The Flames of Shadam Khoreh

Lays of Anuskaya #3

by Bradley P. Beaulieu

The Flames of Shadam Khoreh begins nearly two years after the events of The Straits of Galahesh. Atiana and Nikandr continue their long search for Nasim, which has taken them to the desert wastes of the Gaji, where the fabled valley of Shadam Khoreh lies. But all is not well. War has moved from the islands to the mainland, and the Grand Duchy knows its time may be limited if Yrstanla rallies its forces. And the wasting disease and the rifts grow ever wider, threatening places that once thought themselves safe. The Dukes believe that their only hope may be to treat with the Haelish warriors to the west of Yrstanla, but Nikandr knows that the key is to find Nasim and a lost artifact known as the Atalayina. Will Nikandr succeed and close the rifts once and for all? The answer lies deep within the Flames of Shadam Khoreh.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, High Fantasy, Audiobook, Ebooks

467 pages, Paperback

First published May 29, 2013

About the author

Bradley P. Beaulieu began writing his first fantasy novel in college, but life eventually intervened. As time went on, though, Brad realized that his love of writing and telling tales wasn't going to just slink quietly into the night. The drive to write came back full force in the early 2000s, at which point Brad dedicated himself to the craft, writing and learning under the guidance of writers like Nancy Kress, Joe Haldeman, Tim Powers, Holly Black, and many more.

Brad and his novels have garnered many accolades including two Hotties—the Debut of the Year and Best New Voice—on Pat's Fantasy Hotlist, a Gemmell Morningstar Award nomination for The Winds of Khalakovo and more:

* Top Ten Book and Debut of the Year for 2011 on Pat's Fantasy Hotlist for The Winds of Khalakovo
* Best New Voice of 2011 on Pat's Fantasy Hotlist
* 2011 Gemmell Morningstar Award Nomination for The Winds of Khalakovo
* Top Ten Debut for The Winds of Khalakovo on Ranting Dragon's Best of 2011
* Top Ten Debut for The Winds of Khalakovo on Mad Hatter's Best of 2011
* Top Five Book for 2012 on Pat's Fantasy Hotlist for The Straits of Galahesh
* 2012 Most Anticipated for The Straits of Galahesh on Staffer's Book Review
* 2012 Most Anticipated for The Straits of Galahesh on The Ranting Dragon
* 2013 Most Anticipated for The Flames of Shadam Khoreh on The Ranting Dragon

Brad continues to work on his next projects, including an Arabian Nights epic fantasy and a Norse-inspired middle grade series. He also runs the highly successful science fiction & fantasy podcast, Speculate, which can be found at speculatesf.com.

Novels

THE LAYS OF ANUSKAYA
* The Winds of Khalakovo
* The Straits of Galahesh
* The Flames of Shadam Khoreh

Short Story Collections
* Lest Our Passage Be Forgotten & Other Stories

Novellas
* Strata (with Stephen Gaskell)

Contact Information
Website: www.quillings.com
Twitter: @bbeaulieu
Facebook: facebook.com/bradley.p.beaulieu

Reviews

[Travis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now that was a great finale for the entire trilogy. This book impressed me so much. It improved on every aspect I had a problem with from the first two books whether it be a pacing issue or too complicated to follow. This book was very well paced and since we had two other books beforehand the foundation was laid out for us. Nikandr, Atiana, and Nasim are front and center once again. However Styophan makes his lead debut after being a side character. I wasn't quite sure if Styophan's transition from side to lead would have worked so late into the game but the author set up a great foundation for him right away to give his arc some meaning. The story all together tied up everything quite nicely. I don't feel like I have any unanswered questions nor am I feeling unfulfilled.

I am so glad I decided to pick this series up right away before jumping into this author's current ongoing series. I think it really help me see whether or not he has evolved as a writer.

