Immortalis (The Second DemonWars Saga, Book 3)

Rating:
Summary: A fitting conclusion
Review: This is one saga that is often overlooked, especially in the light of Salvatore's more renowned works (particularly those starring Drizzt Do'urden & co). It's generally written in a darker mood and tone than what one might expect from the author, with far less jesting and humor in general and very mortal protagonists.

Immortalis wraps up an exciting build-up that took place over the course of the other two novels in the Second DemonWars Saga (both of which take place in parallel). At first, one might think this trilogy a bit misnamed, but it eventually comes to light that the demon dactyl is in fact still the big nemesis. The forthcoming confrontation is what one would expect- epic in scope and a continual edge-of-your-seat adventure. Salvatore doesn't disappoint in this regard, and even offers up a few surprises along the way. This is indeed a fitting conclusion to the series.

However, there seems to have been a few compromises made in bringing the exceedingly complex plot, well developed characters, and general length of the previous five novels to a conclusion. Some characters that have played pivotal roles in the previous stories only make a brief cameo in Immortalis. This might be disappointing to some readers. There's also a few loose ends left untied, and some things that you might have been expecting don't happen (De'unnero vs. Pagonel, anyone?). This, along with what seems to be a chronic lack of a Thesaurus in Salvatore's writing resource library, stops Immortalis from being a truly satisfying end to the saga. At times you get the feeling the author was in a hurry to get done with the novel. Perhaps this is by design, and there's more yet to come.

I can say, however, without spoiling the plot, that this is unlikely. Thus, Immortalis is a good read and generally what you would expect after the other novels in this series, but falls somewhat short of the masterpiece mark.