PUBLICATION DATE: JULY 24, 2012

iberator picks up where Diviner left off.  A deadly illness has been released and with only two exceptions, all humans will quickly be infected.  The invading army from Major Four is poised to enter Starlight and fight for the slaves’ freedom.  Taushin, is plotting to control Koren and destroy Cassabrie, while Cassabrie has her own plans to save her people.  However, a new threat arises with the Benefile dragons who dispense their own questionable form of judgment.  With dragons rising against dragons, humans fighting both illness and dragons, and with the fate of both Major Four and Starlight in the balance, Liberator is an intense, heart-pounding conclusion to the Dragon of Starlight series.

Finishing a series is always a little bittersweet.  On the one hand I’m always glad to know how it ends, but on the other, I hate leaving characters that I’ve grown to love.  Such is the case with Liberator.  It’s a good conclusion to the series, but I’m certainly sad to say good-bye to the humans and dragons that have made up this tale.

I ultimately enjoyed Liberator, but it did take some time to really get back into the story.  It has been almost a year since I finished Diviner and given my memory issues, it took some time for me to remember where all the characters were in the story.  As a result, the first part felt a bit slow as I struggled to remember the objective of each character.  Additionally, the large cast of characters is divided into groups and there are quite a few to keep track of.  As a result, it took a while to feel a part of the story.

I love books with multiple, complex storylines, and this series has definitely excelled at adding and developing new plots.  However, in this book, the numerous storylines become a bit of a distraction and a couple dropped off towards the end.  Though it is obvious that each plot is coming towards a specific destination, each one is not treated equally, which makes parts of the book feel spread too thin and others given too much page time.

With all the different characters and plots, there is action galore.  It feels as though someone is constantly facing attack or repelling attack.  The dragons are in a battle for their life as are the humans.  But with all the combat and action, there seems to be little focus on new story elements.  For example, the Benefile dragons emerge as pivotal characters, but there isn’t a lot of information or background provided for them.  I really want to know more about them as they seem very intriguing.  I also missed some of the interesting background information that Davis included in the earlier books.  While I’m all for non-stop action and tense suspense, I equally enjoy creative stories and I feel like a bit of that was missing in this book.

One area that Liberator (and this entire series) excels is with the presentation of spiritual themes.  The underlining stories of freedom and choice, mercy and justice, and love and service are all beautifully incorporated into this series.  Some of Davis’ best writing is between Alaph and Koren as she seeks to understand while resisting the path that’s been offered to her.  Equally well presented are the ideas of justice and mercy and God working with our mistakes and poor choices.  Though the fictional story is very entertaining, the spiritual themes are equally impressive.

I have very much enjoyed the Dragons of Starlight series.  While I don’t think Liberator is quite as good as Warrior and Diviner, it’s a great conclusion to the series.  With the excellent spiritual themes and non-stop action, fans of this series will be very pleased with this final book.