Sticking to his successful formula from book two, Peter V. Brett once again elevates some of his existing characters to PoV status right off the bat. This time around it is Inevera and Abban that get the upgrade and the reader experiences some of the key events, both new and old, from their perspectives. When this happened in book two, The Desert Spear, I was slow to embrace the choice but now I have really come to appreciate the manner in which this many layered story is being constructed. Elevating such characters allows for additional perspectives and insights to be offered up on pivotal events and the characters all turn out to be very engaging. Understanding the histories and motives of all of these individuals adds even more anticipation to the inevitable confrontation that must take place between Arlen and Jardir - one that will likely decide the ultimate fate of mankind in the Demon War.

Both Arlen and Jardir were able to defeat the mind demons that attacked them in the last book and both have come to realize that those demon princes will return with significantly larger forces upon the next waning of the moon. Each supposed Deliverer prepares their loyal troops to fight the demons in the night as well as preparing them for the Daylight War which Jardir is bringing upon Arlen's people during the day.  Jardir, who believes himself the new Deliverer, seeks to unite all of mankind under his rule so that he may lead a unified force against the demons. While Arlen does not believe himself the Deliverer, he will not suffer Jardir's rule after being betrayed by him many years ago and both sides prepare for war.

Relationships take center stage when Arlen and Leesha are reunited and each comes to understand the path the other has chosen while they were apart. The Arlen/Renna and Leesha/Jardir relationship building at the beginning means it takes a while for the two story lines to come together but when they finally do the tension steadily builds until the time comes for Arlen to take action. His powers have been growing exponentially since his initial confrontation with the mind demon and he knows he must first deal with Jardir before he can take the fight to the Core itself.

Arlen will never forgive Jardir, and despite being haunted by what he did, Jardir justifies his act as a necessary evil that will enable him to save mankind from the demons. This book in no way suffers from being a middle book of a series and it delivers a very memorable ending that will have you running to the next book to see the actual impact of it all. Pete Bradbury delivers another excellent performance for the audiobook as this series solidly establishes itself as a must read for Fantasy fans.