The Winds of Khalakovo-4/5
The Straits of Galahesh-4/5
The Flames of Shadam Khoreh-5/5

The Lays of Anuskaya-13/15

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review is based upon an epub ARC.

"The Flames of Shadam Khoreh" is the concluding book in the trilogy, the Lays of Anuskaya.

For my reviews of the first two excellent books, see here for "The Winds of Khalakovo," and here for "The Straits of Galahesh."

I came to these novels through an unusual path. About a 1.5 years ago, I was taking part in an annual charity, called Worldbuilders, run by author Patrick Rothfuss. As part of the charity event, they auctioned off a "tuckerization" for the third novel of Beaulieu's Lays of Anuskaya Trilogy. Essentially, the winner of the auction would get a character in "The Flames of Shadam Khoreh" based upon them. See here for Beaulieu's blog post on the topic.

I won the auction, and the resulting character in FLAMES is called "Rodion Ledokov." Beaulieu did a truly wonderful job on the character. You may wish to keep an eye out for him...


As for the novel itself, I loved it. It is clearly the best of the three, and this time I could find no quibbles to make with the book.

I thought it was a great conclusion to the series, and did a great job of tying up the various story lines (but not more than should be tied up if you follow me. Life isn't neat and tidy and no story should tie up all loose ends IMHO).

Going into the story, I thought I had a good idea what it was about and how things would go. I should have known better from book two.

Beaulieu took the book in wonderful different directions that were far better than I had expected and added a lot more depth to the story. I greatly enjoyed the twists and turns, and surprises as well as the new characters.

The story is full of wonderfully developed characters, lots of interesting places, and lots of action and magic. The story pulled me in and kept me reading. I also really enjoyed the character's dialogue. In some fantasy novels, I find the dialogue to be dry and predictable. But Beaulieu's, I found it to be original, realistic, and fresh.

In closing, I loved the book and recommend it and the entire trilogy without reservations.


I look forward to Beaulieu's next fantasy trilogy, which I hear will be called "The Song of the Shattered Sands," put out by DAW. I got a chance to hear an excerpt from the first book, "Twelve Kings in Sharakhai," at the 2012 World Fantasy Convention in Toronto and really liked what I heard.


Bradley: if you need an advance reader for "Twelve Kings in
Sharakhai," I am *ahem* available...

[Kitty G Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the final book in the series and I definitely liked how everything was wrapped up. I like the complexity of this world, I also dislike the complexity. The reasoning for this double standard? Becuase it makes this a tough series to get into and one which I doubt many will enjoy. However, if you do manage to wrap your head around it I think that this is a series which you might enjoy and I certainly liked this one (probably the most).

In this story we follow our three main characters from the previous book, Nasim, Atiana and Nikandr. We know that they have long been on a quest to try and save the world from an evil woman who seems intent on trying to destroy it. Together they have already achieved some of their aim, but in this book they need to finish it all and fight for the final time.

The start of this book is all about Nasim being under the influence of another player. This person he travels with has the ability to control him via mind, and so he's not necessarily achieving what he wants to, and he's in a tricky situation of foggy thought for a lot of the start.

Nikandr and Atiana manage to be together for a fair amount of this book, but as we go on we see the pressure begin to test and fracture them at various points. I like them both, but Atiana has long been my favourite of the two.

On the whole I felt like this was a good ending, but it wasn't anything mind blowing. I did get surprised by how Beaulieu chose to end it, but it wasn't something I've never seen before, just done in his own way. 3.5* series overall, very likeable, but complex too.

[Seregil of Rhiminee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally published at Risingshadow.

Before I write anything else, I'll mention that I'll try to write as spoiler free a review as possible so that I don't reveal too much about what's going on and what's going to happen to characters, because knowing too much about this book will spoil the fun of reading it. This review is in equal parts a review about the previous books as it is a review about The Flames of Shadam Khoreh.

I'll also mention that this review is based on a PDF ARC.

