June 15, 2013
The Katerina Trilogy wraps up with a sometimes-confusing but action-packed climax. Necromancer Katerina still yearns to attend medical school, but she satisfies her need to learn medicine with the tutelage of a Tibetan physician. She is at least partly motivated by her desire to cure her supernaturally afflicted love interest, the czar's son, George Alexandrovich. When the czar informs her that he approves of her marriage to George, it seems like a dream come true, until he also tells her that she cannot study medicine. Complex paranormal conflicts, set up in the first two books, now become even more labyrinthine, which may make readers wish they had created a score card while reading the previous two works. The Light and Dark Russian courts are at odds with each other, and an evil, undead pretender to the throne, Konstantin, has occupied the vampiric body of Danilo, a crown prince who attempted to forcibly marry Katerina in The Unfailing Light (2012). He--they?--kidnaps her and takes her to Egypt on a quest for an immensely powerful sword. Bridges has built a believable and flawlessly depicted world that effectively combines historical fact and paranormal fiction in this smart, romantic adventure. Characters remain well-realized, but multiple intrigues already set up in the trilogy make it impossible for this work to stand alone. Recommended for sophisticated readers who enjoy a fully immersive paranormal experience. (Paranormal romance. 11 & up)
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January 1, 2014
Katerina must choose between her love for George and her desire to become a doctor. Meanwhile, she fights off another suitor, maintains her responsibilities as a necromancer, and traverses nineteenth-century Russia, Egypt, and France (not to mention the Graylands between the world of the living and dead). The trilogy's mixture of history, romance, and paranormal adventures gets somewhat confusing in this concluding volume.
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