"Crown of Shadows," the conclusion of C.S. Friedman's "The Coldfire Trilogy," dazzles with intricate character growth, moral dilemmas, and a captivating fusion of science and magic. The epic finale is emotionally charged, leaving readers satisfied yet craving more. A masterful ending to an enchanting journey. ( )

A year after the events in the East, the two survivors arrive back to where they began not knowing the condition of the war that they only know is happening. Crown of Shadows completes C.S. Friedman’s Coldfire trilogy as a priest slowly losing his place in the order and an antihero sorcerer face off against the machinations of a demon of stunning origins.

This book is a mixture of characters dealing with their hearts in conflict and dealing with events that put the world in danger, though both are connected to one another. Damien Vryce and Gerald Tarrant while attempting to figure out how to defeat the demon Calesta, they must deal with the consequences of their working together. For Vryce it turns out that while his faith is intact, he can no longer be a priest while Tarrant sees the ending with his contract with the Unnamed that makes a deal with Tarrant’s servant who then turns the Forest to his own purposes. The climax sees the series mixture of science fiction and fantasy seeing each genre having it place in the text as the nature of demons is explained in a surprising way and the defeat of Calesta results in the fundamental changing of the fantasy aspect of this world forever. This final installment was stronger than its predecessor as the traveling was kept to a minimum number of pages and more pages were dedicated to character development not only of Vryce and Gerald but the other three important characters setting up a satisfying climax to the series.

Crown of Shadows is an very good and satisfying conclusion to C.S. Friedman’s unique fantasy-science fiction that saw interesting and intriguing characters placed on a very fascinating world. ( )

5 stars - it hit me, hard, and stuck with me.

"I want to read a story featuring a bad guy as a POV character". This is how my relationship with the Coldfire trilogy started. Three books, and almost a decade of my life later, when I pick the series up again for a reading challenge, and I still find myself punched in the gut (in a good way). It's a story about evil, yes, and good. About faith, corruption, and compromise. It's a story about the death of magic, for the intentional dream of progress. Like any good such story, its bittersweet - a fitting wrap up to all the characters, and the loss of something magical in the dream of something more. ( )

A great conclusion to a very good series. Vryce and the Hunter have to do the impossible and kill the Iezu Calesta. Oddly enough, Calesta only makes two appearances in the entire book, but his presence is felt on every page. I loved the way it ended as well. A highly recommended series. ( )

Damien and Tarrant continue their uneasy alliance, determined to halt the demon Calesta's machinations. Meanwhile, to complicate matters the Patriarch is being manipulated into initiating a holy war against the Forest.

As a teen I extolled the virtues of the Dragonlance saga, Shannara, etc.; not so much now. I sense this trilogy is similar, something I would have appreciated more when I was younger and less critical. Happily it's not all bad news for this concluding volume. The villain is already identified for a change, an enormous time saver that jump-starts the plot. Andrys and Narilka are interesting and I liked their relationship. I enjoyed an enormously satisfying scene where the Patriarch forces Damien to face the mix of moralizing thoughts and pragmatic actions that made me despise him in the previous book.

But halfway through, the plot began to fail. On the one hand, the Patriarch lets Damien off the hook for saving Tarrant's life, giving them free reign to challenge Calesta as a united team, because he realizes Calesta is trying to manipulate him. At the same time, he gets started on his plot to destroy Tarrant and his Forest with Andrys' help - because he doesn't realize Calesta is trying to manipulate him? Damien learns of the Church's plan to assault the Forest, but never pauses to wonder how it's going to be done, conveniently leaving him in the dark about Andrys. I guess he thought the Patriarch could take down the Forest any old time he wanted to.

Minor irritants added up: the sentence fragments ("In the depths of the forest. In the Hunter's citadel."), the POV exceptions ("Behind him, out of hearing, Calesta laughed."), the artificially short chapters. Done for effect, the transparency of these devices spoiled their scenes and took me out of the moment. Which is too bad, because sometimes I was actually invested.

The dark tone is intentional, and I appreciate there are readers who won't be fazed a bit, but I would have welcomed some comedy to balance all the doom-and-gloom drama. I do leave the series with an appreciation for its unique world. Tarrant is similarly a special creation, and there's a few scenes and several good ideas that are pretty captivating. It could have been a lot worse. Unfortunately there were too many snags in the last two thirds of the trilogy to prevent my critical adult self from enjoying the story without a lot of shaking my head over it. ( )