Coming into part three of a six book epic, my expectations were already set sky high for what the author could accomplish. With the death toll piling up, revelations discovered, tragedy’s suffered by our main characters, there is no telling what rabbit Bradley P. Beaulieu was going to pull out of his hat. A Veil of Spears is a triumph in every sense of the word and having read all of the books in the series except for the finale, this is my favorite book so far. No rock will be left unturned and no dark corridor will go unexplored. Topped with a breathtaking climax and the biggest mystery of all will be revealed, who is Ceda’s father? This will be a spoiler free review but I will be talking about events that have happened in previous books.
Having narrowly escaped with her life, Ceda now holds the legendary bracelet of King Mesut after killing him on the battlefield. The imprisoned king of the Thirteenth tribe, Sehid-Alaz, manages to temporarily break his curse and assist Ceda before the kings take her life. This bracelet holds the trapped souls of the asirim and Ceda will do everything in her power to release these souls and save the asirim from their eternal torment. The remaining kings are now beside themselves after the Moonless Hosts’ plan to destroy their elixirs of life succeeded and the enemies having fled into the desert. The kings must rally the army to seek vengeance but other kings are seeing opportunities to gain more power from each other. The blood mage Hamzakiir has split the faction of the Moonless Host in two and was able to sneak into the palace with his followers to get a hold of one third of the kings elixirs. Hamzakiir has also awakened the powers of Davud as he becomes a blood mage himself. Davud uses all of his will and power to stop Hamzakiir’s plans but ends up burning his best friend Anilia, nearly to death. No one is safe under the desert sun, even the ones with the most power.
A Veil of Spears is all about revelations and surprises and they don’t stop coming. It was shocking to learn that the leader of the Moonless Host Macide is Ceda’s uncle and they claim to be the descendants of the Thirteenth tribe. The same Thirteenth tribe that were sacrificed to the gods in order for the other tribe kings to gain immortality and the victims turned into the asirim. Due to Ceda’s connection to the asirim, she feels their pain, terrors, and the destruction they have suffered for centuries. The torment has gone on for long enough and the race to free the asirim is on. We also get a front row sit into the inner workers of Queen Meryam and how she plans to gain power among the kings. You might want to buckle in, because this will be a bumpy ride!
I can’t recommend this series enough to epic fantasy fans out there regardless of your reading experience or preferences. This series has it all: strong female POV, magic, secrets in the form of riddles, ancient lore, gods, war, and so much more. Everything I could every ask for is in this series and you should discover it for yourself.
Cheers!
Under The Radar SFF Books 