I have spent the entire month of October reading Morgan Busse’s Follower of the Word epic fantasy series. It started with my rereading of Daughter of Light, the trilogy’s first book, followed by Son of Truth, the second volume, and now Heir of Hope, the trilogy’s concluding book. I must say, overall, it has been an enjoyable reading experience, especially since it’s been some time since I last read epic fantasy. Busse has blended epic fantasy with elements of Protestant theology without disrupting the main story she aimed to convey in the trilogy. To my understanding, Busse wanted to convey in this trilogy that following the word of Christ is challenging, and He will show up when we require His presence, rather than at our convenience.

Heir of Hope picks up where Son of Truth left off. Our main character, Rowen Mar, is heading straight towards the Shadonae, malevolent creatures aiming to dominate the world by manipulating humans as their pawns to demonstrate their superiority. Having captured the great city of Thyra, the Shadonae plan to involve Rowen in their scheme to control the world. Caleb Tala, the assassin featured in Son of Truth, is travelling to Thyra to assist Rowen, and during his journey, he starts to grasp his own heritage and fully accept his transformation.

The story comes to a satisfying end, and Busse does a good job of tying all the story threads together. However, I sensed that the main antagonist, Valin, lacked depth and felt rather one dimensional. There were deeper aspects of his nature that could have been examined to understand why he felt compelled to be superior to humankind. I was looking for a stronger sense of motivation in the story, yet it never appeared. Busse kept me engaged, and her pacing was excellent in the trilogy’s final book.

Heir of Hope delivers a strong conclusion to the series, and as I mentioned in my previous two reviews, fans of epic fantasy should certainly try this series. Busse doesn’t introduce anything new to the genre but has built a convincing secondary fantasy world that will feel familiar to fans of epic fantasy. I’m happy that I spent October in this fictional world and had a great time. As a reader, that’s all I could hope for.