Paths of Alir: A Pattern of Shadow & Light Book 3

I have been waiting for this book to come out since about a week after the release of The Dagger of Adendigaeth, when I finished reading that one. Sooooo worth the wait! I love this series because while on the surface there are "good guys" and "bad guys", the characters are much more nuanced. Yes, McPhail has rich language, a big, complex world, and many other earmarks of great fantasy, but to me it's alllll about the beautiful, awful, everywhere-in-between, completely engrossing characters.

The overarching plot of the series is this huge, fascinating arc that's not good-vs-evil as much as it is a question of WHO is good or evil, and why. This book expanded nicely on that question. I've never read so much adventure as philosophy or philosophy as adventure. It's the darkest yet in the series, but when you read it you'll see why. It all makes sense in relation to the big questions that McPhail is chewing on.