The Symphony of the Ages is a long fantasy series about three friends prophesied to save the world. It starts when a boy finds himself a thousand years in the past where he meets and falls in love with Emily. They shared one night together and then he was inexplicably gone. She sets out with a broken heart to find him and in one of the few realistic aspects of the series ended up a prostitute called Rhapsody. She eventually studied to be a Namer, a loremaster who can speak true names which gives them some power, and a musician. While running from a former evil client and his goons she meets The Brother, whom she names Achmed the Snake, and his friend Gunther. An Assassin by trade The Brother was forced to work for one of the evil Fedor because it had his true name. By renaming him Rhapsody has unknowingly freed him and the three flee into the center of the earth, literally walking and crawling from one side of the world to the other. The discover that there is a prophecy about "The Three" who might be able to save the world from destruction by the Fedor. Rhapsody also falls for a guy who might be evil, is half insane, and as a young man got sent back in time for a single night...lots of us make bad relationship decisions.

A lot has happened since the Three arrived on the other side of the world. In the first trilogy they saved the world, and in the second they saved it again. As the seventh book, The Weaver's Lament reads like a really long epilog. A few hundred years have gone by since the second trilogy. As first generation cymrians the Three don't truly age but Ashe, Rhapsody's husband, is third generation and as part dragon he longs to transcend as his father did. They are surrounded by several generations of children now and tired of politics. The half-firbolg Gunther has fathered countless generations among the Bolg. King Achmed the Snake, half-Firbolg and half-Dracian wearies of his responsibilites and is still waiting for Ashe to die so he can tell Rhapsody how he feels. When Ashe strikes out against her friends Rhapsody is forced to take sides. Prophecy finally catches up with them and Achmed sets out alone to end the Fedor threat once and for all if he can. 

Weaver's really does wrap up the couple of loose ends from the series. I still like the first three books of the Symphony best and would like the series better if Hayden skipped the second trilogy altogether and just went to Weaver's. I never did figure out exactly why Rhapsody picked Ashe in the first place but choosing her friends (sort of) over him alienates her oldest son Meridion. They always suspected that it had to be Meridion sent Gwydion back in time but now he finds out how and why he did it. As readers we always knew the basics so it wasn't a shock. I was quite happy to finally see Achmed, my favorite of the Three, embrace his dual heritage and decide enough is enough with the Fedor. It may not seem like a huge leap but one failing of the series was very little character development. Besides that, many successful long series have the heroes following their formula over and over again with similar villains. Its a pleasant surprise that this one broke that cycle even if we are sorry to see the last of Rhapsody, Achmed, and Gunther.

I call The Weaver's Lament worth reading for fans of the series but definitely a pass for those not familiar with at least the first three books. Books 4-6 aren't bad, they just don't add anything necessary to the original story or understanding Weaver's. Weaver's isn't on Audible yet but the rest of the series, starting with Rhapsody (2000), is narrated by Kevin T. Collins with 4.5 stars.