Juliet Marillier concludes her excellent Warrior Bards trilogy with the final volume, A SONG OF FLIGHT.

As always, this master of Celtic historical fantasy interweaves romance, suspense and myth with well-developed characters. While the book wraps up many of the plot threads left hanging from previous volumes, its overarching mysteries are repetitive, echoing many Otherworldly conundrums posed in earlier books.

"As always, this master of Celtic historical fantasy interweaves romance, suspense and myth with well-developed characters."

The calm of Swan Island, the home of covert agent Liobhan, is ruptured when the crown prince of Erin is kidnapped --- and her own brother is critically wounded. Liobhan and her friends are split up and sent to different corners of the island to track down Prince Aolu, but each becomes sidetracked with deadly quests. Somehow, all roads lead back to the Otherworld, where another of Liobhan’s brothers is in danger, and she must crack these mystical mysteries to save those she loves and the mysterious Crow Folk who haunt Erin.

The Otherworld threatens to overwhelm the main focus of this story --- the realm of Erin and its inhabitants, including our heroes. The pacing of A SONG OF FLIGHT would have been improved greatly by adding in more court intrigue and focusing less on the magical realm. It’s okay to leave the actual nature of the Otherworld ambiguous, but only if it remains on the sidelines.

By putting it front and center with the kingdom of Erin itself and never fully exploring the rules and livelihoods of the Otherworld, Marillier ends an otherwise good book on a humdrum note.