COURAGE OF FALCONS

Final installment in Lisle’s trilogy (Vengeance of Dragons, 1999, etc.) about the power struggle between the Sabirs and the Galweighs, and the evil-sorcerer Dragons who intend to enslave them all. Shapeshifters Kait Galweigh and Ry Sabir, now an item, have recovered the Mirror of Souls, the immortality engine invented by Dragons Dafril and Luercas. Dafril has occupied the body of the evil Crispin Sabir and, having captured Hasmal, Kait’s ally, is torturing him to reveal all. Rejuvenated Falcon Dughall expels Dafril’s soul back into the mirror, but Crispin immediately kills Hasmal, who becomes a disembodied glowing spirit. With Dughall’s help, Kait then forces the other escaped Dragon souls back inside the Mirror. Now it must be destroyed, or Kait will be tempted to use it. Kait and Ry also acquire a friend, Ulwe, the daughter of Crispin; she’s been raised among shapeshifters in a far distant land and has the ability to acquire knowledge of distant events. Ulwe’s mission, hopeless though it seems, is to redeem her evil father. Luercas, meanwhile, safe inside the body of a child—he did not have to expel the child’s spirit and thus the Mirror cannot reclaim him—raises a huge army of outcast, furious shapeshifters, and prepares to gain his revenge.

A solidly engaging conclusion to this overcomplicated but promisingly imaginative yarn.