Love this series. Love this author. Highly recommended if you like epic fantasy. ( )

This is the concluding volume to the first trilogy in the House wars series. It starts where book 2 left off: Jay's den is now living in the Terafin manse and are charged to help gather evidence that the Terafin can take to the twin Kings. Ultimately, this results in (view spoiler)
Although on occasion I felt it would be nice if the book sped up a bit, overall this book was very satisfying. The characters are excellent: Jay of course steals the show, and her interactions with her den and with the Terafin and several ATerafin (as well as Meralonne APhaniel) are a pleasure to read. The same goes for the interactions of Finch with Lucille ATerafin and Jervan ATerafin and those of Teller with Burton ATerafin. ( )

I love Michelle West's books. She has created such a huge world to play about in. It's imaginative, unique, and contains all the elements of good fantasy without being cliched. I look forward to these when they come out and buy them in hardback. If you haven't read them, you really should. You won't be sorry. These, along with George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones series are the ne plus ultra of current adult fantasy. If you haven't read George R.R. Martin, you should - he'll blow you away.

This book centers around the same events covered in the Hunter Duology that is the prequel for the whole cycle. In this case, the story is told from the point of view of relatively minor characters in the duology - Jewel Markess and her Den. As the cycle progressed, Jewel grew to be one of the most interesting characters and it's been wonderful to read more of her story in the The House Wars series.

I particularly enjoyed the play with point of view in this part of the series. There are new events and deeper exploration of certain characters within the structure of this book, but of a necessity much of it covers ground that's already been addressed. I love the fact that West isn't afraid to cover the same ground from different points of view because it so enhances my appreciation of events.

Great book and can't wait for the next one. ( )

Excellent wrap-up to the series. I couldn't wait for it to come out in paperback, and the Publisher, DAW books, did not see fit to provide an e-book. So, having read all the other novels in the series, including the Hunters duology, and the Sun Sword 6-book series, I HAD TO KNOW what happened to these friends of mine. And I was captivated all the way through this wonderful book. I especially liked the epilogue, for the deep emotion conveyed in every line. ( )

Here's something interesting for me. Michelle Sagara-West has three series set in the same world -- the Hunter duology, the Sun Sword series, and the House War series, which is ongoing. I just finished the third (and newest) book in the House War series, House Name.

So, some background. The overall world is centered on the city of Averalaan, though House War is the only series that focuses on it alone*. The gods existed in the world, but most removed themselves -- with the most notable exceptions being the Lord of the Hells, who refused, and got sealed into Hell to keep him from causing trouble. Of course, then he and his followers are trying to break out -- he gets a piece of his power out in the Hunter duology, and the Sun Sword series chronicles his attempts to gain more power.

Anyway, in the Hunter duology, a seer character is introduced -- Jewel -- who sought refuge from demons within Terafin, one of Averallan's noble houses, thanks to the rare talent of precognition and an old friendship with the Terafin (the current head of the house's) brother**. In the Sun Sword series, she plays a role, riding with the armies heading south to deal with a mix of political unrest and demonic scheming. However, one of the subplots in that series is scheming against the Terafin, with Jewel and her own people involved because Jewel is considered a favorite to become the next Terafin. As a result, at some point, Jewel was called away from the plot of the Sun Sword books to attend to manners in House Terafin. Lest the plot of the book get even more tangled, Sagara-West decides to leave Jewel's story to continue the Sun Sword series and pick up Jewel in her own series.

... which ends up getting three prequels. Of which, book 2's climax is the same as the opening of the second Hunter book, Hunter's Death, and House Name and Hunter's Death are set concurrently and feature the same plot (the business with the Lord of the Hells trying to break into the world). Insert joke here about epic fantasy authors writing the same novel ten times to get ten novels.

But what worked for me was that Sagara-West realized 'shit, the backstory I need to tell for Jewel's present requires not only 'how Jewel met her people' but retelling a novel that exists with her POV, when she wasn't even at the climactic final battle, because she's a seer with some street fighting skills and would die against demons (and I wrote that she stayed home before)'. And then figured out a way to deal with the plot that made it work when we-the-readers might know what was going on from her previous work, or not (since the Hunter duology is old and hard to find).

What worked for me as a reader who had read the Hunter duology was the emotional plot going on during the struggle. Jewel was very much not the major character there, even as a POV character. The emotional plot was focused on the characters coming in from the first book in the duology, while Jewel and her den existed mostly as a source of information to show what was going on. Here, the plot is not just on 'shit, demons under the city', but that Jewel had lead her den to relative safety in Averalaan's upper crust, and even has a job that might win her the House Name of Terafin, guaranteeing her safety and that of her people. For someone who pretty much lived either as 'poor unskilled laborers'/'grave robbers'/'sometimes pickpockets', that's a Big Deal.

But it would mean swearing herself to loyalty other than 'my people'. Which is the emotional conflict for most of Jewel's den here -- Jewel both wants the House Name to protect her den and worries about the change in her status. This also seems to be a theme for Arann, Finch, Teller and Angel, who also get screentime -- 'who are we loyal to, and can we sustain our identity as Jewel's Den when starting to be other things as well'.

One downside is that Jester and, to an extent, Carver both get short shrift in the book. Hell, the Terafin even calls out that Jester hasn't done much in the book when granting House Names to Jewel's people. A bit annoying, since I feel like I have a better sense of who the others are than Jester.

Both the emotional themes and the idea that there are many stories surrounding the events of (fake) history and you either have plot kudzu where no one can tell whether the subplots are advancing under the sheer number of them, or you take Sagara-West's tactic and just end up saying 'look for what happens next to Jewel in a later series'. Given that Sagara-West already noted that the final book of the Sun Sword series had to be split in two because it was running long***, including Jewel's plot -- especially trying to have it keep pace with the Dominion plot -- might have been a nightmare.

And, actually, this works for me. Because real history is messy. I mean, if this was real events chronicling how Valedan took the throne of the Dominion after his father and half-brother were killed, you'd have to include 'the seer Jewel ATerafin, who rode with the Voyani for a period', and maybe tell how she came to do so, but when she went home to deal with House Terafin's succession, trying to tell that story in a history wouldn't work. So you just note that she left, and go on.

This whole thing makes me wonder how, now that we're out of prequel territory for the House War series, how Sagara-West will handle the Sun Sword information giving the background of 'how House Terafin, years after Jewel ATerafin joined, started a war over its succession'. The Sun Sword series gave more emotional space to Jewel on her journey, so it might be difficult to work blind. It might end up that the next book picks up where Jewel left the screen in the Sun Sword series and just runs in parallel that way.

* The Hunter duology spends most of the fist book in the kingdoms to the west, and the Sun Sword has a lot of the actions in the Dominion to the south.
** The ten noble houses in Averalaan aren't hereditary though being born upper-class makes it far more likely you'll win admission to a house and/or hold a position more advanced than 'cleaned the toilets for five years, so can use the house name, but is still a servant'.
*** Seems to be a common thread for epic fantasy authors. ( )