another great entry in the Ring-Sworn Trilogy, I enjoyed going through this story and loved all the fantasy novel. The characters were great and I enjoyed going through this book.

I have a lot of thoughts about this book, and this underrated series as a whole, but let me just start off by saying this has become a new favourite series. I'm incredibly excited to look into more of Jones' past and future work.

First and foremost, I absolutely could not put this book down! When I had to do so in order to tend to adult responsibilities, I did so begrudgingly. I needed to know what was going to happen next, what puzzle was going to finally be solved, what thread the characters would stumble upon next.

What I found most from this series, is that Jones is incredibly capable of pulling you in to his vision, and making you care for his characters. Following through the series over the past year and a half, it has been such an enjoyable journey (though infuriating after that cliffhanger at the end of the second book!). The final installment in the series, I have to say, does a great job of bringing the series to a satisfying close.

I'm incredibly sad to see that it's over, to finally know what happens to these characters. I truly wish I had more time with each of them. They are written in a profound and thoughtful way to make them stand out from one another, each given time in the spotlight to highlight their difference in personalities, struggles, strengths, ideas, motivations, and so on.

What's impressive to me is that, upon finishing the final book, I realized I had unknowingly grown the most attached to the character I truly despised in the first book. It felt like a full circle moment, for myself and said character, like it wasn't just that character growing and maturing, but through them, I was too in a way.

The stakes were raised higher and higher in this final book, and watching the characters grow and change through their chaotic journey, witnessing all the threads finally came together, was such an emotional thrill. I think Jones did a fantastic job at both keeping the suspense and momentum moving forward through each thread, and then tying them and connecting them together into something wonderful.

I found that the ending was wrapped up just a little too neatly and a little too quickly for my liking, but I was still left feeling satisfied and emotional. It didn't take away from my overall enjoyment of the book.

Overall, this cast of characters has become one of my very favourites, and I'm sad that I won't be able to visit them like this again. I'm happy and touched by the experience, and I highly recommend giving this underrated trilogy a try.

The Naor have surrendered, but that does not mean the Altenerai can rest.

The Queen has stolen all the hearthstones and left with the intention to wake the Goddess. They must find her before that happens. If the Goddess wakes, all life will perish.

I loved this, but was sad for the series to end. I love these characters so much! The whole book was great, but I especially loved the ending.

I have to thank Net Galley. I had never heard of this fabulous author until I saw his books on there. Now I own them all. If you like fantasy, you should definitely check him out.

This final book in this trilogy keeps things moving along well, with the heroes trying desperately to find a way to stop the wakened goddess from destroying everything. Nothing they throw at her seems to work, and it's rumours, as told by a compatriot with dubious motives, of long lost weapons that could work that sends Elenai and Kyrkenall off together into the Wastes to locate them. They snipe at each other companionably, each respectful and confident in the other's abilities, and frustrated by the mounting problems.
Varama and Vannek have to work together, separated from everyone else, and that goes about as well as expected -- one brilliant and poor at social skills, the other quick to anger and poor at social skills.
Rylin is doing everything he can to rebuild damaged relationships while scoping out possible ways to counteract the compatriot's defences and powers.
N'lahr proves he's really great at planning and at being devious.

This trilogy has been a blast. There has been great action, characters I could care about, and an interesting world with some really amazing beings and creatures.
I liked the evolution of two of the characters in particular over the series: Elenai and Rylin. I found it interesting to contemplate how far Elenai has come from that eager, young squire at the beginning of book one. Her dedication and integrity remained unchanged over the trilogy, but it's the way she grew in confidence in her dealings with the other characters and the decisions she was able to make in the increasingly terrible situations facing everyone that impressed me. Meanwhile, Rylin matured enormously from his first appearance early in book one, and I liked how considerate and adult he was in his interactions with the others.
One of the standout supporting characters was Ortok -- unintentionally hilarious at times, and deeply insightful and caring for a terrifying guy great with an axe.
I will say that I was a both a little disappointed and happy with the resolution to the goddess threat. After all the setup to the huge showdown, I felt like the wrap-up to the order-chaos debate was a little too quick, and I felt like I had missed something. But that's a minor complaint.
I enjoyed this book and its closing epilogue a lot.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for a review.

The Ring-Sworn Trilogy, by Howard Andrew Jones, is an excellent series that is flying under the radar. When The Goddess Wakes is the third and final installment of the series. I have reviewed the two previous books, For the Killing of Kings (which was a top pick the year it came out) and Upon the Flight of the Queen (which had some issues but was still a great read). Goddess recovers from Queen’s stumbles and does a great job guiding the series to an emotional finale.