The Flames of Shadam Khoreh stunningly continues the story which began in The Winds of Khalakovo and The Straits of Galahesh and takes the story further. In The Flames of Shadam Khoreh the author leads his readers back to his magical fantasy world, which is charmingly influenced by Russian/Turkish/Eastern European cultures. This book is the culmination of the trilogy and what a culmination it is! I have to confess that I was very impressed by this book, because in my opinion the author has done his best to write a memorable and entertaining ending. If I had to choose only one word to describe this book, the word would be "OUTSTANDING" (in capital letters), because this book is truly outstanding and amazing in all possible ways. I can't help but praise this book, because I loved every page of it.

The complex story arc of The Lays of Anuskaya works amazingly well, because the author manages to keep all the plot threads in his hands and pushes the story powerfully forward by keeping the characters interesting and revealing new things about the world. The Winds of Khalakovo was the beginning and it introduced the characters and places. The Straits of Galahesh developed things further by adding more layers to the story arc. Now The Flames of Shadam Khoreh delivers a wonderful and unforgettable fantasy feast for fans of epic fantasy, because the new revelations and happenings are brilliant.

Bradley P. Beaulieu has every reason to be proud of this book, because he handles all the elements - and the story arc - perfectly and keeps on revealing interesting things. In this book the author brings things nicely together. It was great to read about the characters, the rifts, the wasting disease and other things.

In my opinion The Lays of Anuskaya trilogy is one of the best new fantasy trilogies, because there are only a few new trilogies (e.g. Martha Wells' Books of the Raksura, Courtney Schafer's The Shattered Sigil, C.S. Friedman's Magister Trilogy, David Anthony Durham's The Acacia Trilogy, Blake Charlton's The Spellwright Trilogy) that have as much depth, originality and style. This trilogy is a perfect example of what a talented author can achieve when he puts his mind and heart into writing an original story.

The time gaps between The Winds of Khalakovo, The Straits of Galahesh and The Flames of Shadam Khoreh allow the author to develop the characters more and keep things interesting for the reader. Each character seems to mature effortlessly and naturally during the time gaps.

The characters continue to develop and mature in this book, which is good, because it's nice to read about them. I've enjoyed reading about the characters and their lives, so it was great to see what happens to them. The dialogues between the characters were perfect.

Nikandr, Atiana and Nasim have been my favourite characters since the beginning of the series, so I was thrilled to read more about them. The other characters are also handled superbly. I love how Bradley P. Beaulieu writes about the different male and female characters, because they're portrayed brilliantly. Their characterization is surprisingly complex and layered. In my opinion the author has a talent for creating believable and realistic characters who develop in their own ways and make their own choices.

One of the best things about The Lays of Anuskaya is that the magic system is original. It's fascinating to read about the elemental spirits and how the characters harness their powers. The author has created clear rules for how the magic works and explains things bit by bit, so the reader gradually absorbs knowledge and becomes increasingly intrigued by the magic system.

The worldbuilding is beautiful and detailed in this book (the worldbuilding is just as good as it was in the previous books). Somehow the author has managed to create a realistic fantasy world, which becomes even more interesting with each new book. The strong Russian/Eastern European feel of the world feels refreshingly different and enticing, because there are only a couple of fantasy books out there with similar settings and none of them are as complex as this book.

What amazes me most is the author's ability to combine politics, worldbuilding, magic and characterization fluently. He builds his fantasy world by revealing bits and pieces and puts the reader right in the middle of the happenings, which is thrilling, because the reader has to read the whole story in order to find out what's happening and how things will end. I've read quite a lot of fantasy books and I can say that this book is clearly different from all the other epic fantasy books that are being sold at this moment. (Steven Erikson, Courtney Schafer, C.S. Friedman and L.E. Modesitt Jr. are the first authors that come to my mind when I think about the contents of this book.)

