Thomcat
8/9/2022
The original conclusion of a trilogy (two additional books were added decades later), this returns to what made this fantasy story unique - I rate this higher than the first book.
The first three books were written 40 years ago, and strong female characters help them feel more recent. Gil, who gets into a well written sword fight in this novel, may be a representation of the author, both graduate students of history.
In the first book, there is a fair amount of "new here, how does it compare to California". The second book had very little of that. Discovery of some of the mechanisms behind the keep, along with a prototype "flame thrower" are the closest we get to technology. At one point in this book, Gil dives in and finds solutions with research!
Other characters have some interesting growth as well, and the overall story comes to a conclusion. This was a hard book to put down. Was the resolution perfect? No, it was pretty fast and some reviewers have wondered at the ease of it. Were there other flaws? While mentioned multiple times, Gil's connection with Inglorion the Wizard isn't shown any other way. Do any of these flaws bring down the rating? No. This is one of the best stories I have read this year, and I would rate the series 4 stars, despite my feelings about the middle book.
Two additional books were published 13 years later, and four further novelettes another 20 years after that through Amazon and Smashwords. I'll probably read some or all of these, but after a pause to let the original trilogy sink in.