I know for a fact that almost all of you reading this review haven’t read For the Killing of Kings, as at the time of writing this all three books have fewer than 500 ratings on Goodreads. I go over the general plot of the first two novels in their reviews, and I don’t want to spoil the plot of the third book because it is quite fun. Instead, I want to talk about what I think The Ring-Sworn Trilogy, in particular this third book, does really well – friendship, mentorship, and exploring the idea of fantasy coworkers.

I have been one of Corporate America’s myriad peons for more than a decade now. Something that I find that motivates me to get my job done is an attachment to my fellow coworkers and a drive to not let them down. The Ring-Sworn Trilogy follows a sword and sorcery-based plot about a shifting fantasy landscape and an antagonist that is trying to remake the very reality of the world. While there are a number of individual protagonists, all of them belong to an order of heroes called The Ring-Sworn, which functions sorta like a company. Each person brings a mix of skills and talents to the table to make the order run and keep the world safe, and their personalities and dispositions are extremely varied. The result is a group of people who have these complicated relationships that are mesmerizing to watch unfold. Some people are friends, some are acquaintances, some are lovers, some are begrudging allies, some can’t stand to be in a room together, some only know each other by reputations, and the list goes on. Coupled with this is a roster of characters that are very unique and memorable in a landscape of cunning rogues, stalwart warriors, and wise wizards. Jones has created a terrarium of heroes that grow and change like the chaotic world in which his story takes place and it makes for an experience that I highly recommend you try for yourself.

As for the specifics of When The Goddess Wakes, the book does a lot right when closing out the series. My major issue with the second book in the series was that it felt more like an add-on to the story of book one than its own fleshed-out novel. This is absolutely not the case with Goddess, which tells an exciting new story that raises the stakes and brings all the plots together. In particular, Jones is adept at giving each of the many characters in the story a satisfying ending that never feels like he is checking off plot points on a list. Everyone gets their time in the spotlight and all of the characters have a high emotional payoff at the end of their journeys.

The plot of the third book itself is fairly straightforward. There was a little less mysterious than I was hoping for, given how heavily mystery is featured in the first two installments. But, I guess you need to solve puzzles eventually and can’t just spend the rest of your time finding new threads to think about.

All in all, the three books in The Ring-Sworn Trilogy add up to a winning equation, and I think the series is criminally under-read. Jones has gifted me with one of my favorite casts of characters of the last few years and I am very much excited to see what he does next. If you like sword and sorcery fantasy, you are doing yourself a great disservice if you don’t check these out – especially now that the third and final book is out.

Rating:
When The Goddess Wakes – 8.5/10
The Ring-Sworn Trilogy – 8.5/10
-Andrew

When the Goddess Wakes by Howard Andrew Jones a good fantasy read. If you enjoy Fantasy with swords, magic, heroes and tragedy put this book on your TBR.

The altenerai have been fighting a war for some time. First against the Naor, many of whom have now sworn Allegiance after their leader was defeated by the altenerai. But they have also been fighting many of their own after having been betrayed by the queen who has convinced many that they must reassemble the magical hearthstones into a destroyed statue of a goddess. This goddess will then restore the realms to a kind of paradise, returning those whose lives had been lost to their loved ones.

Because of this belief, the queen had stolen most of the hearthstones and abandoned many of her people in her quest to restore the goddess. However, those left behind believe that the goddess is actually going to destroy the realms and all within, and thus must stop the queen and her followers before it is too late for everyone. For if the queen succeeds, is there any way they can actually manage to stop an all powerful goddess?

This was the 3rd book in the Ring-Sworn Trilogy, and I found it to be a powerful ending to the series. It was filled with action, heroics, sacrifice, and surprises throughout. I enjoyed this book a great deal, and honestly, I didn't see the path the ending took coming. But as it happened, it made perfect sense and I was almost surprised that the possibility hadn't even occurred to me.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys epic fantasy series as well as anyone who has read the first two books in this series. I very much enjoyed reading it.

If you've read the previous two books in this wonderful trilogy then you know that sh*t had previously hit the fan... I don't normally swear in my reviews but there is no other way to say it. After a fragile alliance is broken, things go down hill very quickly. What follows is a epic race against time to stop a queen from basically destroying the world with the help of a vengeful goddess. I'm a big fan of the "enemies working together" trope. If you are as well, then you will not be disappointed in this book. At times it reminded me of the manga Attack on Titan, to say why would be a spoiler. It upsets me that this series does not get the love that it deserves, hopefully that will change with this book. More to come closer to publication. Oh, I can't wait for more people to read this so I could discuss the ending with someone. Gosh did I enjoy that ending! 5 out of 5!