By the way, it's good that there are synopses of the first two books, because readers may find them useful. There's also an extensive glossary at the end of the book, which is useful if readers happen to forget what certain words mean (the readers have to remember quite a lot of words and terms, so it's nice that there's a glossary).

Before I write the final words, I'll mention that it has been nice to follow how Bradley P. Beaulieu has developed his writing style with each new book and found his own voice. I'm eagerly awaiting his next book, because he's a good fantasy author.

The Flames of Shadam Khoreh is an exceptionally well written, suspenseful and ambitious fantasy book - it's Bradley P. Beaulieu's best book so far. In terms of characterization, worldbuilding and characterization, it is uniquely fascinating and complex fantasy fiction. This book fulfilled all my expectations and delivered an excellent ending. If you want to read refreshingly different and original epic fantasy, you must read Bradley P. Beaulieu's books. When you begin to read his books, you won't stop until you've read all of them.

Highly recommended to fans of quality fantasy!

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://www.staffersbookreview.com/201...

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here's my spoiler-free video review of the Lays of Anuskaya trilogy: My Review

[Will · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com...

Two years after the events at the Straits of Galahesh, Nasim is still missing from the world. Atiana and Nikandr, as well as Soroush and Ashan, continue their search, but only Nikandr seems to have any real hope of finding his friend alive.

Meanwhile, the war has moved to the continent. The Grand Duchy’s gains following their victory at the Straits have been all but lost, yet they continue their assault, desperate to keep Yrstanla from gaining the advantage. But with their troops overextended and supplies dwindling, it looks to be only a matter of time before the Empire pushes back. Worse, the wasting that continues to ravage the islands has spread to the continent, now threatening the safety of all peoples. Because of this the Dukes seek to treat with the Haelish—a savage people that inhabit the continent’s western reaches—hoping an alliance will finish the war once and for all.

Yet Nikandr and his allies know that the only path forward involves Nasim, Kaleh, and the Atalayina stone—a combination they hope can heal the world. But with the wasting ravaging the known world, and the war spreading, it seems like the end of everything might be inevitable. The only way to prevent such lies with the ancient land of the Kohori—and with the Flames of Shadam Khoreh.

—

They lived at the very edge of Adhiya itself, preserving themselves since the day they were buried. They were strong and bright, these flames of Shadam Khoreh. They sacrificed themselves that the world might one day recover from the days of the sundering.

—

After two books gazing longingly at the amount of untapped potential of the continent, I never would’ve guessed that I’d’ve fancied a return to the islands of the Grand Duchy. In my opinion, that was the only thing holding this story back from perfection.

With rich and immersive world-building, the Lays of Anuskaya is really a world the reader can get lost in. The issue up until now has been paying attention to the story long enough to see it through. While the first entry struggled to maintain my attention, and the second did a nominally better job, I found this less of a problem come the third book. The fate of the world, the war lapping at the edges, the wasting widespread and everyone at each other’s throats; the plot finally has enough going for it to remain coherent through to the end.

The setting was never an issue for me, but where the islands could deliver a succinct, almost claustrophobic experience, punctuated by leagues of open ocean—the continent falters in not being populated enough, confined enough. The immersion of the world is broken by transitions through swaths of open land. These periods are mostly covered by introspection or conversation, but were still a hiccup from the world-building to this point.

Luckily the story itself is there to pick up the slack.

Honestly, I didn’t expect to get so invested in the story. For the first two books in the series, this just wasn’t the case. It was the environment, the setting that drank me in—not the story. But for the Flames, I lost great chunks of time to both the story AND the setting. Not only was I lost exploring the world, but I was also writing myself into the story. Some good books do one or the other, some great books can manage both. I’ve been wanting to wrap this series up for years; I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it so much when I did.

