What a shame, the first two books were ok, not great but ok, but this third one was very bad. Hava at least did something, Hatu only sat around, Donte did some things but nothing of consequence. The only one of the main characters actually progressing was Declan. The ending was just awful.

A Great Conclusion

The Firemane Saga was an adventure-filled trilogy following the young lives of 3 well trained adventurers. In the Master of Furies, we are lead to new lands with the Pride Lords who run their lands like a Crime Syndicate.

Follow Hava, Hatu and Declan as they fight to eliminate these Pride Lords that killed their friends and family.

For some reason, I did not really enjoy reading this book - and it took me quite long, though I was reading relatively fast, but not a lot. The more the book went on, I was less and less intrigued about what was still to come.
Some characters have an odd fixation on vengeance (which I did not notice that much in the earlier books) which made it hard to read about them, being reduced to simple killing machines.
Then, characters are constantly taking over the characterisation of others. Declan, you're a good leader. Bogartis is a good man. Yes, I understand. But I don't see it.
Probably the worst thing: there are so many things being built up. And then there is actually no payoff at all to any of it. Add the mostly one-dimensional characters and probably now I at least know why it did't click with me.

The third novel in the “Firemane” Saga picks up shortly after the events of book two, “Queen of Storms” with our three main protagonists all working separately but towards the same goal of freeing Marquensas from raiders and bringing an end to the tyranny. Declan, now a mercenary, is on a mission to procure some special sand that will allow him to forge masterwork swords capable of slicing through enemy armor. Hava, now known as “The Sea Demon”, is on an intelligence gathering mission, captaining her own small fleet of ships led by the “Queen of Storms” to travel and discover where the raiders came from. Meanwhile, Hatu is studying hard to learn more about his magic and learning that his magical abilities are greater than anybody else has ever known.

Looking back, I can see that the titles of each of the three novels in the trilogy are named for one of the main protagonists. The Master of the Furies refers to Hatu and the magical constructs of the furies, the very root of how magic works in this world of Garn. While Hava and Declan underwent a lot of adventures in this book, the focus is a bit more on Hatu, the last of the Firemanes. The descriptions of how he learns to harness his magical abilities and how they work are absolutely fascinating and serve to once again highlight just how imaginative, Raymond Feist can be.

I was slightly disappointed in the final part of this novel though. Most of the three books in the series have been of the street-level perspectives of the characters as they progress through their adventures. But in the final part of book three, we are introduced to some very high-level concepts that aren’t given the build-up they deserve. Hatu’s abilities are just getting defined and barely gets a chance to use them. Consequently, the ending seems rushed, and almost leads me to believe there will be more from this world, still to come. I won’t be surprised if another trilogy is forthcoming. The epilogue includes a major surprise, which, may not be all that big a surprise after all for Raymond Feist fans. I confess to having suspected it all along.

But despite this minor grievance, this has been a fine traditional fantasy trilogy. Recommended for Feist fans, of course, and for those who are looking to get away from the latest fantasy trends of grimdark, rapid-swearing anti-heroes and back to traditional fantasy storytelling.

Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Voyager for a free review copy.