A Man With An Agenda

'Blood and Honor' is a nice finish to the 'War-Torn' quartet - which, if you're wise, will turn into a trilogy by ignoring 'The Crimson Talisman'.

Kaz, after losing a hand in a skirmish, is discharged from the Company of the Skull in time to pursue rumors suspicious circumstances surrounding his brother's death during the Last War. The brother's were estranged, in fact Kaz is an assumed name after he had been disgraced while at the Rekkenmark Military Academy. With his family devastated by his death, Kaz feels its his duty to investigate any chance Gali might be alive.

He soon runs into others investigating the disappearance of his brother's military unit. Breya, a paladin of Thrane long-missing and Tarrel, a Medani inquisitive hired to track her down soon become involved in the case. There are some great one-to-two scene characters that help the group on their way.

Others get involved, and I won't spoil it but two characters appear in the last 40 pages and are treated as equal party members at the end of the book. That aside, the mystery was great and the villain pretty damn clever. I liked the author's use of experimental undead as weapons research. Very plausible in Karrnath. The only greater continuity error was a claim that undead became used by Karrnath only very late in the war - 992.

Still, a solid book for the series.

The War-Torn

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