TL;DR

The final installment in the Lays of Anuskaya, the Flames of Shadam Khoreh delivers in a big, big, and honestly unexpected way. I’ve been wanting to get this one out of the way for years, close another series out—but I didn’t expect to enjoy it quite so much. With the first two entries in the series, I was awed by the world-building, but somewhat torn on the story. But the Flames delivers on both: a surprisingly interesting and immersive story set in a rich and vivid world. As a series, the Lays of Anuskaya is up and down—a so-so start that gets better as the world is drawn in around it. I honestly think it would benefit being a bit more drawn out as a series, as the slow-burn catches up all at once, ad there’s not enough time to enjoy the completion of it all. I’d… probably recommend this for fans of slow, dense-world fantasy, steampunk-curious, people that like to get lost in the world (rather than necessarily the story itself). But otherwise, try the Shattered Sands—same great world-building, better, longer story.

[PRJ Greenwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like a lot of fantasy novels, there's a shorter book struggling to get out of a longer one here. Many passages and sequences here seem overwritten and padded out, when what's needed (IMHO) is concision.

Despite that, this is a superior novel to the one before it. There's less discursion, less introspective writing, but I still found my attention wandering with the passages and chapters devoted to Nasim. The lad may be integral to the author's world, but nothing compelling surrounds him or his character. The most entertaining and in-motion parts of this lengthy work are when we have Nikandr at the helm. Action, both of the physical kind, and the narrative kind, follow this man. The plot is propelled forward with far more effect when Nikandr is there leading the way.

So, a satisfying end to an occasionally wavering series.

[Shaun · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Art of the Subtle Epic

I get bored with a story that becomes predictable, as I am sure most readers do. Also, like most readers, I enjoy twists and turns, a little of the unexpected. When I started reading The Flames of Shadam Khoreh I was not to sure what to expect. Mr. Beaulieu has a talent for not giving away his story, he avoids predictability in the most subtlest of fashions. So, I spent my time reading the last book of his trilogy, The Lays of Anuskaya, never sure what was going to happen, but sure of the fact that I was going to enjoy it.

The novel picks up right where the second book, The Straits of Galahesh, left off. Nikandr, Atiana, and Nasim are all racing to save the world from widening rifts between the world of the physical and the world of spirits, but once again along their separate paths. Most fantasy enjoys the classic fellowship paradigm, a group of multi-talented individuals coming together for common cause and all that. Beaulieu throws this right out the window. While his heros work together for a common cause they do so alone. They will be able to stand on their own or not at all. They become successful in their isolation more out of their intellectual abilities then their physical abilities, another aspect I enjoyed over the whole of the trilogy.

The individual struggles of each character are truly engrossing. Nikandr struggles in his relations with his own people, for many still view him as a traitor and bent on completing an unimportant and crazy task. He is concerned over his difficulties in communing with the air spirits, or havahezhan, he had a previous connection to, and of course stopping the end of the world. Atiana’s struggles revolve around her talents in taking the dark, which she finds she can do multiple and disturbing ways. She also has her direct battle of wills with the villainess Sariya which is characterized by mind tricks and the gathering of Matri, the women of the Islands who can take the dark. Nasim, the person the story spins around most, has to cope with the reality of the world, meaning the truth of the original sundering which created the rifts. This truth about the rifts help him realize Sariya’s true intentions a head of the others. He also understands the sacrifice that must be made to stop her.

There is also a great list of supporting cast that brings the story to life. Styophan, for example, and his time spent among the Hael, a people who have been at war with the Empire of Yrstania for centuries. He goes to them at the orders of Nikandr’s brother to make them allies of Anuskaya in their war against the Empire only to find the Empire is already there wooing them. His story becomes a unpredictable blood soaked trek through the back door of the Empire itself. To the reader, and to Styophan myself, it seems that his journey is a side quest that runs along the main one under taken by Nikandr and company. However, Styophan is something a linchpin to the overall success of the heros. Just one of many twists.

