Voice of the Gods

An interesting book to complete the trilogy, which certainly deals with the clash of politics and religions. One that brings the tale of Auraya and Leiard to a satisfying and hopeful conclusion. Some have said there are no big surprises in this trilogy, and for anyone who understands story construction in some ways, that’s true; however, I found this trilogy a joy to read and expertly told. I also wish I could adopt one of the adorable creatures called a Veez. I loved all the characters, and this author’s skilful plot.

The worthy conclusion to the Age Of Five trilogy.

Auraya's resignation of her position as a White, has many consequences. The newly elected Ella, takes her place with Advisor Danjin Spear. Meanwhile the Pentadriens elect their New First Voice Neekum who seems to be a pleasant contrast from the authoritarian Kuar, even if he does have secretive ways. Minar the troubled Dreamweaver leader travels amongst his people for the first time in a hundred years, and even the Wilds are venturing into closer proximity to the populations they have lived amongst. It seems clear that a troubled time is approaching the world, only a couple of years after it's last big war. But with five gods to guide each side surely unnecessary waste can be avoided. show more After all don't the gods love their followers...

Although the opening is slow, and re-covers issues raised in the last book (an unnecessary practice, the book is too long anyway, and few read the third in a trilogy without being aware of the first two) the pace picks up as events and people converge on the Ismuths of Sennon. The POV is now mostly restrained to the various Wilds and characters they interact with, the exceptions being the unSkilled Pentadrien Companion Reiven, and brief excerpts from Daijin and Ella. the jumping around between characters is by now not too annoying, but not a style I particularly like, however it does allow a lot of territory to be covered. This leads certainly through the middle section of the book, to a slight feeling of disappointment that various plots developed in the first novels aren't going to be resolved fully. There are many twists in the pots, all but a few being fairly predictable. However the dramatic ending does very well in pulling all the threads together. The writing remains light and readable even when the tension mounts, the descriptions are quick sketches of the world, sufficient to paint the scene in the mind. However this book lacks some of the controversy of the 2nd, and doesn't have the wonder of a new world that the first inspired, and although there is more action, it doesn't quite make up for the lack of either. I didn't notice any major plotholes, although as with any powerful magic system there are some fairly contrived devices to prevent it's overuse. One copyedit error slipped through the printing, a plattern is described as being pulled by horses - which don't exist in this world. They've otherwise been steadfastly Reya, or Arem. Trudi's annoying habit of re-naming otherwise identical creatures instead of inventing new ones is exposed.

Intriguing, with a fascinating take on religion especially, and a fairly clever magic system. I hope to see more stories set in this land which has much to offer. Best aspects of Trudi's writing is assuredly the moral ambiguity of the characters, obviously doing what they feel is right, but at the same time raising questions - love and politics, adherence to principle and personal danger, what risks are worth taking, for what rewards.

Overall and enjoyable read and a worthy ending to the trilogy, with a few points left to consider.
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After re-read,
I didn't feel this was too long this time, although the re-cap remains unnecessary. Neekum changes character far too much to be believable, and the additions of the other Wilds aren't fleshed out enough, but the concept is particularly clever and an enjoyable read. A worthy fantasy looking into some of the possibilities of active gods. show less

The conclusion of the Age of the Five trilogy. Auraya discovers the potential of her powers as the conflict between the Circlians and Pentadrians escalates. The ending is admitedly quite predictable, but I still enjoyed this book (and indeed the whole trilogy) for the characterisation and the shifting nature of personality and religious conviction.

Canavan’s Black Magician trilogy is up there amongst my favourite reads. In comparison, this series has seemed flat and predictable. The first two in the trilogy were OK, but this one is the least strong of all her novels so far. It's a solid 3 stars, but it could have been so much more – in fact, the whole series fell just short of hitting the mark.

The ending will not come as much of a surprise to most, unless you've been guilty of skipping pages searching for some plot points and action and missed all the obvious foreshadowing of the final plot twist. If the Circle killed ALL the other gods during the Time of the Many, where did the Pentadrian gods from? The answer was so obvious all the way through, yet the entire book hinged on show more this plot point.

The background about the Gods was interesting, and explained a lot that had come before in Priestess of the White and Last of the Wilds. But there were so many characters and story threads that could have been developed much more. I would like to know more about the Elai; the relationship between Emerahl/Mirar/Auraya could stand much more development; Danjin Spear and Reivan are really interesting; what is the history of the Twins and Gull; and why is Mischief the only veez we hear anything about?

Maybe these threads will provide material for future explorations – I hope so.

Having said that, I found myself thinking about the world she had created even after I had closed the book. And this is Canavan's skill. show less

The conclusion to the story of the five gods, Auraya et al.

This book is one that, I rather strongly suspect, you really can't read without reading at least the previous book, probably both of them. There are huge pay offs for earlier plotting that come through, but there's relatively little filling in of back story. You may not like that, but I found it worked nicely and was pretty refreshing actually.

There are two big twists, and a rather unexpected theme that develops through this story. One of the twists is, for my mind, made far too clear far too early and the "OMG, shock, horror" reveal I met more with a "Thank god, no more messing around." But that said the other one came right out of the blue, so kudos for that - and it was show more handled in a very plausible fashion too. The unexpected theme doesn't really count as a twist because you work out quite early on where it's going and that's not hidden, but it has a good, long development and some nice character stuff around it.

One other thing that I found worked, but at times made me unsure, is the amount of introspection and acknowledging of flaws. Now, a lot of the characters are in their thousands, so they've had some time to find their flaws and come to terms with them, and it makes the characters more fun in some respects, but there are a couple of moments where I was left wondering if it had been overdone.

Still, overall a very good end to the series.

This particular edition ends with an interview with Tracy Canavan from before the book was published. It makes for an interesting read, although there are a couple of places where she's a bit coy about revealing the plot of the book - the one that I'd just finished! show less

Overall I liked the universe Trudi Canavan created in this series but I found the story and the characters a bit disappointing and most of all too predictable.
Nothing surprised me, not even the ending that was painfully obvious from book one, and yet it still was supposed to be a major plot point.
It wasn't in any case boring and I had some fun reading the third book but I wasn't drawn to the characters until the very end and nothing ever felt special.
I think it was even more of a disapointment because I had enjoyed her previous work so much.
Worth a read if you have the time and nothing else in stock.

I picked up the first two of the books in the trilogy just to have a nice easy story to read for a change. Shortly after starting the first book I found myself really starting to get immersed in Canavan's world and started to care about her characters far more than I expected to. When I finished the second book I was itching to get the third and finish the story, unfortunately I had a wait of several months. I would like to say that the wait was worth it but I can't. Although the third book is not bad and was not a struggle to read, it can unfortunately be described in one word. Predictable. In all honesty you can see the ending coming from very early in the book and it does leave you feeling a bit flat when you finish and not have had show more any curve balls thrown at you. Overall a good book but don't be expecting any surprises. show less