I was hoping for a real firecracker with this one, just a really undeniably great closer to this lovely trilogy, but what I got was more what I actually should have expected, which was more like the slow burn of a hearth fire. This has been entirely a trilogy about quiet, inner emotions and inner growth, and not melodramatic, shout to the sky emotions. The more I reflect on how this series ended, the more I liked it.
David has been recuperating for the last six months on Murdo’s Scottish estate, but now that he has healed, decisions have to be made. He has to get back to his practice in Edinburgh and resume his life, even though it’s not what his heart really wants. Complicating matters, his mentor, Chalmers, is on his death bed, and has one final request for David: to make sure Chalmers’ runaway daughter Elizabeth is safe, and that her abusive husband can’t find her. As trustee for the funds Chalmers left for her, this is something David can help with, although it puts both he and Murdo in harm’s way.
Literally my only complaint here is that both the first two books had some meaty, interesting historical detail and were constructed around historical events, and this one wasn’t. It still held true to the time period (this series is one of the most historically accurate in the genre), but there was no King’s visit here, no seditionist plots. Perhaps there just wasn’t room for it, as Chambers had so many emotional threads to resolve, but I did really miss it.
Chambers has added two books onto this series as little addendums to the trilogy with different main characters, one published pretty recently. I’m not sure when I will be checking them out, but it will happen!