This last installment I could sum up as a subtle epic tale. What I mean by this is that, while there is tension, and conflict, it is not dealt with by sheer force, by the heros or the author. The means by which the heros meet their challenges is by guile and intelligence, compassion and forethought. Mr. Beaulieu keeps the vulnerability of his characters established in the previous novels intact, as if to remind the readers that regardless of what happens to a person to make them more capable and formidable, they are still human and subject to all human faults. Indeed, the biggest twist to the whole story is set in their inability to discern the truth in a timely manner.

Mr. Beaulieu, as an author, applies the same attributes to his story crafting. Never is the reader spoken down to, or bludgeoned with details. The tale winds around the land and it’s people in a believable but unfamiliar way. I have used the word subtle throughout this review and for good reason. Plot events and character development takes place almost quietly, and many times unexpected. Whether it is Nikandr, Atiana, Nasim, or Styophan, I was always surprised by how they handled a situation. I was always caught off guard by Mr. Beaulieu. As I stated in my review of The Straits of Galahesh, no character is granted protection from danger. So, I would be reading, getting wrapped up into the tale, fully expecting one thing to happen and then, quite out of nowhere, catastrophe. Subtle, like a assassin, before you know they are there.

I wanted to write a much longer review, but I feel that I could damage the experience of others if I did. I can say that I have come to respect Mr. Beaulieu’s work. He was able to leave me guessing as to the truth of the tale. His characters, while quiet and thoughtful, were real and multifaceted. Just before you think you have them figured out they surprise you. The story itself was the same, a surprise at every turn. What I thought was to be a important development in the story wasn’t, it was nothing but a distraction so that I wouldn’t notice the twist coming up in the next chapter. All in all I loved this rich world and wished only that there was more. I hope Mr. Beaulieu will revisit the Islands of Anuskaya in a future work, for there is much more to learn of his world and Mr. Beaulieu’s skills as a fantasy author.

[Taylor Ellwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

The flames of Shadam Khoreh is a stunning climax to an amazing trilogy. I couldn't stop reading the book to find out what happened to the characters, and the twists and turns kept me guessing until the very end, but the author very nicely wrapped up the trilogy without any loose ends. Excellent book and trilogy to read.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

The final book was a good as the other two. I did have a bit of trouble trying to follow the what and why of it all, but in this final book it was revealed, pretty much. There were a few dark parts, which was true of the other books as well, but it meshed with the story. Good read.

[Bree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, this book made up for book 2.. Excellent mind blowing finish... Great series!!

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I TOTALLY loved this trilogy and it wrapped up well. I loved the complex storyline and I think this series is underrated.

[Brian Dassero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent conclusion to a very interesting trilogy. I found this book to be much easier to get into than the second one, The Straits of Galahesh. For what ever reason, the first and third books spoke to me more.

There is so much going on in this volume that it's difficult to explain to anyone who hasn't read the first two books. Any recommendation I can give would be to pick up the first books and try it out. It's worth it.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concisely: this story is brilliant and you should definitely read the entire trilogy.

The Flames of Shadam Khoreh is an intensely satisfying and captivating read and a great ending to this series. Beaulieu has crafted an incredibly mature and complex story that seemingly never takes the easy way out. It was refreshing to experience characters that have changes of heart, who get things wrong and even at times, lead the reader completely astray with their conjecture.

For me this book was a much truer reflection of humanity, which is more of a tangled web rather than a single thread. At times the story felt messy and unclear but I appreciated this for the complexity and touch of realism it gave.

While The Winds of Khalakovo dealt primarily with the politicking and conflict between and within the Grand Duchy and the Maharrat, The Straits of Galahesh and then more so The Flames of Shadam Khoreh not only bring more factions to the party, but begin to deal with the fate of the world on a grand, cosmic level - very similarly to Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy. While I felt this was a great and natural progression for the story, I did miss the days of Winds, which I think is by far the best installment in this series. I would have been quite satisfied the remain in the realm of the courts of Anuskaya and seeing how that panned out, but instead the story takes vast leaps and bounds into infinitely bigger territory.

