Exile's Return

Looks like a marketing gimmick to create “trilogies” where there are none. This book 3 of the Conclave of the Shadows is more like Book 0 of the Darkwar Saga as there are so many hooks setting things up for the next book.

I liked this book a bit more than books 1 and 2. The pacing is pretty good, with lots of things happening. The start of this book was very much like book 1, which actually made me dread that it's book 1 all over again, with the protagonist learning new “talents” everywhere. Luckily, that horrible way of story-telling vanished a bit later on. What's also disappointing is the part where Kaspar meets up with Talon again. It was way too mild than would've been logical.

The plot introduces a new enemy, while at the same time bringing back old enemies. The last few chapters turned out to be pretty exciting, and a good enough set up that I'm definitely reading Flight of the Nighthawks next.