The House of Gaian by Anne Bishop

Fragile Bonds are Brutally Tested....

It began as a witch-hunt. But the Master Inquisitor's plans to eliminate all traces of female power in the world have expended to crushing the Sylvalan barons who oppose him - and to destroying the wellspring of magic in the Mother's Hills.

Faced with this evil, humans, witches, and the Fae become uneasy allies. But even together they aren't strong enough to stand against the armies the Inquisitors are gathering. So they look for help from their last possible ally: the House of Gaian. The reclusive witches who rule the Mother's Hills. The witches powerful enough to create a world - or to destroy one....

And the witches' long-held creed of 'Do No Harm' is about to give way to a more important one: Survive.

I will apologise in advance that this is going to be a quickie review, simply because I finished it so long ago, that I can remember general things but not necessarily specifics!

In the conclusion to the Tir Alainn trilogy, the world as it is knows is coming to an end unless the Bard can join forces with the new Huntress, who also happens to be one of the House of Gaian. They must stop the Master Inquisitor from destroying the world, but at the same time many of the characters must find the inner strength within them, and the strength of love to bind them together and hold them through tough times. For brother and sister Liam and Breanna this may mean finding love in unexpected places, and the brother/sister dynamics here were well written as Liam seeks to protect Breanna, which she does everything she can to escape his protection. The glimpses of amusement in the pages were a welcome respite from the looming battle between good and evil, between death and survival.

I do think that Bishop struggled to find who the central characters were in this series - were the main characters Aiden and Lyrra, or Breanna and Liam, Neall and Ari or others. I suspect that it was supposed to be more of an ensemble cast, but at times the narrative was a bit clunky, and the changes of perspective a bit too uneven to work fully as an ensemble piece.

If there are fans of the Black Jewels books who begin to read this story, there is a chance that they will not enjoy the same fantastic experience as the Black Jewels trilogy but I did close the book with a sigh of enjoyment, and having enjoyed the ride through this trilogy.

This trilogy, which started with Pillars of the World and continued in Shadows and Light is definitely worth reading!

Rating 4/5