island in noticeable numbers, and more are coming, stirring trouble. The locals seem unsure about dealing with them, and what their presence might mean for their way of life – and the people living on the island. And while Shanti takes on the trials, the rest of her team will need to find a way to survive in a foreign place that might easily turn into a battlefield.

That doesn’t mean they would be idle – scouting the island and finding potential ways to disrupt their enemy keeps them busy and also gives them a chance to gain some level of trust from the locals.

Shanti, meanwhile, needs to deal with trials that test her in more ways than just her fighting and mental capabilities. That would be even before the enemy interferes in the trials, though she also isn’t alone for them – a good chunk of it turns into a self-discovery journey for her and Cayan, about confronting some unpleasant parts of their past.

Sanders and the rest of Cayan’s men soon realize that the gathering of enemies has a clear purpose: to overwhelm Shanti with sheer numbers as she emerges from the trials with her power awakened. And, fortunately, the locals also figure out – with Sanders’ help – that their way of life is in danger. This leads to quite a battle at the site where Shanti should emerge from the trial area – and while they prevail, it’s clear that things aren’t over.

---

Read date: 13.-18.9.2026
Published: 14.7.2015
Goodreads/Amazon rating: 4,4/4,6
My rating: 90%
Length: 326 pages
My highlights

---

The third book was quite a fast-paced adventure, I’d say more than the first two, but it also felt shorter, so that might be a contributor. The end also works well to draw the reader into the next book, reminding that the Hunter they escaped at the end of book two isn’t going to take his failure well, and that their enemies will surely have found themselves busy.