Goddess of the Ice Realm

The title character, on stage throughout, even if sometimes only as a sinister influence, remains so potent, however, that narrative interest and impetus are sustained straight through to the last chapter. Principal protagonist Garric's sorcerous advisor, Tenoctris, makes the danger clear to him when Garric and his disciplined fleet and army arrive in Carcosa as part of his campaign to unite the kingdoms of the isles. Meanwhile, Garric's sister, Sharina, contends with evil magic in another world and with Garric's friend, Cashel, in yet another--and Drake develops both those magical realms as well as he does the more mundane world of the isles. In the north, Cashel's sister, Ilna, and her betrothed, Chalcus, encounter the goddess even more directly, and from that flows a climax in which everyone is swept toward a grand, ultimately compellingly powerful, resolution. A satisfactory conclusion to a series that may be altogether Drake's most accomplished work.