This is where it falls down a little for me. The protagonists in this series are great; Nikandr, Atiana, Nasim, Styophan, all consistent and well formed. However it is the secondary characters and antagonists that remain thoroughly confusing to me. Sukharam, Kaleh, Sariya, Bahett, Ushai ... all are so ill-defined that it actually seems that their presence is required only as plot devices when the need arises. Their motivations and allegiances change more often than the Prime Minister of Australia does and with very little justification. One moment Kaleh is a ruthless killer supporting Muqallad and Sariya and then she isn't and then she is and then she's is an innocent girl who's siding with the good guys ... Admittedly in some of these examples the characters are playing a ruse, but still. I mean, what the hell Ushai? WHAT IS YOUR DEAL!?

I swear some characters are brought along for the ride just to be petulant and/or obtuse.

This brings about problems in the story that I mentioned in my review of Straits, where it seems like Beaulieu has only a tentative grip on the hugely multifaceted magic system and tends to cut corners to position things where he needs them.

Taking all that into consideration, Flames is still brilliant and a credit to the fantasy genre. There are many strengths in this book I haven't even touched on (mostly because I brought them up in reviews of the two prequels) such as the exquisite use of language and names, impressive world-building and incredibly rich cultures that have been ingrained in the characters and story.

I will definitely be reading more of Beaulieu and you should too!

[Anastasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Debated between 4 and 5 stars for this one. It seemed like a fitting finish to the series, although for some reason I found the ending to be a bit of a letdown.

I truly like most of the characters in this series, even the ones who are a bit unlikable. I wish there had a been more development to the mental anguish Nikandr and Atiana suffered from their experience with the aether (the forced disconnect for Nikandr after he lost his bond with the hezhan, and Atiana's withdrawals once she could no longer take the dark).

Despite that, the story and the characters' quests remain interesting and are well-developed. I never got bored with the story. And despite the ending feeling unfulfilling for me - I'm not even sure why - most of the story lines get tied off well.

As with the other books, I thought this was an interesting and well-developed world, pulling inspiration from somewhat-unusual sources. It felt fresh and new and unlike so many other novels.

[Michael Underwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful conclusion to an impressive trilogy. Beaulieu has a refined talent with language, impressive plotting, and weaves huge amounts of texture and cultural nuance into the series.

If you haven't read The Lays of Anuskaya (beginning with The Winds of Khalakovo and continuing with The Straits of Galahesh, concluding with this novel), grab all three and prepare for a rich, thorough journey through a beautifully-realized wrought by the hands of a rising star of the Fantasy genre.

[Abbe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel privledged to have read the ARC version of The Flames of Shadam Khoreh, the last book in the Lays of Anuskaya trilogy. Action packed from start to finish, I was determined not to skip a word or else I could miss some small detail.
Since I never offer spoilers, I will say that all the threads from the first 2 books are first shaken out then tied neatly and the end brings it all to a neat conclusion.
The world is stunning & the characters rich and involving. I am so glad for having read this trilogy

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I should have liked this series far more. It has all of the elements I like in a fantasy, a unique and original world/cultures, believable three dimensional characters and an interesting plot. And for some reason I found myself trying to summon enthusiasm to read another chapter. I think I would be in the the minority as far as rating this as meh.

[Shaun · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author likes to use many threads to weave his story, which can be rewarding when pulled off just so but he falls short. I feel like perhaps he tries to be too complex and grandiose. Still there is plenty to enjoy. It has very few dull moments and kept me interested.

[Asl4u · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good - now that I understand the world - I believe I'll definitely go back and read this trilogy again. Good characters, neat world. very different kind of magic. I enjoyed it!

[Christy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting Book

If you're looking for a wonderfully interesting world with unique magic this is for. Definitely worth the read and it's a completed series!

[Gwennie]

excellent read, I recommend this series!