Quentin has settled in as King and has built a family for himself. But Nimrood the Necromancer has returned, hungry for revenge. Nimrood kidnaps the Prince and Toli and stirs up the people of the realm against Quentin and Quentin's god. Quentin finds himself unexpectedly alone and descends into mad grief. Everything is being taken away from him: his son, his family, his friends, his faith. Will the promise of a new era indeed come to pass, or will it crumble like so much dust?If you've read the first two books in the trilogy, you should have a pretty good idea what to expect right now. In fact, if you've read the above paragraph and can make an educated guess about the ending, you have the whole story. The most interesting thing about the whole book, for me, was seeing Quentin descend into madness. He's been so noble in both the previous books, pure in motive and in deed, that it was quite a change to see him raving at his friends and behaving very badly in general.The main focus of the book, spiritually, is about how a new era of faith is built. There are a number of good discussions about faith, what it means to have faith, and the strange role the Most High takes compared to most gods. It can feel a bit like a sermon wrapped up in prose at times, but the points are good.My main complaint, other than the book's straightforwardness, was that it never went into depth on certain things like Esme's marriage or Toli's role. Esme might not be telling anyone else what happened to her, but the narrative goes into her head often enough that it's frustrating not to get anything definite. Similarly, Toli has so little characterization that I'm left wondering at the end of the book if they ever did plan to get married.If you liked the first two, read this one. If you didn't read the first two, best pick those up first, as this one explains nothing about the earlier books, despite Nimrood making his return. Recommended, with the same caveats that applied to the earlier books.
Presenting challenges in a trilogy's third and final installment can prove to be difficult, and whilst Quentin's self-centered fall from grace at the kidnapping of his son and loss of his enchanted sword is but one of the factors unsettling Mensador, I believe The Sword and the Flame lacked the pernicious threat of the previous works due to the fact that several story arcs worked to steal from each other, so that, in the climax, a scene that should have been justifiably epic, as a clash between gods to prove who's god has all the power, doesn't sing with the full merits of its gravitas, zooming in on personal conflicts and confrontations instead of fully biting into what religious unrest and despotism begged to be the grandest of the three book's final acts. In summation, the Dragon King Trilogy is a solid series suitable for adventure-minded readers, capping off the effort with the happiness due a light epic's truest nature, to entertain and uplift, and this decent entrance into Lawhead's rich array of works in no way matches the densely-woven elegance of The Song of Albion books, which not only dive much deeper into several of the same dramatic elements with the contrast of darkness and light they deserve, but glow with the vivid nature of fiction's highly-detailed and perfectly stylized "realism" in the way that the Dragon King trilogy and the land of Mensador never really did for my taste. But, not to harp on comparisons too much, The Dragon King Trilogy remains an upstanding example of classicist epic fantasy, albeit, perhaps with more of a zoomed in lens.
What do You think about The Sword And The Flame (2002)?
I haven't read anything of his for quite a few years, but I recall liking his "Song of Albion" trilogy and the early "Pendragon" books. I have several of his other books on my shelf and I will be reading/rereading them over the next few ... months? years? So I'll see how I feel about his other books now compared to how I felt years ago.But having said all that, this was still a terrible book.
—Kathi
Another approximate ten year gap has passed in Quentin’s life. This time evil takes a much more personal form. It is Quentin who wrestles and begins to succumb to depression. His friends wrestle with how to break through to him and he eventually must evaluate his faith.I have enjoyed this trilogy and will definitely read it again. It was such a great story and I was caught up in the adventure. Quentin is such a likeable character and his wrestling with darkness makes him an even more compelling character.
—Libby
In some ways this book is the strongest of the trilogy and in some ways it's the weakest. The technical aspects of Lawhead's writing is noticeably improved over the first book, In the Hall of the Dragon King. However, the plot felt weaker than the other two books. The story feels like a blend of King David and Job. I found it a bit difficult to identify with the characters. In some ways the characters behaved as they ought to have rather than how I imagine real people would have. That is with exception to Quentin whose journey seemed more realistic, still I had a hard time identifying with him. The story is not complex, but then I sometimes find a straight forward story...comfortable. Once again, I have given the book four stars. This is influenced by the fact that this is a nostalgia read for me and this trilogy was a favorite when I was an early teenager. Also, this was a trilogy that brought fantasy into Christian publishing in the 80s without copying Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. Much has improved since then, but it seems to me Lawhead was a major influence. Without this considerations, these books would have received a three star rating. I would find these books disappointing if I had only read Lawhead's more recent work.
—Phillip Lemons
