TRINE REVELATION is the third in C.K. Donnelly’s Kinderra Saga, and should be read that way, as it does not work very well as a standalone book. But as an epic conclusion, it is magnificent. The main protagonists have grown, learned, changed and developed over the three books. In this concluding volume they reach their final day of judgment, in which what they have done bears fruit in the novel’s resolution. Not all the characters get the endings they deserve, as happens in war, but the endings that many of them find stem directly from their actions, traits and the choices that they make. Nowhere is this more true than with Mirana and Garis. The pair parallel each other, share the same powers, and differ only in their decision to use the power available to them by draining others, or to use only the power that comes from Within. Both of them have killed, and both of them have made hard, painful and wrong choices. But where Garis’s mistakes have lead him, until this point, only to redouble his efforts and justify himself, Mirana actually examines her actions and takes responsibility for their consequences. She learns from her mistakes and chooses to make herself a better and more compassionate person, showing both growth and courage.

Other characters, too, learn from their mistakes, previous misunderstandings and misjudgments. And while this is not always enough to stave off heartbreak and tragedy, it is enough to earn the reader’s affection and respect, and sometimes, to give them a courageous if not a happy ending. The action and the drama in this book do not stop, even more than in the previous volumes, and the suspense grows powerfully over the course of the series until the final conflict. The emotional power of Donnelly’s writing is likewise fierce, with moments of brilliant happiness and warmth, and passages that would draw tears from a stone. Do not pick this book up with the thought “I’ll just read a chapter or two and then go to bed” – it is not the sort of book that is easy to put down, and it is treacherously tempting to finish it off in one sitting, just because you have to know what comes next. The author promises a fourth book, and it will be interesting to see where that one goes, given how much this book resolves – at any rate, if it matches the quality of its predecessors, it promises a compelling and unforgettable read.

TRINE REVELATION, the story begun in TRINE RISING and TRINE FALLACY, continues without losing any of the power, emotional force, or beautiful worldbuilding of its predecessors.

~Catherine Langrehr for IndieReader