The Scrolls of the Ancients: Volume III of the Chronicles of Blood and Stone

Too much exposition and characters less developed than in earlier installments mar the fast-paced final volume in Newcomb's Chronicles of Blood and Stone fantasy trilogy, set in the strife-torn realm of Eutracia. In the first book, The Fifth Sorceress (2002), Prince Tristan was forced to kill his own parents to save them from torture. In the second, The Gates of Dawn (2003), he had to battle his son, Nicholas, who had died and then been brought back to life devoted to evil. Here, just when Tristan was running out of family to feud with, Newcomb introduces his long-lost half-brother Wulfgar, a decent sort who's turned into an evil master of the Vagaries, who represent the dark side of magic. In the end, Tristan and his sister Shailiha fail to fulfill a major prophecy, a lack of resolution that will encourage many readers to continue reading this series that started out with so much promise.